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Deepikah is a designpreneur based in New Delhi. She grew up in Delhi in the 90’s and studied communication design from Pearl Academy. After creating a docu-graphic film for UNESCO for her dissertation project, she moved to Mumbai to work at MTV as a motion designer for 4 years. After working with various TV channels- MTV, Nickelodean, Disney; She moved back to Delhi to be closer to family. After a failed attempt at running a startup in partnership; she now works independently from her home studio creating bespoke brands, illustrations, motion graphics and more. She feels in today’s times, networking and collaborating is an essential part of the creative growth process.
A little about yourself:
I am all over the place. I like to call myself a design entrepreneur. I work independently on projects from various media and tend collaborate with the best people in business to create small manageable teams of creatives for every project. In this way, I end up being able to do a lot of different kinds of things without limiting myself to the abilities of a fixed team, like in a studio or a company.

Why are you a Graphic Designer?
I like beautiful things and systems. I like beautiful things in beautiful, seamless systems.

Did you attend school for fine art or design?
I was the first batch of Communication Design that graduated from Pearl Academy.

You have a distinct style of Design. How long did it take you to develop your style?
I experiment a lot and try hard to not do the same thing again. A style is more of a reflection of your persona and it shines through in the character of work you do and not just the style or technique. I have been making things for about over 10 years now so I guess it takes longer than that to develop what you may term ‘a style’.

Tell us something about your motion design work?
Back in college, when we had to pick a major, I picked motion design as it seemed more challenging. After my dissertation with UNESCO, I worked at Miditech as a graphic artist doing title sequences for documentaries. Back in 2007, there were very limited options for a motion designer in Delhi so I moved to Mumbai and found a job at MTV as an associate Promo producer.

Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
I never grew up wanting to be a designer. I thought I would be a business woman or a detective, or someone who would travel a lot for work. Nancy Drew seems to be the only one I remember to have admired.

Who was the most influential personality on your career in graphic/motion design?
Nupur Bhargava of Invisible Rabbit.

When did you start freelancing?
I started freelancing while I was still in college. Have been in and out of many jobs since then. Officially put an end to jobs in 2009 when I quit MTV.

Was there any time when you wanted to quit graphic design?
The thought crosses my mind once every day. But not quitting design, just giving it another form, like building a farm, opening a cafe or creating a line of bottled beverages. So many ideas so little time.

Are many advertising agencies hiring graphic designers? Do you work more with agencies or producers/publishers?
I do get to hear about a lot of openings in agencies, web companies and more. But, I tend to work better with producers, business owners, tech startups, independant artists etc. Agencies usually call you on a friday night when their in-house designer refuses to pick up his phone and they have a deadline on Monday. That is not the kind of work I am interested in any more.

Do you have clients who give you steady work or do you advertise for new clients often?
I have a handful of steady clients who spread good words around, which helps me keep a steady flow of work so far. I have considered advertising for new and bigger clients, sometime soon in the future. But up till now, doing good work to get good work has been enough.
Any other Indian graphic/motion designers who you admire?
Oh so many! Vaibhav More, Nupur Bhargava, Virendra Rathore, Sameer Kulavoor, Harikrishnan Panicker.

What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals? Would you advise them to take on graphic design as a career option?
Experiment a lot in the early days. Do not settle into a comfortable job too quickly. Try and work for at least for 5 to 6 years with people more experienced than you before going solo or starting your own studio. Never stop learning new skills. Do not work for free. Also, name your layers in Photoshop.
Do you think Clients are opening up to keeping aside a decent respectable budget for design work? Do you think clients are understanding that they need to invest in Design as a communication tool and also to cut the clutter, and that good design comes at a price?
It is always a fight. Clients are beginning to understand that they NEED to invest in design in order to cut the clutter but they are still penny clenching. I write a lot of proposals and send out pitches but only 20% of them come through. That is the part of the process. The clients either go with a cheaper/ younger designer or they ‘crowdsource’ it, if they are a startup. This is more common with family businesses, who want to keep it all for themselves and are still finding it hard to create a marketing budget out of the next Jaguar or Mercedes they were planning to buy. A lot of traditional businesses are only beginning to break out of their shell of “no marketing” policy and trying to create a brand strategy. But, we are still a long way from an ideal environment for creativity to prosper. I purely speak for the Delhi/ Gurgaon scene. The market and work culture here is very different in other parts of the country.
Mac or PC?
Macbook Pro any day.

Who would you like to take out for dinner?
Tina Eisenberg Roth or Meeta Malhotra. These two are remarkable business women who balance creativity and business, phenomenally.

What’s on your iPod?
On my Ipad. Arctic Monkeys, Imagine Dragons, Dualist Inquiry, Advaita, BlackstratBlues

Whats your Twitter Handle?
@deepikah

The post Deepikah Rahul Bhardwaj : Interview With A Designpreneur appeared first on desicreative.