Sujata Keshavan
Sujata Keshavan (born 1961) is an Indian graphic designer. She is a co-founder of Ray and Keshavan, a brand design firm based in India.[1]
Education
Sujata graduated from the National Institute of Design in 1984. She then moved to Yale, graduating in 1987 with a Master of Fine Arts in graphic design from the School of Art, Yale University.[2] At Yale, Sujata studied under designers Paul Rand, Bradbury Thompson and Armin Hofmann.
Career
After graduating from Yale, Sujata moved back to India. In 1989, she co-founded Ray and Keshavan, in India. Brand design is about corporate image-building, it is about using strategic designs to make a company look better and connect better to its customers and the public. Sujata was instrumental in giving the 130-year-old Himalaya Drug Company a complete image makeover. She is also the one who has given the indigenous MTR a modern, international look. She was also involved in designing the logo of Infosys and Ashoka University.
Sujata has made a success of her career, as evidenced by the following honours and accolades:
- She is the only Indian graphic designer to be honoured twice as the Graphic Designer of the Year at the annual Advertising and Marketing (A & M) awards.
- She won the Eastern Press Award and the Schickle–Collingwood Prize for outstanding work.[3]
- She received the Outstanding Woman Professional of the Year, 2007, awarded by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).[4]
- In 2006, she was named among one of India's 30 most powerful women by India Today.[5]
- In 2011, she was placed 18th on Fortune India's list of most powerful women in business. ,[6]
- She is a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Design & Innovation.[7]
Sujata has been an invited speaker at many international conferences including Design Indaba in South Africa and the International Design Center at Nagoya, Japan. She was a jury member at ReBrand 100 at the Rhode Island School of Design and a member of the Design Jury at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. She served as the Chairperson of the jury at the Business World Awards for Design Excellence, and Chairperson of The Design Yatra awards for Excellence in South Asian Design.
Personal life
Sujata lives in Bangalore; Sujata is married to the historian Ramachandra Guha and has two children.[8]
References
- http://srishti.ac.in/people/gc-sujata-keshavan
- http://www.Design Indaba.com/article/career-firsts
- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore-times/Asias-top-brand-designer-lives-in-the-city-/articleshow/42012318.cms
- http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/ficci-ladies-organisations-annual-awards-presented/article1830450.ece
- http://archives.digitaltoday.in/indiatoday/20060424/wo-power7-14.html
- http://www.crisil.com/pdf/corporate/Most-Powerful-Women.pdf
- http://www.weforum.org/global-agenda-councils/sujata-keshavan
- [Ramachandra Guha in Business Standard http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/lunch-with-bs-ramachandra-guha-107050801041_1.html]