RUCHIKA MUCHHALA
UX RESEARCH + VISUAL ETHNOGRAPHY

Hello!

I am a UX researcher and filmmaker.

I was born and raised in Indonesia and Singapore, where I attended international schools and had classmates and teachers who were from all over the world.  

I have a B.A. in Film/Video Studies and Sociology from The University of Michigan and a M.F.A in Design for Social Innovation from The School of Visual Arts. I am well-versed in applying ethnography, user experience research, qualitative methods, and the power of storytelling to understand what motivates human behavior and experiences. I have 15 years of experience working as a documentary filmmaker and nonfiction television producer. I have international experience in nonprofit, social impact, healthcare, and consumer work. Both of my feature documentary films, “The Great Indian Marriage Bazaar” and “Beyond Bollywood” have been screened at festivals and universities internationally as well as on Netflix, AppleTV and PrimeVideo. Asides from the feature documentaries, I have produced several short documentaries and nonfiction series for outlets such as Vice Media, MTV, History Channel, Crime&Investigation, to name a few. 

I am passionate about participatory research methods, as I believe that everyone should be able to tell their own stories. I’ve worked on executing participatory research methodologies and producing content for clients such as RWJBarnabas Health, W.K Kellogg Foundation, and The Rockefeller Foundation, to name a few.

As a visual ethnographer and researcher, my goal is to listen and authentically synthesize people’s stories to create a sensory experience for clients and move the needle towards building a more equitable and accessible world. 

 

Watch this one minute video to understand what I do
as a visual ethnographer!

Watch my one minute showreel video to see my film/television work!