Art Director
Art Director
MY ROLES:
Art Direction
Logo design
Branding
Graphic Designer
Photographer
Retoucher
TOTAL STAFF: 1 person
Desi Geek Girls is a podcast of two Indian-American women (desi means person of South Asian descent) who discuss, in a quirky and funny way, geeky topics like Star Wars, comic books, etc. They described their brand as passionate and quirky and being Indo-American was a big part of their identity, so I decided to approach the brand seeking a visual overlap between comic book culture and desi graphic arts; I found it in the form of the beautifully and graphically painted typography and illustration on Indian trucks, henna designs, and comic books in western culture. I wanted the color to be really bombastic, so I studied pallets from the aforementioned trucks. The logo I wanted to feel graphic and hand-drawn/tactile in nature, like it could either be found as a stamp or hand-painted on a truck or even in a comic book. The challenge was to make sure it still looked modern and clean, but still have grit to it. They expressed to me they really wanted to be able to print enamels of the logo, so I took that into account as well. I added in textures in addition to the uneven line approach in order to bring back the tactile feel and hand-drawn type that graced both comics and Indian truck art. I made several different logo options for different occasions that felt like posters and announcements. For the product photography, I decided the tactile nature would come from the processing to feel a bit gritty like an old printed comic— this in order to offset the smooth, bright colors. The uneven shapes and imperfections really call to the playfulness and quirkiness of the brand. I created the tagline “very desi, very geek” as a slight nod to internet culture, which often disregards grammar to express some form of immediate emotion (“much excite” for example.)
The Logo is based off of miniature paintings and older Indian styles of painting where the illustrations of people were often portrayed to the side and darker skinned was portrayed as a beautiful blue color. It was also based off of classic mehendi or henna designs drawn onto hands for special occasions. I have a few of the initial proposals I gave (you’re seeing second rounds based off the sketches they gravitated towards) which led to the final logos. I designed all of the logos so that they could be used together, mashed into posters and hero images easily, and also so it could be made into enamels.