Samangi Wadinambiarachchi

Product design

I design products the way I run studies: start with evidence, test early, measure what changed.

Download résumé (PDF) How I work

Case studies

More recent work is on the way. The projects below are from my undergraduate years.

Undergraduate work

enKindler

Challenge
Design students struggle to express their ideas because of creative blocks.
Scope
Bachelor of Design project, 4 months
Focus
System design, UX research, UI design and branding
  • Interaction Design
  • UX Design
  • UI Design
  • Branding
Read the case study

Undergraduate work

The Brave Band

Challenge
How can women stay safe and cheerful while travelling alone?
Scope
Personal concept project
Focus
Concept generation, UX research and UI design
  • Interaction Design
  • UX Design
  • UI Design
  • Branding
Read the case study

Undergraduate work

Relax Me

Challenge
Busy people rarely find time to relax; stress makes life harder.
Scope
Level III UI design course project, 4 weeks
Focus
Concept generation, UX research and UI design
  • Mobile App
  • Relaxation
  • App Concept
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Undergraduate work

Ra to take back home

Challenge
Get a new audience of tourists interested in an authentic Sri Lankan drink.
Scope
Level II design project, 4 months
Focus
Prototyping, branding, graphics and illustration
  • Packaging Design
Read the case study

Undergraduate work

Tea treat collection for Zesta

Challenge
An exclusive tea packaging for premium retail and gift collections.
Scope
Level III design project, 2 months
Focus
Prototyping, graphics, illustration and experience design
  • Packaging Design
Read the case study

About my design work

I'm a product designer who treats every design decision as a question that evidence can answer. I began in industry as a trainee UX engineer at 99X Technology (2017–2018), then worked as a Senior Executive UX Designer at Dialog Axiata PLC in Colombo (2020–2021). There I shaped information architectures and user journeys for digital products, tested designs with users, and ran workshops that introduced user-centred design to more than 400 colleagues.

A first-class Bachelor of Design (Hons) from the University of Moratuwa, a research internship at the National University of Singapore HCI Lab and a PhD in Human-Computer Interaction from the University of Melbourne gave me the other half of the craft: I plan studies, analyse what they show and bring it back into the design. I prototype in Figma and Miro, and I have built and tested AI-powered prototypes, so I design with a clear sense of what models can and cannot do.

What research adds

  • Interviews and thematic analysisI find the real problem before the brief hardens, and I can show the team the evidence behind it.
  • Experiments and statisticsI can design A/B and within-subjects tests and tell a real effect from noise.
  • Mixed methodsNumbers show what changed; conversations explain why. I use both to decide what to build next.
  • Prototype studiesI've built and tested AI prototypes, so I design with an understanding of what models can and can't do.