Experience — Akanksha Pagare

PhonePe

India's largest digital payments and financial services app. 700M consumer, 50M merchants.

NOV 2021 — PRESENT

Head of Brand and Visual Design

(Indian storytelling)

Storytelling-led product experiences: I design product experiences that tell clear, relatable stories. I've worked on 0–1 products like Pincode (Quick Commerce) and PhonePe B2B & Consumer, turning complex ideas into visuals that feel familiar and meaningful to everyday users in India.
Scalable visual systems: I've built scalable visual systems at PhonePe that keep things consistent while allowing teams to move fast across different campaigns and product surfaces.
Creative direction & craft excellence: I lead and collaborate with art directors, content designers, motion artists, and illustrators to create high-quality work, focusing on strong storytelling, thoughtful motion, and attention to detail across all digital touchpoints.
Functional to Emotion: I run emotion mapping workshops with design teams on how to communicate to user better and to craft visuals which are familier to user, that not only drive conversion but also build long term user trust and brand recall.
AI enabled creativity: Introduced AI first workflows to enhance speed and exploration, improving team efficiency by 50–70% while allowing deeper focus on narrative, craft, and concept across the projects.
Cross function leadership: I work closely with product, marketing, and analytics teams to make sure everything we build communicates one clear story that connects business goals with user needs.

Key Projects: Pincode e-com pivot business in-app discovery, branding & visual design, Smart Speaker UI, branding and digital launch, PhonePe Gold sucess workflows, PhonePe merch visual system, Share.Market mailer automated system, Share.Market F&O AI-Led automated system.

BookMyShow

India's largest online entertainment ticketing platform.

MAR 2020 — NOV 2021

Manager Brand Design

(Pandemic pivot & leadership)

Business Transformation: Joined BookMyShow one week prior to the global lockdown, pivoted the brand's core strategy from offline ticketing to a digital first model, evolving "BookMyShow Online" into a primary revenue generating stream.
Team Building: Mentored a multidisciplinary Brand department of 21 designers in a 100% remote environment, maintaining high morale and output during an unprecedented industry crisis.
Crisis Management: Provided hands on leadership and creative support during a high pressure transitional period, successfully launching digital live streaming IPs that sustained the company's market presence.
IP Development: Spearhead end-to-end conceptualization for innovative Intellectual Properties (IPs), including BMS Stream (TVOD), ensuring seamless product integration and long term brand alignment.
Operational Excellence: Oversee daily creative workflows, establishing the strategic roadmap and design standards for a team driving both brand evolution and product vision.

Key Projects: Cinema Revival (#UnlockingLife): Directed the pan India safety awareness campaign post lockdown, achieving a 46 million reach across Digital, Social Media, and YouTube.

IP Launches: Led the creative identity and weekly promotional cycles for new high growth verticals including Movie On Demand, Watch Guide, BMS Access & Venues.

Global Brand Partnerships: Led strategic creative collaborations with Tier 1 brands and entities, including Vodafone, TikTok, RuPay, GoPro, and the Singapore Tourism Board for digital events.

Awards & Recognition: 'Extra-Mile' Best Employee Award (2020) — honored within the first year of tenure for exceptional leadership and dedication in transforming an online business into a profitable new vertical.

Swiggy

India's leading on demand convenience offering food delivery, grocery delivery (Instamart), and dining reservations (Dineout).

FEB 2018 — MAR 2020

Lead Design

(One app for everything)

Led a team of designers to create visuals for the Product Merch, Social Media & Offline Marketing.
Led the ideation and visualisation of marketing campaigns and day to day vendor promotions on all the platforms.
Worked with the Product team to improve the customer experience and overall business through the various channels.

Important projects: Topical Events, Emil (Concierge Service), SOLO (Meal For One), Foodhall on Swiggy, Discover Section on Storefront (Pro-Active), Events, Offline Marketing projects including Hoardings, Newspaper Ads and Collaterals.

Antfarm

A collaborative program designed to develop startups, by providing skillsets.

AUG 2015 — FEB 2018

Art Director

(A business incubator)

Antfarm was an incubator of more than 4 Start Ups. I was working on Scootsy (Delivery App), Revofit (Fitness APP) and Stylista (Fashion Brand).
The experience of working on these premium bands gave me the understanding of clean and minimalistic designs.
I have created and executed campaigns across offline and digital marketing, including installations, events, and product packaging for a diverse range of brands.