Profiles
Arjun Rajkishore
Principal Designer
Canvs
Consistency, craft and a refusal to chase what doesn’t feel true
In a world that romanticizes the solo hustle and burnouts disguised as breakthroughs, Arjun Rajkishore’s decade-long journey in design feels almost contrarian. Not because it lacks ambition, far from it, but because it’s built on something rarer: consistency, craft, and a refusal to chase what doesn’t feel true.
Today, Arjun is Principal Designer at Canvs, a product design studio that’s made a name for itself by staying obsessively good at the intersection of design, tech, and business. But long before this, Arjun began his journey the way many designers dream of ending theirs, by starting his own studio right out of college.
To building voice and community over the years as a lead at a focused studio
The tightrope of
being Principal
Arjun talks about the challenges that come with being a Principal Designer, and how not just being involved with the day-to-day work, but also being clued in to the larger industry is what gives him true insight.
“As a part of my role, a lot of people come to me with questions of all manner. So the task becomes not just to have oversight over all these projects, but also have a deep understanding of the overall industry.”
A leap of ego, timing
and a little bit of stubbornness
Arjun didn’t start his own studio out of some grand founder dream. “I wasn’t getting what I thought I was worth,” he says, recalling a ₹32,000 offer after nine interview rounds. It was just ₹7000 more than his internship pay. The math didn’t add up.
Starting a studio right after college
So he took a leap. “Right after college, risk is lowest, you’ve got no baggage. I thought, let’s try it for a year. If it works, it works.” Was it ideal? “It was an equal mix of stupidity and guts that you typically just have at that age,” he laughs. “Now, 10 years later, I’d approach the process way more smartly.”
The business of
craft demands
discipline
Arjun is deeply money-minded, in the most principled way possible. “People assume if you care about pricing, you’re a sellout. But most good designers want to make money from the craft, not in spite of it. You’ve put in the time. You’re good at what you do. That should be enough.”
However, fairness, not profit, was to drive his decisions. “I wanted to be paid fairly, but I wasn’t going to overcharge.”
Sharing his insights on craft
This is how he approached freelance life from day one. Over the next few years, Arjun would take on everything from app design to web products to visual identity work. Not out of necessity, but rather, intention.
Arjun often experiments with 3D printing
Even in those early years, his sensibilities leaned toward creating long-term value. Many of his clients would go on to be multi-year retainers. “Luck,” he says, “is what gets you in the door. Skill is what keeps you there.”
He treated freelancing with the same discipline as a full-time job. “I needed that monthly invoice, so I treated it like a job, just on my own terms.” He set fixed hours, starting 8 AM, a rhythm learned from growing up in a house of architects and schoolteachers
Eventually, he realised his own efficiency. “I started thinking, if I can do this in four hours and get paid this much… I still have another four hours technically. Can I double that?”
Design as the
smallest part of the job
Like many independents, Arjun quickly learned that designing is often the least of what you do. “You have to become your own accountant, client servicing person, biz dev. You have to network, go to events... It's a lot.” But it didn’t feel like a burden, because the work was deeply enjoyable. “If you genuinely like what you do, you don’t realise how much of it you’re doing.”
Arjun frequently pushes designers at
Canvs to see more work across
different disciplines.
One of his first few projects involved designing Marathi posters for a Pune-based builder. “I didn’t know the language well,” he recalls. “But I’ll always figure it out: how placement should look, how the hierarchy of information should look like even in a language I don't understand.” That instinct, to figure things out, no matter the skill gap or the subject matter, is still what sets him apart.
What true problem-solving actually entails
“As designers, we don’t need to say that we solve problems; it’s the bare minimum. What matters is learning from the problems we’ve solved and ones other teams have solved.
I tell younger product designers: you can’t use apps like users do. You have to study the patterns, trace the decisions, and do it enough times for this to become second nature.”
One of Arjun's pet peeves is product designers calling themselves problem-solvers, since he believes it to be a function of the job itself. According to him, a better approach would be to learn from your own solutions, and those of others, along with conditioning yourself to look every product under the hood.
The importance of Design Managers (DMs) for Canvs
“Canvs has always had DMs from the start. It lets designers focus on what we’re best at. You’re not bogged down by calls or messy feedback. You get clear, timely input that keeps output high. And because our DMs are designers too, they translate things well.
But it’s not one-way, we have to articulate our intent clearly so DMs can represent it right. That’s what makes it work.”
Design is multifaceted, with its mix of business, craft and relationships to uphold. Arjun highlights how Canvs has always had design management baked in, and how having designers as design managers makes all the difference.
Nurturing long-standing associations
“One of the most important things you’ll build is an interpersonal relationship with clients. You might be the expert, but you also have to be someone they can rely on. You can’t walk in thinking your solution is the only one.
You have to understand their business realities and know that not every fight is worth having. There’s no good design without compromise."
Building a long-sustaining client relationship takes time, effort, feedback and understanding. It is something that Arjun strongly believes more designers should focus on.
Over time, Arjun's relationship with Canvs became more symbiotic.
Arjun’s journey with Canvs began in 2017 with a comment on a Facebook post. He was on vacation in Chennai, scrolling in the backseat of a car, when he came across a post by Debprotim Roy (Founder, Canvs) in a design group.
“I wasn’t even looking for work,” he says. “I’ve never actively reached out for anything as an independent.” But something about the tone of the post, and the profiles of Debprotim and Premankan (CDO, Canvs), felt worth exploring. He commented. Half an hour later, while still on the same grocery run, he got a reply.
