I’m Karan Saini, a designer in Toronto. I design digital products and websites, and the physical products they connect to: packaging, embellished print, and NFC pieces people tap with a phone.
I spent eight years at bigDAWGS, a print tech company of 16 people, and grew from design intern to Head of Design. Along the way I built client stores in WordPress, brought Figma and AI tools into the team, trained on embellishment presses, and designed products that won 7 FSEA Gold Leaf Awards.
I’m looking for a product design or design lead role where that range is useful: taking an idea from research, to Figma, to something people actually use.
2018 to 2019
Visual Designer
Ran prepress for every bigDAWGS product line. Designed and built two online stores: Canada Type for a client, and bigDAWGS Express. Both launched in 2019.
2020
UX/UI and Web Designer
Designed and built the bigDAWGS Greetings store and designed the bigDAWGS app. Brought Adobe XD, then Figma, into the team, and trained on the new MGI embellishment press.
2021 to 2022
Design Lead
Took over the Creative Director’s responsibilities after they left: the intern program, stickerbash.com, and moving the team to Figma.
2022 to 2026
Head of Design
Led 2 graphic designers, a content creator, and a social media and SEO specialist, plus 2 new Seneca interns every semester. Our embellished work won 7 FSEA Gold Leaf Awards. Launched punch.ninja and the NFC giving plaques, directed the brand revamp and the website design system, and trained Konica Minolta’s newly hired trainer.
Responsibility. At a company of 16 people, I owned design end to end, across web, print, packaging and NFC products. I consulted clients directly and took the work through to production with our production manager. See the bigDAWGS redesign
Impact. Seven pieces I designed or directed won FSEA Gold Leaf Awards in 2026. After seeing our NFC business card, brands including Moose Knuckles, Print Three and Fujifilm ordered NFC cards of their own, and punch.ninja brought 10+ clients on board in a single month. See punch.ninja
Problem finding. Hot lamination costs 3 to 10 times less in material than cold, but it melts vinyl. I worked out the heat and dwell time with the press operator so an expo banner could take it. See the FSEA awards
Problem solving. A different name in raised foil on every gift box, with two foil passes under a raised UV layer, planned so the three layers don’t blur each other. See the FSEA awards
Leadership. I led 4 people (2 graphic designers, a content creator, and a social media and SEO specialist), plus 2 new Seneca interns every semester. Konica Minolta’s trainer taught me their new MGI embellishment press in 2020; in 2025, I trained their newly hired trainer. An intern I mentored won a Bronze Leaf Award. See his videobook
I use AI to speed up the work around design, so more of my time goes into the decisions. The decisions stay mine.
Operations data. At bigDAWGS I set up sheets that timed every order stage, from prepress to production, and used AI to find where orders slowed down. The biggest time sinks were back and forth with clients and fixing files customers hadn’t prepared, sometimes costing more than the job was worth. I decide: which steps change. That led to new file and pricing rules, and a habit of testing small changes to how we assembled products, which added up over time.
Design to live pages. I connect Claude to Figma and WordPress, so a design becomes a real page without copying every value by hand. I also set up AI assistants with clear roles and shared folders, and taught others to use them. I decide: the design, the system rules, and checking every page before it goes live.
Research. I run first passes on competitors and audiences through AI research tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, compare what each one finds, and switch tools when a better one comes out. I decide: what’s true. Every claim gets checked against its source before I use it.
Visuals. I use Higgsfield for mockups and concept images. I decide: the artwork itself. AI renders the mockup; I design what it shows.
What I don’t hand over: the final design call, brand judgement, and anything a client signs off on.
- User Journeys
- UI Architecture
- Information Architecture
- WCAG Accessibility
- Responsive Web
- Cross Platform UX
- Smart Packaging
- NFC Integration
- Material Engineering
- Interactive Print
- Custom Finishes
- Video Books
- Design Systems
- Prototyping
- Figma and Adobe Creative Cloud
- HTML and CSS
- WordPress and Elementor
- Print Production
- Process Automation
- Team Leadership
- Cross Functional Teams
- Creative Direction
- Mentorship