Prasanta Kumar Dutta
Prasanta Kumar Dutta is an Information Experience Designer from India, working at the intersection of design, coding, and journalism at Reuters. With a background in engineering and design, he crafts data-driven pieces that help narrate important stories visually. Several of his work has been recognized with numerous awards. He also teaches and talks about data visualization, narrative cartography, and design at eminent institutes across India.
A storyteller, passionate about data visualisation
At Reuters , I work mainly with the Europe desk covering breaking news as well as graphics-driven stories. My work typically involves a combination of research and data analysis, data gathering, ideating visuals, making maps and charts, and putting them all together on a responsive webpage.
I combine my knowledge of designing interfaces with my love for coding (HTML/CSS/JS). I have extensively used D3 to develop interactive dataviz along with other libraries for canvas-based graphics. For data analysis, I mainly rely on Excel, Observable Notebooks and a pinch of Python when required. I also enjoy working with spatial datasets and a big part of my work needs me to make maps from raw datasets using tools like QGIS. For design, I mainly use Adobe Illustrator and Figma, along with other photo and video tools in the suite.
My work has been recognised with numerous awards including the Webby, Society for News Design and Reuters Journalists of the Year Awards.
An engineer turned information designer
I began my journey as most Indians do — by pursuing an undergrad in engineering. I graduated from National Institute of Technology Durgapur, India with a Bachelor of Technology in Electronics & Communication Engineering in 2015. During that time, I developed an interest in robotics , movie-making and of course graphic design . A year later, I decided to seek a formal education in design which led me to pursue a Masters in Information Design from National Institute of Design Bangalore, India .
In the meanwhile, I briefly worked as —
An Assistant Manager at an e-learning startup, where I managed the creation and curation of high school maths and science content among other things.
A Graphic Designer at a digital marketing agency, where I designed ads, infographics and other promotional materials .
A freelance UX-UI designer for a digital commerce app, where I ideated user journeys and designed app screens and other UI assets .
An aspiring artist and an avid experimenter
I love to dabble in generative and digital art when I can. You can find some of my explorations on Instagram or on my blog . As I come across new technology, I love to try it out for fun and see how it might be useful for my area of work. Reach out if you would like to buy or exhibit my artwork!
My experiments don’t stop in the digital realm. When I am not working, you can find me exploring places and indulging in the culinary arts .