Brand Strategy & Communication
Strategy & POSITIONING, Strategic Narrative, Voice & Naming, Special Editorial Projects
I work with brands, creative individuals, and design agencies on developing strategy and narrative. I often work independently, as a direct consultant to clients in fields like social impact, craft, and F&B, but my most inspiring collaborations are with multidisciplinary design teams. I’ve found that my graphic design and journalism backgrounds are uniquely complementary to my work as a strategist within these teams. See some of my projects in this capacity below.
brand strategy | ideo x 82°E
I was part of the IDEO team working on strategy and communication for the skincare brand 82°E, founded by celebrated Indian actor Deepika Padukone. This included research, brand strategy, tone of voice, product nomenclature, and content strategy. As part of this dynamic, international team, I worked closely with the designers and business directors in a cross-disciplinary, holistic way to create India’s first celebrity-founded skincare brand.
After that six-month engagement, I continued to work with the brand independently across various verticals, including editorial and SEO strategy for their blog, product nomenclature, narrative strategy for campaigns, and digital communications, while also overseeing and guiding members of the team to ensure consistency in brand tone.
research | Ideo
I worked with IDEO as their Indian field research counterpart for a project with a leading tech and streaming platform in the US. My involvement in the project included traveling with the IDEO team across Mumbai and Delhi for two weeks, interviewing research participants in their homes about their streaming habits, and working with the team to synthesize insights. As a local, I was also part of planning analogous activities to inspire the team of researchers and designers and help them understand Indian culture and the entertainment industry.
editing | Svasa Life
Alongside my collaborator Mallika Chandra, I guest-edited this volume of Svasa Life, a luxury lifestyle magazine based in Bengaluru, India. Mallika and I are the co-founders of Play Fare and created Spectators, an editorial practice that sparks interest and shapes discussion on how food impacts our lives.
For Svasa Life, we conceptualized their food issue with the provocation: how does food acquire meaning from the spaces it inhabits? We developed an index that celebrates this phenomenon at different scales—from microscopic to metaphoric to global—and worked with, edited, and art directed writers, illustrators, and photographers across the world to bring these ideas to life.
case studies | PENTAGRAM
I’ve written numerous case studies for projects led by Pentagram partners Matt Willey, Eddie Opara, Luke Hayman, and Emily Oberman. The goal was to write compelling case studies describing the projects and emphasizing their strategic and/or business intentions, as well as the design components—positioning these projects for an audience beyond designers.
I interviewed the partners and other designers on the team about the projects and then wrote the case studies for use on the Pentagram website and other client presentations or pitch decks.
Narrative strategy | BORDER&FALL
I’ve worked on brand tone and communications for clients in India’s arts and design world, including leading Indian interior designers, contemporary artists, and couture brands with communications agency Border & Fall.