MA Design Management graduate contributes to UAL’s evolving AI Position Statement

Tell us about yourself

My name is Indranil Ujagare, and I am an alumnus of MA Design Management (2024–25) at London College of Communication (LCC), part of University of the Arts London.

Before beginning MA Design Management, I spent three and a half years as a senior designer, leading product, visual, and motion design for IBM and global IBM clients including HSBC, Shell, National Grid, and Woodside Energy. I built design systems, shaped brand identities, and redesigned digital journeys used by millions.

Before IBM, I worked in the art and heritage sector at Kalakriti India as a graphic designer, and in design studios as a visual and motion designer.

I came to LCC to understand what my hybrid background could mean in the UK, and to move beyond executing briefs towards design leadership. The MA evolved my thinking about design leadership.

What did you explore in your final major project?

My Final Major Project, in partnership with UAL’s Digital Learning Practice team, reframed the earlier UAL AI Position Statement (2022) through an eco-social justice lens, contributing to its evolution into the updated version (2026).

I co-facilitated a workshop with 26 stakeholders across six UAL departments. Insights from this were used to inform policy-level recommendations and a Figma prototype that shaped institutional guidance on AI. The project also showed me how deeply UAL staff value student voice.

As I wrote my MA report, academic and reflective writing became tools for understanding growth and leadership. I resisted Anglo-Eurocentric reflective frameworks and built a custom reflective framework drawing on Global South references. The course taught me that design leadership is about reciprocity, and about translating institutional values into practice.

How did you develop your leadership experience beyond the classroom?

Outside the classroom, I became LCC Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Student Co-chair and a project management and visual design trainer at London College of Fashion. As an alumnus, I was invited to mentor BA UX Design students at LCC.

As a Climate Advocate, I worked with the Programme Director on the reapproval of six design school courses to align with UAL's Climate, Racial and Social Justice principles. These student- and staff-facing roles strengthened my understanding of UAL’s commitment to alumni leadership and deepened my sense of belonging.

How do you navigate the contradictions of working with AI?

I hold what I describe as a productive contradiction on AI. While my MA argued that AI is ecologically harmful, industry increasingly treats AI as non-negotiable and a key hiring differentiator. Both are true.

A plausible future of the creative and digital product industry would involve redefining AI maturity. The most valuable designers, alongside being AI fluent, will be those who question unnecessary use and direct AI towards measurable ecological benefit.

What advice would you give to future students considering this course?

My advice to future students is to let your design brief evolve. The study proposal submitted during admission rarely survives as you grow through the year, which is the point.

Invest early in understanding how collaboration and employment work in your industry and in the UK. Embrace technology with a critical lens. And finally, create opportunities for yourself that the course has not prescribed.

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