Co-founder of a Global architecture & design platform reaching 10M+, driving innovation through competitions and media
AW
Volume Zero is an architecture and design magazine that highlights some of India’s finest and the world’s most innovative design talent. Its extension, Volume Zero Competitions, hosts global design challenges for students and professionals, fostering creativity and collaboration. With a rapidly growing international audience, the platform required a UX architecture that could scale efficiently while maintaining a seamless and intuitive experience.
Project Type
Co-founder, UX/UI, Brand expansion, Entrepreneurship
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Impact & Reach
The growth metrics of Volume Zero highlight its significant impact on the global architecture and design community. With a strong competition reach, a highly regarded jury panel, and a diverse pool of participants, the platform successfully engaged professionals and students worldwide.
The magazine featured hundreds of innovative projects, supported by a substantial social media following and email subscriber base. Thousands of design ideas were submitted, and significant prize money was awarded, establishing Volume Zero as a key player in fostering creativity and innovation in the industry.
Company Background: From a Small Idea to a Global Platform
Volume Zero was founded with a clear mission—providing young design talent in India with a dedicated platform to showcase their work. With the dominance of established magazines, emerging architects and designers found it challenging to gain visibility. Recognising this gap, the idea was tested within the architecture community, receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback.
Started from the ground up and entirely bootstrapped, the company was built by three co-founders from a small office with a vision to create an impactful, design-driven brand. The first year focused on establishing a strong digital presence and brand identity, while the second year marked a major milestone—the company became profitable.
Over the years, Volume Zero has gained significant media recognition and has successfully hosted over 20 global architecture and design competitions. With a distinguished jury panel featuring world-renowned architects, the platform has distributed over $94,000 in prize money to winners from various countries. Today, Volume Zero stands as a respected name in the global design community, fostering creativity and innovation through its competitions and editorial content.
Volume Zero Design Magazine - volzero.com
Volume Zero Design Competitions - volumezerocompetitions.com
Volume Zero Instagram Handle - @volume_zero
Volum Zero Competitions Instagram Handle - @vzcompetition
My Role: Leading Design & Systems Architecture
Among the three co-founders, responsibilities were strategically divided—one focused on financial organisation, another on operations and communications, while my role centred around designing systems and marketing. As the company grew, so did the team, expanding to 10 members, including writers, marketing professionals, and designers. The design and marketing teams worked directly under my leadership, ensuring a cohesive vision and execution.
I was responsible for designing the entire system architecture, including the UX and UI for the magazine platform. This involved structuring the user journey, where users could sign up, submit their work for publication, and track their submissions through a dedicated dashboard with key performance metrics.
Additionally, I led the systems architecture for the competitions platform, designing both the frontend and backend workflows. This included the user registration and payment process, as well as the submission system, ensuring a seamless experience for participants. A separate jury panel system was developed, allowing panels comprising renowned architects to access, review, and score design submissions based on multiple criteria. An algorithm-driven evaluation process was implemented to ensure fairness and transparency in selecting winners.
The coding and development of the platform was executed in collaboration with a development team, ensuring the design vision was translated into a fully functional, scalable digital product.
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Media Recognition & Publications
The work and impact of Volume Zero have been widely recognised by leading architecture and design publications. From founders' interviews to competition winners being featured, the platform has gained visibility in globally renowned media such as ArchDaily, Yanko Design, Architect, and World Architecture Organisation and more.
These features have highlighted innovative design solutions, emerging talent, and the platform’s role in fostering global architectural discourse. With coverage spanning multiple prestigious outlets, Volume Zero has established itself as an influential voice in the design community, further amplifying the reach and credibility of its competitions and editorial content.
Press Coverage
Volume Zero Re-school Competition Winners Featured in World Architecture Organisation - View Article
Media Coverage Highlights
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Reflections and Learnings
Entrepreneurial Growth: Built a bootstrapped venture from the ground up, navigating challenges in scalability, profitability, and brand positioning.
Multi-Disciplinary Design Expertise: Designed and implemented UX, UI, and system architecture across multiple platforms, integrating seamless user experiences.
Risk-Taking & Decision Making: Made strategic business and design decisions with calculated risks to drive innovation and market expansion.
Marketing & Brand Building: Developed a strong digital presence, executed high-impact marketing strategies, and scaled audience engagement globally.
Idea Execution & Validation: Transformed a conceptual idea into a globally recognized platform, validating its success through market response and user engagement.