Depro & Premankan’s convo
From Canvs's side, the impression was instant. “I told Premankan, ‘This is the only guy worth talking to,’” says Debprotim. “Arjun’s Dribbble had visual design, a bit of product, and he was clearly someone who understood how apps work. If he’s this good, what’s he doing here?” That comment turned into a call, then a client project. Arjun was soon at the Canvs office in Powai, signing an NDA.
Canvs was still in its scrappy years, often working late into the night. Arjun, meanwhile, was trying to build a sustainable practice. “We were both trying to prove something,” Debprotim says. “He never said no to more work, and we never held back. A lot of our work was his, and a lot of his work came from us.” What began as a freelance project turned into something longer, deeper, and far more symbiotic.
Working together just made sense
For Arjun, good work is a two-way street. If a client is trusting him with design, he would also evaluate them just as actively. “Part of my client choosing and retaining process was like a two-way interview. I have to see if you fit with me as well before it works.”
From the start, this stint with Canvs felt different. Something about the working style felt unusually easy. They were very chill and respectful, letting me decide my own timelines. I'd never had that before. And most importantly: “The reviews were direct and constructive, and not ‘make the logo bigger.’ I like working with decisive people.” All of this added up, deepening the relationship in a natural way.
There were phases when Arjun and Canvs didn’t work together. But when they came back to each other, something had shifted. The studio had begun to mature, doubling down on design and evolving its internal structure. Debprotim reached out with a different ask: "let's do a retainer instead of this project thing."
It was a turning point, "and my preferred means of working anyway," says Arjun. "The nature of the work was more evolved, there were more processes in place, and clear designer-design manager demarcations. Everyone seemed more settled into their roles.”
A turning point in maturity
From running a studio to joining one
Arjun didn’t formally join Canvs until much later, but the commitment began long before the title. “Work was great. My own company was doing well. Canvs was a big part of that, being consistent and long-term.”
But post-2020, something shifted. Canvs was growing fast with more designers, animators, and managers. The energy was different, and Arjun, already deeply involved, started feeling the pull. “It seemed like a natural next step… a place that I wouldn’t feel like an outsider in.”
Stepping in to build something long-term
There was also the question of visibility. “I was doing 95% of the design work going out from Canvs,” he says. But as a contractor, there were limits - to access, to influence, to shaping how design and talent evolved.
Coming onboard formally meant stepping into the right inflection point where he could make a difference as an experience designer. “You want to help build something. But why would the larger team trust a contractor with that?”
Influencing the studio’s design voice over time
Arjun’s operational load involves setting processes, systems and documentation, making sure Canvs runs like “a well-oiled machine.” Despite this, Arjun hasn’t let go of the craft. “I don’t see a difference between a mundane task like populating a design system with 250 components and making a new screen for an entirely new feature. Both are interesting design tasks to me.”
Staying close to the work isn’t about control; it’s about being hands-on continually. “If I step away and come back three weeks later questioning decisions, it undermines the team. I have to be in on it from the start.”
He’s also clear about design being the thing that still anchors him. “If I stop doing the work and just get promoted a couple more times, I’d genuinely wonder what I’m doing here.”
Keeping a process-oriented system running
Staying close to the team and the work
Experimenting with cooking
For Arjun, the work of staying creative isn’t confined to designing; it comes from getting far away from all of it. “If I want to stay creative with this,” he says, “I need to do other things.” Long-distance cycling, cooking, even 3D printing, these are more than just hobbies for him. They’re what help him process, reset, and think differently.
Long-distance cycling
Making beats with his home setup
“While I’m going on a 130km ride for five hours, I physically can’t take my phone out. It’s just me trying not to get killed by traffic,” he laughs. “I'm also bound to hit some pain points, but once I’m back, recovered, eaten some food… then the ideas start. Like, I faced this issue on the ride, what if I had a map that showed me clean bathrooms, rated by other cyclists?” The act of stepping away, he says, often becomes the spark: “You’ll start seeing inspiration everywhere.”
He’s quick to point out that this isn’t about being productive outside work. “Forget anything creative. Do something non-creative. Just do something,” he says. “I channel all that extra anxiety into these things, without them, I won’t survive.” For him, creative energy is deeply tied to lived experience. “You can’t just keep doing app screens for two years and wonder why you're not progressing.”
Generalists and AI in the future of design
Arjun is aware that design today isn’t what it was ten years ago. He has seen the shift - from heavy PS files to collaborative, code-friendly tools that let you ship entire products. “What took months now takes hours. You no longer need an After Effects course just to animate a button.”
“You should certainly still specialise, but also be knowledgeable enough to get around. That’s the kind of designer I want to work with.”
Noise, substance and the importance of community
One of the traps for designers today, according to Arjun, is the allure of aspirational shortcuts like NFTs and social media fame. People end up being wowed by MRR tweets and influencer aesthetics.
In India, there’s still a lack of community that truly raises the bar together. “Abroad, when designers are loud, they’re usually also good. Here, being loud gets you attention, but doesn’t guarantee substance. We need better spaces, conversations, and standards.”
Arjun's not interested in chasing virality. But he does care deeply about what gets rewarded in this ecosystem, and wants to be part of building something better.
The studio in his image
There are people who design for a living. And then there are people like Arjun, who’ve built a life around design. It’s tempting to frame Arjun’s trajectory as some kind of moral win, the passionate creative who resists noise and stays true to the work. But that would be only half the story.
“After 10 years, I still feel like this is the beginning of my career. There’s so much to learn, there’s so much changing around us.”