IxDA Pittsburgh is excited to welcome Uday Gajendar back to Pittsburgh! Join us at Highmark Health to examine the future of design practice.

Uday Gajendar is a CMU alum with over 20 years of work in Silicon Valley and, for one night only, he is returning to his old stomping grounds. We’ve convinced him to share some of his hard-earned wisdom with our community, so come on over to Highmark Health for a little professional networking and a provocative look at the future of our practice. As always, the event is free, but space is limited, so reserve your seat today.

About the Talk

The FOMO is real! Every time a new AI model drops or a new Figma feature is announced, we feel that twinge—and the pressure to become a builder, a prompter, a technical generalist only grows. But what if that anxiety is pointing at the wrong problem? In this talk, Uday Gajendar makes the case that durable design practice isn’t built on exhaustive tool fluency—it’s built on deeper levels of craft and influence that no toolset can obsolete. A provocation for practitioners ready to stop reacting and start leading the future of the practice.

About Uday

Uday Gajendar is a design consultant & coach specializing in AI product experiences. With over two decades of practice across Oracle, Adobe, Citrix, PayPal and most recently at Aurora Solar, he brings a rare blend of strategic depth and hands-on craft to teams navigating the messiest moments of product growth. He has spoken frequently about design leadership & strategy at events like IA Summit, SxSW, The Fluxible, IxDA, UX Australia, and he helped organize the first edition of Designing with AI, Rosenfeld Media’s conference dedicated to GenAI UX practice. Uday currently edits the bi-weekly Rosenfeld community newsletter while publishing thoughts on his Substack: udanium.substack.com.

About Our Venue Sponsor

We are most appreciative of Highmark Health’s hospitality.

At Highmark Health, our Experience Research & Design team is helping shape the future of healthcare experiences by turning human insight into action. Our global team works across the full spectrum of design, from experience strategy and research to product measurement, UX design, and design systems. We influence everything from enterprise-level decisions to the features and functionality used by millions of people every day. As AI transforms products, services, and the way we work, we’re investing heavily in the future of design, including conversational AI, democratized insights, and creating technology that feels intentionally designed for people. That’s why we’re excited to bring together the design community for this timely conversation about what’s next.

About Our Venue

We will be on the 2nd Floor of Highmark Health’s Corporate Offices at Fifth Avenue Place. The building can be accessed from either the Fifth Ave or Penn Ave sides. Upon Arrival, guests will need to check in at the security desk to get a temp badge and be escorted to floor 2. Please allow a little extra time for this process.

Recommended parking is 6th & Penn Garage, but other garages are nearby.

Light refreshments will be provided.