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Design Foundry: Compelling designs that help brands stand out

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Mukund Venkatraman,Founders
Mukund Venkatraman, CEO
Keeping people at the core of design thinking and thoughtful communication helps customers create lasting connections with brands - believes Chennai based Branding and Design Communication agency, Design Foundry. Connections that enable them to understand respond and engage with each other in a way that leaves deep impressions and helps brands succeed. Founded in November 2016, Design Foundry is a thoughtful creative design agency which is known for providing design strategy solutions to brands from different sectors including hospitality, retail, technology and more.

From their shared love of design and stories, Mukund Venkatraman and Anita Mahadevan founded an agency which thrives on thoughtful design and artful content. “We believe people lead a purposeful life. The purpose could be anything – from changing the world to changing their wardrobe, anything can merit purpose. When they buy products and build preferences, it is because it aligns with their purpose. Hence, the often-repeated line that people buy brands and not products. For us, it translates further to people buying stories that the brands tell. The advertising, packaging,
service, identity, engagements- everything reflects that story. Designing that story excites and drives us. It fuels our designled thinking,” explains Mukund.

"If design forgets people, people will forget design."

Mukund has always believed that “If design forgets people, people will forget design.” Design Foundry partners with clients to deliver that. Be it to build strategies, brand ideologies, structure communication or navigate across platforms to empower brands, every thing works towards finding that path, audience and then gain success”, adds Mukund.

Design Foundry has a great mix of people who specialise in different visual and arts streams from illustration to creative writing or photography. Mukund believes that his seasoned team has helped Design Foundry reach its goals faster. He states “We have designers who love to get their hands chaffed crafting packaging prototypes and we also have writers who love to rap and visualisers who love to paint. All this benefits us collectively to serve brands better.”

From illustration and digital art, to advertising, publishing or editorial design, Design Foundry is carving its niche in the marketing space.

"Similar to a foundry, we cast ideas and forge communication," Mukund says. Design Foundry is more focused on offering a unique and fresh to the brands they work with. "Our approach is derived from the collective experiences of the team", he adds.

Riding the energy of Uniqueness
Mukund and Anita have in their previous roles won awards at the renowned Goafest Abbys. With Design Foundry they are especially proud to have, within the first six months of its incubation scored accolades including eight nominations at the Abbys 2017. This year, Design Foundry went a notch higher and bagged eleven nominations at the fest. The company also won two golds, three silvers and one bronze at the regional Maddys 2018. The team recently concluded a brand refresh for two restaurants in Hyatt; resulting in an unbelievable upswing in revenues for both the restaurants, and a shift in perception that has enabled a greater experience. Mukund adds, “We were also very proud of the launch campaign that we did for Hyatt Regency Lucknow which incorporated the national language in the messaging, a first then for a multinational hospitality player.”

The company is also strongly active in CSR initiatives that reflect their commitment. “Right from our online magazine artsatva.com that covers the art world, and actively highlights Indian artists and key international exhibits to our indie publishing house which recently launched its first book - “The Fisher of Perch” by the amazing poet Tanya Mendonsa. Our agenda is to enrich and empower our arts community. It is our way of creating a nurturing and creative ecosystem and most importantly gives back to the community,” Mukund concludes.