SK · MMXXVI
Creative Technologist
Saurabh
Kakade
I turn emerging technology into products that help people.
Creative Strategist · Meta Creative Shop
San Francisco
How I work
Problem · Technology · Impact
Spot the problem.
Ship the answer.
01
Human insight
Where it starts.
Every project begins with a human problem the rest of technology overlooks — blindness, censorship, climate denial, exclusion — and the people it leaves behind.
02
Emerging technology
The unobvious bet.
Take a technology that already exists and find the use no one else saw — the LiDAR in every phone, AI translation, a public blockchain, a variable font, 3D printing — and repurpose it as a new primitive for that problem.
03
Things that ship
Idea to launch.
De-risk the idea cheaply and build a coalition to ship it — small teams, lean budgets, shaping the idea and making it real. At Meta, working at the intersection of AI and creativity.
The technology is never the point. The human problem it solves is.
A timeline
45 entries · 2012 — 2026
- 2026
- 2025
- 2024
- 2023
- 2022
- 2021
- 2020
- 2019
- 2018
- 2017
- 2016
- 2015
- 2014
- 2012
- 2008
Recognition
2015 – 2023
250+
Total awards
11
Grand Prix
13
Cannes Lions
Highlights
Cannes Lions
2018
Gold · Innovation Lions
Dot Inc
Cannes Lions
2018
Gold · Health & Wellness
Dot Mini
Cannes Lions
2016
Silver · Cyber Lions
TrueColours
Cannes Lions
2021
Silver · Digital Craft
Meltdown Flags
Eurobest
2018
Grand Prix · Innovation
Dot Inc
Red Dot
2019
Grand Prix · Digital Innovations
Dot Translate
ADC Deutschland
2020
Grand Prix · Design
Made in Fukushima
Clio Health
2023
Grand Prix · Design
Freedom Grams
New York Festivals
2020
Grand Prix · Positive World Impact
Dot Translate
Ad Stars
2020
Grand Prix · Human Rights
Dot Translate
One Show
2020
Gold · Design
Made in Fukushima
Cresta
2019
Grand Prix · Digital
Dot Mini & Dot Translate
Cresta
2019
Grand Prix · Creative Technology
Dot Mini & Dot Translate
Cresta
2019
Grand Prix · The Future
Dot Mini & Dot Translate
Ad Stars
2019
Grand Prix · Interactive
Dot Translate & Dot Mini
Clio Cannabis
2022
Grand Prix · Social Good
Freedom Grams
Press
14 publications
- Ad Age Creativity
- Adweek
- TechCrunch
- It's Nice That
- Horizont
- Mindsparkle Mag
- The Designest
- Branding in Asia
- Design Made In Germany
- Little Black Book
- Digital Trends
- Best Ads On TV
- Directory Magazine
- Ultimaker
About
For a decade I've taken a new technology and invented something that helps people — the LiDAR in every phone as free “eyes” for the blind, AI that makes braille translation free, a public blockchain as a safe house for censored journalism. Most were built idea-to-launch by small teams on lean budgets, where I both shaped the idea and made it real.
Originally from India, built across four countries and six cities — Pune, Berlin, Prague, Paris, Munich, Hamburg, and now San Francisco. Recognized at Cannes Lions, D&AD, The One Show, Webby, Red Dot, and ADC. Today I work at the intersection of creative practice and AI.