When Nitya Kumar saw the industry pivoting toward AI, she knew she had to upskill. But rather than diving into a formal course, she took a different approach: she turned her career into a science lab, experimenting with AI tools like a mad scientist. The result? A UX design role at Adobe working on agentic AI experiences.
Key Takeaways
- Start small and experiment: Kumar committed to one hour a day with Cursor for seven days, resulting in a functional AI prototype—a dance gesture detection game.
- Embrace quirky projects: Instead of building safe case studies, she created a Matcha recipe generator using Gemini and Claude, which helped her stand out in interviews.
- Build a support network: She learned with friends who held her accountable and later led AI playground workshops for designers at Adobe.
From Art School to AI at Adobe
Kumar, a 25-year-old product designer in India, landed a role at Meta right out of college in 2022. By 2024, she felt the industry shift and wanted to learn AI design skills. With no formal machine learning background, she took her education into her own hands through YouTube videos and friends.
She treated her learning like a formula: one hour of Cursor a day + seven days = a functional AI prototype. Her first project was a game that detected and tracked dance gestures, which helped her develop a vibe coding workflow using different AI tools for different processes.
The 'Mad Scientist' Approach
Instead of playing it safe, Kumar unleashed her creativity. She built a tool that generated Matcha recipes, using Gemini to refine prompts and Claude to vibe-code the product. These quirky experiments not only taught her the AI landscape but also made her interviews memorable. Interviewers laughed and engaged with her tools, sparking conversations about matcha flavors.
After four months of intentional experimentation, she landed a UX design job at Adobe in November 2025, focusing on agentic AI experiences like conversational AI assistants.
Sharing the Knowledge
At Adobe, Kumar continues to experiment. Every other Friday, she leads an AI playground workshop for designers in India, where they test new tools and share AI-assisted workflows. This has helped her grow her leadership skills while supporting her team.
Treating her career like a science lab has not only enabled her transition into AI but also made her a better designer. As she puts it, "I feel like I've mastered vibe coding, fuelled my creativity, and become a better designer."
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