Design Education Guided by Global Leaders
Center for Design Studies brings together experienced design educators, international advisors, and industry practitioners who mentor students through studio learning, research, and professional practice in contemporary design.
Academic Vision & Design Leadership
Prof. Kirti Trivedi
The Academic Program in CDS has been developed by Prof Kirti Trivedi, one of India's most respected and experienced design educators, who initiated and founded India's first Master of Design program in Visual Communication in IDC, IIT Bombay. A member of the International Team of Design Educators who formulated ICOGRADA Design Education Manifesto, presented in Oullim 2000, Seoul; the CDS program is the outcome of the search for a new direction for Indian Design, as presented in 'The Way of Asian Design' Seminar and Exhibition organized by him at ADM, NTU, Singapore in 2007.
The design program is the result of long personal discussions held by Prof Trivedi over the years with the great masters of design education: Prof Kohei Sugiura, Japan; Prof Gui Bonsiepe, Germany; Prof William Huff, USA; Prof Ahn Sang Soo, South Korea; and Helmut Schmid, Japan. The entire program is developed, new courses identified and assignments planned by Prof Trivedi; along with creation of a learning environment which brings out the best in learners according to their own nature and potential.
Guided by an International Board of Advisors
CDS is supported by globally respected design leaders who bring international perspective, academic depth and strategic direction into our evolving design ecosystem.
Prof Jorge Frascara
Professor Emeritus and former Chairman, Art & Design, University of AlbertaHe has been advisor to the International Standards Organization (ISO), the Canadian Standards Association and the Canadian Standards Council on graphic symbols for public information. He has been a guest lecturer in 26 countries and has received honours from eight countries for his socially-oriented practice and promotion of communication design.
Prof Jesvin Yeo
Associate Professor at the School of Art, Media and Design, NTU, SingaporeProf Jesvin's research interests are in Cultural Value, Human Experience and Behaviour, and their applications in Cultural Heritage, Education and Wellbeing. Her cultural-related creative works have been exhibited internationally, including the Basel School of Design, Berlin Communication Museum, Center Pompidou Shanghai (West Bund Museum), Taiwan Design Museum and Hong Kong Heritage Museum.
Prof Ina Conradi
Associate Professor at the School of Art, Media and Design at NTU, SingaporeProf Conradi is an award-winning new media artist. Her works uniquely combine digital painting and experimental S3D animation for co-immersive spaces, installations, and media architecture. Her animated film Chrysalis was bestowed prestigious 2018 Lumiere Award by Advanced Imaging Society (AIS) Hollywood and 2017 Lumiere Award on behalf of Stereopsia Belgium, AIS and VR Society's EMEA chapter (Europe).
Prof Mark Chavez
Award Winner Animator, Film-maker and TeacherAn Award Winner Animator, Film-maker and Teacher, with numerous Awards including for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Oscar nominated for Best Achievement in Visual Effects, won a BAFTA Film Award for Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects, and numerous other awards.
Prof Caspar Schwabe
Professor at Kobe Design University, Kobe, JapanCreative explorer of Geometric Art and 3D Space; a Design Science Researcher, an Art/Science Editor, and worlds leading Geometric Artist. Known for his dynamic performances introducing geometric models developed by himself. Author of several books on Geometric Art, including Geometric Art in association with Atsuhiko Ashiguro, and designed by Kohei Sugiura.
The Teaching Faculty
The core faculty at CDS combine academic research with professional practice, guiding students through studio-based learning, critical thinking and design experimentation.
Aman Upadhayay
Aman holds a Master's degree in Computer-Aided Structural Design and works as a design educator, structural engineer, and interactive immersive artist. His practice explores geometry, materials, and spatial aesthetics while designing interactive environments across physical and digital realms using creative computation, coding, and node-based tools.
Dhanraj Babar
Dhanraj is a design educator, game and animation designer, and UX/UI practitioner with a postgraduate degree in Industrial Design from IIT Roorkee. His work combines board game design, interactive experiences, product design, and AI-driven workflows to explore storytelling, play-based learning, and user-centered design.
Trapti Rathore
CDS faculty also includes specialists from architecture and structural engineering who contribute to student projects. Trapti Rathore, an accomplished architect, guides students in developing interior and exterior visualizations for Experiential Graphic Design projects, helping translate concepts into clear spatial representations.
Industry Practitioners & Experts
Design professionals, researchers, filmmakers, illustrators and technology leaders regularly contribute to the CDS learning environment through workshops, lectures and collaborative studios.
Dr Jamila Varawala
Design Educator, Graphic Designer and Illustrator. Former Dean, Ecole Intuit Lab Mumbai and former Head of Department of Graphic Design at the University of Huddersfield, UK.
One of the most respected figures in design education in India, Dr Varawala has played a key role in shaping modern graphic design pedagogy across multiple institutions.
Kimya Gandhi
Type Designer and Typographer based in Berlin. Graduate of NIFT Mumbai and IDC IIT Bombay. Former intern at Linotype and now partner at the type foundry Mota Italic.
Her work focuses on Indic and Latin type systems and she teaches type design and typography across leading design institutes.
Biju Dhanapalan
India's leading Visual Effects Director known for animation and VFX work across over a hundred films including international productions.
His work includes visual sequences for major films such as 3 Idiots, PK and Neerja along with installations and new-media work.
