Junior Associate - Design Researcher

Junior Associate - Design Researcher

Role Overview

We are hiring a Design Researcher with about 1 year of experience who can look at any design, say clearly why it works or fails, and turn that into layout rules our designers can use.

Job title : Design Researcher

Experience : 1 year

Employment type : Full-time

Location : Bangalore

Works with : UI/UX designers, graphic designers, developers, account managers

About this Role

This role sits between thinking and making. You will not be judged mainly on how many screens or posters you produce. You will be judged on how well you study, explain and systemise design.

You should be someone who loves talking about designs. Show you a brochure, a website or a mobile app screen, and you can explain:

• What kind of design it is — UI design, UX design, graphic design, or a mix — and why that difference matters for how it is judged.
• How the layout is built — grid, columns, spacing, alignment, hierarchy, type scale and visual flow.
• Why it works for its industry — what that industry's audience needs to see first, and whether the design delivers it.

Your research becomes the playbook our designers follow when they start a new project in any industry vertical.

Key Responsibilities

1. Speak and explain design

• Break down any design (website, app, brochure, social post, hoarding) and explain its intent, structure and weaknesses in plain language.
• Present design reviews to designers, account managers and clients, and defend design decisions with clear reasoning.
• Write short design rationales that go along with every major deliverable.

2. Classify the type of design

• Identify whether a brief needs UI design, UX design, graphic design, or a combination.
• Explain the difference to non-designers: UX is how it works and flows, UI is how the interface looks and behaves, graphic design is visual communication for print, social and brand.
• Recommend the right skill mix and process for each project.

3. Dive deep into layout systems

• Study and document grid systems (12-column web grids, modular grids, baseline grids, 8-pt spacing systems).
• Analyse visual hierarchy, typography scales, white space, alignment, and reading patterns such as F-pattern and Z-pattern.
• Build reusable layout templates and component rules for websites, landing pages, brochures and social creatives.
• Audit existing work against these systems and flag inconsistencies.

4. Research vertical-based design

• Build design playbooks for each industry vertical the team works on.
• Study competitors, award-winning work and current trends in each vertical, and summarise what works.
• Map what each vertical's audience needs to see, in what order, and translate that into layout guidance.
• Keep a living reference library (mood boards, swipe files, annotated examples) per vertical.

5. Support design and research work

• Run light user research: short surveys, usability checks, heatmap and analytics reviews, stakeholder interviews.
• Help designers with wireframes, layout drafts and reference packs before visual design starts.
• Share findings in short decks or docs and run occasional internal design talks.

Verticals and design work you will cover

You will research design across every industry vertical we work in, and any new one we take on. For each vertical, you study the audience, competitors and design conventions, then turn them into layout guidance for the work types below.

1. Graphic design

What you will study: Brochures, print ads, outdoor and hoardings, social media creatives, campaign key visuals, brand collateral.

Layout focus: Visual hierarchy, typography, image-to-text balance, brand consistency across formats.

2. Web design

What you will study: Websites, microsites, landing pages, listing and detail pages.

Layout focus: Grid systems, section order, responsive behaviour, CTA and form placement.

3. UI/UX design

What you will study: App screens, user flows, forms, enquiry, booking and checkout journeys, dashboards.

Layout focus: Navigation, information architecture, interaction patterns, usability and accessibility.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• About 1 year of experience in design research, UI/UX design, graphic design, or a design-strategy role (internships count).
• Degree or diploma in design, visual communication, HCI, architecture, fine arts, or equivalent portfolio.
• Strong ability to speak about design — clear, confident explanation of why a layout, colour or type choice works.
• Clear understanding of the difference between UI design, UX design and graphic design.
• Solid grasp of layout fundamentals: grids, spacing systems, hierarchy, typography, alignment and white space.
• Working knowledge of Figma; basic use of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator or InDesign.
• Good written English for design rationales, research summaries and presentations.
• A portfolio or case study that shows research thinking, not only final visuals.

Nice to have

• Experience creating or maintaining a design system or component library.
• Familiarity with research and analytics tools such as Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity, Google Analytics, Maze or Notion.
• Experience giving design talks, writing design blogs or running workshops.
• Comfort in English plus one regional language for client and user conversations.

Hiring Process and How to Apply

1. Portfolio review — share a portfolio with at least one case study that shows your research and reasoning.
2. Design talk-through (30 min) — we show you two designs from different verticals, one website and one print piece. You explain the type of design, the layout system behind it, and what you would improve.
3. Take-home task (3–4 hours) — pick a website from any vertical and write a one-page layout teardown: grid, hierarchy, section order, lead-form placement, and three specific improvements.
4. Final conversation — meet the Design Lead and team.

To apply: send your CV and portfolio link to [hiring email] with the subject line "Design Researcher – [Your Name]".