MDes Design Innovation & Service Design School of Innovation & Technology
Swapnil Bapat
Swapnil is a multidisciplinary designer with a strong background in engineering and design. His practice sits at the intersection of technology, systems thinking, and human-centred innovation – exploring how design can address complex challenges with empathy and clarity.
With professional experience spanning national carriers, global technology companies, and early-stage startups, Swapnil has led projects that range from AI-powered platforms to service transformations for the aviation industry. His work is driven by a belief that design should not only solve immediate problems, but also shape more inclusive, ethical, and future-resilient systems.
Swapnil’s approach blends analytical rigour with creative exploration, often bringing together co-design, speculative futures, and emerging technologies to imagine services that work better for people and the planet. Whether building scalable digital products or reimagining societal systems, he focuses on creating a meaningful impact that endures beyond the project.
Unlocking Student Potential: Applying Insights Discovery to Transform Career Guidance in Higher Education
The modern student faces a rapidly evolving landscape in higher education and career planning. Careers are no longer linear, and certainty is in short supply. The traditional, “one size fits all” approach to student advice leaves many voices unheard and talent unexplored. This project reimagines career guidance for the next generation – placing individual personality, strengths, and self-discovery at the heart of student journeys.
Using the Insights Discovery model, I’ve developed new methods and digital tools to help recognise what truly makes each student unique. Through interviews, workshops, and live pilots, my work uncovers how deeper self-awareness and tailored mentoring can unlock pathways previously overlooked.
But the heart of the project lies in its commitment to real change – empowering students to articulate their strengths, understand their motivations, and approach uncertainty with greater self-awareness. By collaborating with students, alumni, working professionals and career advisors, the work demonstrates how adopting a growth mindset and practical interpersonal frameworks can transform not just career guidance, but personal fulfilment and community impact.
In this work, you’ll find:
- Stories from students who found their direction, not in a distant future, but through their own reflection.
- Data visualisations and interactive exercises designed to bridge the gap between inner confidence and employability.
- A new narrative for higher education that values curiosity, individuality, and real-world impact.
Faced with the challenges of a world where careers and industries change faster than ever, this project is a call to empower – not just advise – the students of tomorrow. It offers a roadmap ready to embrace guidance that is as dynamic and diverse as the young minds it serves, and it invites us all to reimagine what it means to unlock potential in the 21st century.
Download the Bloom beta app for iOS here and be one of the first in the world to try it: https://testflight.apple.com/join/BSdj1nR6.
Interested in partnership opportunities, venture capital funding, or collaborating to scale the impact of this work? Super passionate about career guidance and looking for a co-founder? Please contact me at hello@swapnilbapat.design. I welcome conversations with educators, investors, innovators and literally anyone who shares a passion for unlocking the potential of and shaping the future of career guidance.
