# Punit Munnangi

> UX / Product Designer with 3 years experience in Education, Gaming, and Entertainment/Media

Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Profile: https://flows.cv/punit

Empathy fuels my UX design process. I translate user needs into intuitive digital experiences across diverse
industries like gaming, media, healthcare, and education. My design thinking approach thrives on active
listening and user feedback, leading to solutions that delight users and earn stakeholder commendation.
Recently completed a Masters in HCI and Design at UC Irvine and available for full time work.

## Work Experience
### UX Designer @ Shades
Jan 2024 – Present
- Designed and implemented engaging gamification features on Figma, including interactive quizzes with customizable digital avatar rewards, and meme creation tools to foster community sharing and
enjoyment.
- Optimized onboarding flows and in-app features to enhance user engagement, increase retention rates, and cultivate a vibrant, interactive app community.

### Gameplay Usability Analyst @ Playgo AI, Inc.
Jan 2023 – Present
- Conducted in-depth heuristic evaluations of the Playgo iPhone/Android app,
documenting usability violations based on Nielsen’s Usability Heuristics, with insights
leading to improved ease of use for game designers in creating games.
- Produced high-quality chat room mockups in Figma by conducting user interviews with
game designers to understand current challenges with the layout. These mockups featured
multiple options that were tailored to engineer specifications.
- Designed intuitive AI prompts to facilitate smoother execution of game engine actions,
including a clearer and more recognizable countdown timer prompt.

### UX Researcher (UCI Capstone) @ Code.org
Jan 2024 – Jan 2024
- Reviewed literature on student motivation, gamified learning, and teacher motivation. I found that adding engaging gamification features and personalized incentives to the curriculum can boost motivation for both students and teachers, making learning more effective and enjoyable.
- Conducted a heuristic analysis of the Code.org K-5 curriculum using Nielsen’s 10 usability principles, evaluating both the CS Fundamentals Express Desktop and iPad experiences, and presented key usability issues to the client such as enhancing visibility of hints for coding exercises. 
- Conducted a competitive analysis with 7 direct and 7 indirect competitors and determined top gamification features to include such as avatars, digital rewards, level difficulties, and project sharing among others.
- Interviewed teachers to identify issues in the CS Fundamentals Express Course and gauge their response to game-like features. Identified three key enhancements: support and inclusion, motivation and engagement, and feedback and assessment.
- Created detailed personas to represent Code.org’s target audience, enhancing the client's understanding of student coding interests, skills, and capabilities, and driving the design of more effective learning content.

### Gameplay Usability Analyst @ Keywords Studios
Jan 2022 – Jan 2023 | Mountain View, California, United States
- Collaborated with the research team to conduct usability tests of Stadia, creating test
documents with core tasks such as finding the option to adjust resolution, which yielded
valuable insights into player gameplay experiences.
- Performed QA Audits and Heuristic Evaluations alongside team members and Stadia
users, meticulously documenting findings. This streamlined the process for engineers
and designers, significantly reducing the time spent addressing bugs, errors, and UI/UX
issues saving 20% of developer time.
- Conducted qualitative and quantitative analysis to identify gameplay experience risks
among players, such as issues with slow internet speeds. Proposed solutions included
optimizing game resolution to reduce latency.

### Product Designer @ Everyset (formerly Castifi)
Jan 2022 – Jan 2022 | Los Angeles, California, United States
- Conducted cognitive walkthroughs to assess the payroll upload process for background
actors to streamline navigation and reduce complexity. Subsequently, created Mockups
to enhance user efficiency and accuracy in the process.
- Conducted interviews with background actors and payroll employees, focusing on time
slot entry for background actors' work hours. Identified that the current method of
scrolling and selecting was cumbersome. Developed a design solution enabling users to
input times manually, resulting in a 40% reduction in time for common payroll tasks.

### Frontend Engineer @ Florida Blue
Jan 2021 – Jan 2021 | Florida, United States
- Acquired proficiency in HTML, CSS, and JS as part of job training.
- Created a Medicare Translation Enabler UI, using React, that improved visibility of client
health data for all patients.

### Minecraft Gaming Bike Research Assistant @ UC Irvine
Jan 2019 – Jan 2021 | Irvine, California, United States
- Created low fidelity and high-fidelity prototypes for the UI within the mini-games to increase
 engagement among young kids seeking exercise related weight loss goals.
- Created mini-games (level design) within Minecraft server and game design documents
 with new mini-game ideas to promote physical activity in young users.

### Senior Capstone Project Game Designer and Level Designer @ UC Irvine
Jan 2020 – Jan 2021 | Irvine, California, United States
- Created a first-person platformer parkour game with emphasis on use of grappling hook gun (Unity).
- Created game design documents to solidify and incorporate proposed mechanics (ie: grappling onto platforms, jump pads, wall-running, speed boosts).
- Developed 6 interactive and immersive levels & created level selection menu focusing on UI.
- Earned a 4/5 star rating out of 9 reviews on itch.io


## Education
### Master's degree in Human Computer Interaction and Design
UC Irvine

### Bachelor's degree in Computer Game Science
UC Irvine


## Contact & Social
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/punit-munnangi
- Portfolio: https://punit-munnangi-portfolio.framer.website/

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Source: https://flows.cv/punit
JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/punit/resume.json
Last updated: 2026-03-31