India is an award-winning design engineer specialising in themed entertainment, user-focused innovation, and emerging technologies. She is a former Walt Disney Imagineer and the inventor of TacTILE, the world’s first haptic flooring system for theme park attractions. For TacTILE, she earned a C-IDEA International Design Award in 2023.

With Walt Disney Imagineering, India was part of the project & design management of the Disney Treasure and Disney Destiny cruise ships, as well as five upcoming ships. She also led the creation of Disney Cruise Line’s official design guidelines.

Outside themed entertainment, India is a freelance artist and writer. Her written work can be found in publications including Counter Arts and ILLUMINATION. Her artwork can be found across social media @indiasonoma.

For fun, India is a creator with a unique portfolio: a Roman toga made of romaine lettuce, an interactive packaging system for onions (that just so happens to be large enough for several people to crawl inside), more drawings of theme parks than a person can count, and an installation of origami fish.

Professional Experience

• Freelance Writer 2022 – present

• Freelance Artist 2017-present

• Walt Disney Imagineering 2024
  • Project & design management for the Disney Treasure, Disney Destiny, and future ships.

• TacTILE: Haptic Flooring for Theme Park Attractions 2022-2023
  • Awarded a C-IDEA 2023 International Design Award

• SharkNinja 2022
  • Concept design & engineering for Ninja kitchen appliances

• Set Design 2015 – present
  • Set design for theatrical productions ranging from fairy tale pantomimes to sci-fi indie plays

Education

• Master’s degree in Product Design Engineering 2018-2023
  • Glasgow School of Art, University of Glasgow

• Graphic Design Certificate 2021
  • California Institute of the Arts

• Fine Art: Drawing (SCQF 7) 2017-2018
  • University of the Highlands and Islands

• Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (SCQF 9) 2018
  • University of the Highlands and Islands