EPC Design Dialogues 2026, Bangalore - India
EPC Dialogues is a half-day gathering for senior designers and design leaders to share the kind of wisdom usually heard in closed rooms. No performative thought leadership. Just honest stories, interesting perspectives, and live dialogue from people who’ve built, shipped, hired, and led.
On 28th March 2026, we met at BLR Brewery Marathahalli in Bangalore for a morning designed to stretch your thinking and sharpen your craft.
Design Leaders who joined us
1. Sandeep Karmarkar - Design leader at UBER
2. Shantanu Kulkarni - Design leader at Google
3. Abhay Vyas - Director of UX at Salesforce
4. Shreeya Malpani - Head of Design at Cure Fit
5. Satish Patil - Director of Design at Samsung Research India
6. Utkarsh Biradar - Chief Designer at Tata Elxsi
The following are a few notes from the panel discussions.
Story vs data is not a binary
The moderator opens with the tension between storytelling and data in design. One recurring voice argues that data entered design more forcefully only in the last decade, and describes it as a kind of “new ethnography” that helps read human life at scale.
Another voice says the balance depends on the job: for 0→1 work, you may need more imagination and theory, while for improving an existing product, data becomes much more central.
A later synthesis ties the thread together: the real power comes when story and data are combined, not separated.
Key insights
- Data does not replace story; it strengthens a premise after it is formed.
- The role of data shifts depending on whether you are inventing something new or optimising something known.
- Design thinking is complete when story and data work together.
