I Have Always Chased Uniqueness – a Wedding Invitation Card Designer
Waking up with excitement to work on something new every day and see a product or design come to life is nothing short of a blessing.
From a strict school monitor to a civil engineer to now a wedding invitation card designer. It has been quite a journey.
Working Towards Mediocrity:-
After having completed my civil engineering I joined an IT firm and felt completely out of my depth. I had to work twice as hard to get to a mediocre level while I noticed for others, programming came so effortlessly that they aced it. This job made me realize 2 things: 1) If I could be this resilient and worked hard on something that I did not have an aptitude for, I could do much more in the areas of my strength. 2) I did not know what my areas of strength were.
Due to a change of events, I was placed in Chennai. Initially, i was reluctant, but it turned out to be the best decision I ever made. I made some amazing friends and had a ball of a time, but the best of all was my manager.
The Ultimate Decision:
Was blessed with an understanding and sweet manager, who understood my passion and pushed me to follow it. I was given the option of doing what I loved in his department, that would mean no growth or promotions. I gladly lapped it up. While working on one such creative assignment on his team I got noticed by the digital marketing team and shifted streams. Again I was blessed with a really great team and manager. For 3 years, I was on the path of rigorous learning. There were so many great things I learned from the people I worked with and I still try to practice this to date. I noticed how the senior-most Vice president would remember all the details and names of the 400 people that reported to him. He knew everyone’s strengths and ensured that we focused mainly on our strengths while working on our weaknesses parallelly.
On A Path To Explore:
My manager, who would always come up with a solution no matter how big the challenge was or how to ensure a project met everyone’s standards even if it meant 1000 iterations.
During this stint, I found that I was keen on combining design and content to conceptualize unique marketing ideas. This required me to hone my design skills, so I would watch hours of youtube design tutorials all night and practice these at work the next day.
My next role as a consultant required me to work from home in Mumbai, except for a few weekly client meetings. I went through a really dark phase from being an extrovert being completely isolated in a new city. After my regular work hours, I would keep designing something until I would tire myself to sleep.
And There It All Started – the Pink Whistle Man:-
So now that I was home and designing more, I started designing a bit of something here and there for my friends. I summoned up my bravery to put my work online, which gathered a lot of attention. So I finally decided to go for a brand name and logo. The pink whistle man, there it was. A girl, fond of journaling herself and giving names to each journal. Each diary had a name to it, kept under my favorite novel characters and pink whistle man was of whom I related the most.
I was now being known by a few people here and there. Once I was making sufficient money from my venture, I quit my job. I knew if I wanted to continue what I loved, I had to let go of my fall back options.
It Was Time for Another Step:-
With growing demand, I realized I had to constantly upskill myself to execute new ideas and concepts. So I started doing a residency every year for new skills. I did a design thinking residency in Goa, an Illustration residency from the School of Visual Arts in New York, Miniature Mughal art from Jaiselmer, and have a few more that I plan to attend once things open up.
These residencies helped me elevate my work to the next level and also instilled a sense of confidence in me.
Every wedding and every client is of equal importance to me. I have the same feeling that you have while waiting for your final exam results just before all wedding invites go out to the guests.
I love having noise in my background or talking to my friends while working, it keeps my mind running.
Have Always Chased Uniqueness:-
I believe there is something in the basket for everyone. With the diversified culture we live in, there is plenty of work for every individual. This gives room for several designers with unique styles to co-exist. Everyone has a unique style. I avoid following too many design pages or Pinterest because subconsciously other styles tend to influence us. My clients are bewildered sometimes when I recommend other invitation designers to them according to their requirements. I believe that does justice to everyone’s work and choices.