Make Me Happy Salads

First time author Zarine Jalil from Salad Stories, tells simple and engaging children stories with cut fruits and vegetables and the viewers can eat it all up at the end of the session. This book is her first attempt at engaging the young audiences. It has many such fun rhymes and easy to do salads for parents and kids alike.

We design directed the cover and the spreads. It was a fun collaboration and we are very proud of the outcome. It is lovely to see children taking so much interest in this one of a kind book and also eating healthy at the same time.

Handlettering all the rhymes took a while but it was worth the wait and effort as it adds to the DIY feel of the book.

Sharing a few spreads here. 

The book is soon available at all leading bookstores near you. Couldn't be a better reason to pick your copy for a kid or for the kid in you.

Samata.Shiksha

An initiative by the government of Maharashtra aims at providing good quality education to all. Here is a mark we designed backstage to all the hard work put in by the good folks at Comet Media Foundation. Do have a look at their blog and youtube channel of samata.shiksha.

Each unit of book with a circle represents individuals of different communities depicted by different colours coming together, for quality education represented by the star contained in the negative space. 

A mark that promises excellent quality of education to all. Samata means equality in Marathi. 

Greenotels

A mark designed for Greenotels or Indian hotels that practice green methods. 

It consists of a tree at the centre flanked by two leaves on either side suggesting, protection of environment through green practices. In the negative space is the gesture of indian hospitality or the namaste, in this context - a symbol of request to adhere to green practices to protect the environment.

To Rishabh and Vanshika

Designed these cards for a wedding in close family. The events were all held in the beautiful Suryagarh, Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.

The illustration style has been kept similar to the folk art found on the walls of Shekhavati called Bhittichitra. The lazer-cut jaali, the colour scheme and motifs are all inspired from Rajasthan.

All new Baaya

Baaya is a place where design meets all forms of Indian folk art. Here one would find traditional Indian art with a contemporary and functional twist. As Baaya's founder and CEO, Shibani Jain looks into every intricate detail that is being given to the brand new and awesome store space at Lower Parel in Mumbai one can see that it is indeed her labour of love. In her words, "Baaya is the Indian weaver bird that weaves its nest in a unique manner. It stands for a beautifully crafted yet functional space. The bird creates its nest, strand by strand, with many days of effort. The suspended nest takes on a beautiful, organic shape, rather like a mother’s womb. This amazing creation is our inspiration!"

Almost six years back we were commissioned to design a logo for the venture that was then taking wings. Now with a fresh new store space and newer horizons it was important to reconsider the visual language. While working on the identity we started with a fresh approach for an all new look initially.  Here a quick look at the process.

We took two approaches, one was to keep it to an ethnic yet contemporary feel and the other route was a contemporary and modern look.

The nest represents an exotic form, a comfortable space/home. The bird perching on top in a commanding stance.

The nest is glorified and the tiny bird is integrated into the logotype.

The "b" initial shaped like the weaver bird's nest and "y" takes the shape of the bird.

However as we progressed it was clear that the old logo had left a mark on its existing customer base and associates. Hence we cleaned it up and defined the overall look for brand Baaya.

Here's hoping that the tiny bird finds it's way in everybody's heart!

Accelya Hub

After a long pause from the studio here, there is a bit of an update. A few months ago we had wrapped up the identity design for Accelya. Since it was still under release we had to wait for disclosure and remove this post from here earlier.

However here is the story nonetheless!

As Accelya (a spanish co) and Kale (an indian co)  join hands for newer, better, bigger goals, it is the birth of an all new entity. Primarily the business here is to help airline customers streamline their financial processes. They also help them gain insights on business performance using decision support tools and data analytics.

The new brandmark for Accelya is a spark or an idea that emerges from a neuron-like network symbolic of the human expertise or intellectual capital. Coined as the HUB, it is the simplest and most efficient way to connect many origins to many destinations. Similarly "we" move, process and transform critical business information from its origin and convert it into actionable intelligence for stakeholders’ consumption.

The tagline “complexity simplified” brings forth not just our customer value proposition, but our attitude and approach to work.

The colour palette exudes warmth and personalisation - an extension of the human resource.

The logotype is constructed on the typeface Strada.

A series of Dreams : Swapna Shrinkhala

Originating in a mythological tale in Jainism here is a series of dreams we illustrated for some stunning calendar art this year :)

Identity Design for H&FS

Change is inevitable and to adapt one must evolve.

To re-design the identity for H&FS, a 25-year-old organization that has been working in the hospitality sector, the challenge at hand was to also determine to what extent was this change acceptable to it's beneficiaries and stakeholders.

Their old logo, we felt lacked concept thought and precision. The initials H, F & S stand for Hospitality, Food and Service (the full form however they have seldom used as they prefer it short). Hence our initial attempt was to make a mark that would visually speak for their prime business activity.

This exercise eventually got our client to rethink this proposal and they went for a more character driven approach. We sat to pin-it together in words that could define this persona.

This lent itself to these directions.



These were primarily derivatives of the elements from the old logo. However only the last one amongst these seemed like a possible direction, as it was the maximum the client was willing to move away from the exisiting identity.

We explored with typography and zeroed in on these options.



However, determined to somehow create a mark that could stand by itself we have stretched it a tad bit more.



And the client is excited!

Working on the stationery. Will share in another post soon as soon as it arrives from the press.

MindWave Identity

Our client is an IT facility management service provider besides which they also provide IT hardware sales and support who had earlier required an identity for MindSpark Infosolutions.

The brief for MindWave was to design a mark that was industrial-like and could be eventually placed over products as well.



We experimented printing with white ink on ivory card this time to achieve this water mark effect on the cards.

Dharohar

When a corporate turns 40 and has a legacy of its own it talks about the legacy of its soil at the turn of a new decade. A calendar design in process at DesignMembrane.
More coming up soon!

A FAMILY FOR EVERY CHILD

Catalysts for Social Action, a social welfare organization dedicated to the cause of child welfare is currently focused to influence change in adoption practice. We are honored to be associated with their initiative "A Family for Every Child" that will unveil at the Joy of Giving Week, 27th Sep-3rd Oct 2009.
We have designed the identity for this project which is also the name of the book.

Concept: 'A' for adoption, and 'A' completes a 'FAMILY'.
More updates on the book design and the rest soon.

MindSpark Infosolutions

Our client is an IT facility management service provider besides which they also provide IT Hardware Sales and Support.

The logo construction aims to convey order, perfection and quality of service in the mark.

A clean, simple and straightforward logo mark for a company that deals with corporates on a day to day basis.

I for Innovate

We were recently approached for designing certificates for an award function. But then whats in designing an odd piece of certificate?!
I understood first what our client had to say and asked if he was open to having an identity for these annual, industrial awards for in-house talent. He liked the idea.
Time for design is always a rarity with many projects I have learnt. We were a week away from the event day. But good ideas always come under the pressure of time!

Two days later when we met the following concepts were rejected...




However, this one gladly made it through.



The plus of this identity is that each year different objects can be used to form the word "INNOVATION".
This was adapted to certificates to felicitate the winners.



Since this was a small budget project we had to opt for digital printing only however we chose special paper for the three positions.
Wish there was a budget to do more experimentation and implementation. But like they say there is always a next time...

Project Closure : November '08