Hopping over mud puddles typical of a day after rain in Karachi, a rickshaw driver lifts his shalwar over the ankles to avoid splashes and crosses a busy Saddar street. He walks up to a confectioner pouring gooey mixture into a cauldron placed on the sidewalk and says, "aik paao jalebi." The salesman weighs 250 grams, hands it to him in a brown paper bag, and takes a wrinkled Rs. 50 note in return. The driver walks back to his rickshaw, sits with his legs folded on top of the seat with ragged covers revealing the foam underneath, and begins munching.

800 miles north in a posh locality of Islamabad, a 20-something girl steps out of her sedan and walks into an upscale sweet shop. "Aik paao jalebi," she says, and hands over her card to pay. She takes the brown bag, walks back to her car, breaks off a piece to munch on and drives away.

This South Asian sweet, Jalebi, soaked in sugar and colored in various shades of orange symbolizes the impact in experience design I strive towards.

The delicacy is accessible, inclusive, and often a token of celebration across socio-economic and cultural identities. But its making is intricate. A measured mixture of flour and sugar, poured into a large wok of boiling oil in a series of conjoined circles, and dipped in syrup for just the right time. The slightest variation at any step results in the sweet being too thin, too soggy, too crunchy.

These attributes are a parallel to the complexities of the challenges the projects in this portfolio aim to address and the outcomes worth celebrating they aim to achieve.