Gaurav Mathur
Head, Design, Flipkart, Bangalore; Gaurav is a design leader dedicated to crafting user-centric products that blend aesthetics with functionality. At Flipkart, he is involved in creating experiences for millions of Indian shoppers as well as sellers, and fulfilment partners. Before Flipkart, Gaurav led UX design for Myntra.
Earlier, he worked at Citrix, co-founded Trevue Innovations - a design-led consultancy in Singapore; worked for IL&FS ETS; and Media Lab Asia. His work has been published in prestigious journals and conferences like CHI, Design Issues, MIT Press, and CIO Outlook.
Parag Trivedi
Senior Director, Salesforce, Bangalore. Parag Trivedi is a User Experience Design Leader with 25 years of experience in leading design teams and developing successful products in multinational companies such as Microsoft, GE Healthcare, and Honeywell. He specializes in creating products from inception to global success.
His recent work includes generative AI experiences on mobile devices. He has worked across various areas such as Healthcare, productivity, communication, e-learning, security, process solutions, and consumer products.
Prof R. Venkatesh
Professor at IDC, IIT Bombay, Prof Venkatesh is a HCI designer, educator and researcher. His Information Design Lab at IIT Bombay utilizes graphic design, interactive computer graphics, data-processing algorithms and emerging technologies to address challenging problems in Data, Design and Art.
His research focuses on data-based and visual understanding of a range of issues from public understanding of science, urban living, politics, education, transportation, to generative art.
Baarish Date
Founder of Graphics Beyond - India's most successful Wayfinding and Signage design company; Baarish is an Experiential Graphic Designer and Environmental Artist; with design and execution of many monuments of national importance.
Jaishankar Sharma
A Lighting Artist and Producer of lighting equipment for professional use in the movie industry; J.S. Sharma is also a fine artist and photographer, with a Master's degree in Fine Arts from Vishwa Bharati, Shantiniketan. He also directs and produces films.
Unmesh Kulkarni
Founder, Oceanic Circles - a Collective for Research, Design, and Social Impact. He has worked across healthcare, consumer, enterprise, and industrial domains in India, China, and the USA. Previously, he led design teams at Honeywell and Philips and co-founded Design Matters. Unmesh holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master's in Industrial Design from IDC, IIT Mumbai.
He has won numerous global design awards, including the 2009 INDEX:Award, Red-Dot, Eco Habitat, Design for Asia, IDEA Eco-Award, and iF Award.
Radhika Tipnis
Illustrator, Graphic & Book Designer, with a diploma in 2D, 3D Animation, and Multimedia from C-DAC, Pune, and a Master's Degree in Visual Communication from IDC, IIT Bombay. Her professional experience includes collaborations with eLearning companies and design firms in Mumbai, Singapore and Hong Kong. Her illustration style bears the influence of graphic design characterised by simple and bold shapes.
Radhika's work on a series of four books, which explored the lifecycles of various living beings, received the Best Design and Illustration award from the Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad in 2019.
Priti Rajwade
Independent Communication Design Consultant with over 21 years of experience in design and management of projects. Extensive expertise in Brand Identity, Logo Designs, and Packaging projects, Books, Newsletters, Annual Reports and Manuals. Specialization in Educational Design: Children's publications and educational products.
Poonam Athalye
Illustrator and Book Designer. Poonam started designing for children in 2007 after graduating from IDC, IIT Bombay. She has illustrated and written several children's books and also designed toys for toddlers while she lived in Singapore. Her book Takloo the little salt seller was read worldwide by 1600 storytellers on world literacy day in 2014.
She has also pursued Printmaking as a form of storytelling since she apprenticed under many accomplished artists in Paris between 2009 and 2017, in Singapore between 2019 and 2022 and Japan in 2023. Poonam currently lives and works in London.
Ruchi Shah
An environmental artist with Wall Art a major passion, Ruchi Shah has painted hundreds of walls with her unique approach to invigorating an interior space. She is also a much sought after Children's Book Illustrator, with many Children's books for major publishers of Children's literature.
Pradnya More
UX Designer, Graphic Designer and Fine Artist, Mumbai. Over 24 years in Design, Creativity, Learning and Education. Group Lead, Human factors International from 2016-18, conducting stakeholder interviews to understand requirements and define scope, User Research & Analysis, User Interface Structure, Wireframes, Prototypes, and Visual Design. Shifted to painting full time, exploring several media and themes.
Adithi Krishnadas
Animation Film Designer and Animator, Kerala. Adithi graduated from the National Institute of Design in 2019 after specialising in Animation Film Design. She currently works at Studio Eeksaurus, Mumbai as a 2D pre-production and animation artist.
Somnath Pal
Creative Animator, Illustrator and Scriptwriter. Many International and National awards including Best 2D Animated Short Award for The Candy Tree at 24FPS International Film Festival, 2013
Rachita Gorowala
Freelance Film Director. Education in Film from XIC, Mumbai and then FTII, Pune. Directed documentaries for the Films Division of India, MP Government, and digital advertisements for Mia by Tanishq, and seller stories for Local Shops on Amazon. Engagement with the film medium of the nature of an exploration with a deep sense of compassion and empathy.
Ayesha S.
A mixed media collage and interactive installation artist. Studied graphic design in New York, and lives in Goa having set up a permanent studio and Artist-in-residency program. Have held a series of collage workshops over the years for both adults & children.
Created many pieces for private commissions, and participated in many solo and group exhibitions. Private commissions in New Delhi, Mumbai, Singapore, London, Hong Kong, Los Angeles.