Today we’d like to introduce you to Drishti Khokhar
Hi Drishti, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
The central enablers to my career have been an undergraduate degree from National Institute of Design (NID) in India and my graduate studies in Baltimore at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). The former broadened my horizon to engage a diverse cultural context, the latter polished my voice, fine tuned my visual style, and inevitably pushed me to imbue personal context into every challenge – then trust my gut to finally sell the design.
My time in India is where I developed my craft as a creative practitioner. Graphic Design was a motivator to engage and uncover my surroundings and be taught the value of thinking critically of design in real world scenarios. How can we look into the past, decipher why things are the way they are and choose what our role is to better propagate them for the future.
In my years of experience, the projects I’ve worked on have let me live different lives. Through working with the giants of these creative industries while continuing to pursue and develop personal projects and curiosities. Pushing to build full spectrums of unique identities and branding visuals as a graphic designer; creating captivating artwork that can tell unseen stories as an illustrator.
Right now, I reside in Brooklyn as a well seasoned – not fully seasoned as there is always room to grow in these ever changing digital and personal growth spaces – graphic designer, illustrator, artist, and typographer.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Making the decision to further my studies and choosing to build a new home base outside of my home country certainly tacks on a lot of challenges coupled by the classic feelings of self doubt. You put yourself in a position where you need to do better than you ever have. These expectations led to frequent conversations about how I’d be able to curate a voice in this new space.
I consistently changed, molded, readapted and refined myself and the approach to my practice an immeasurable amount of times in my journey to where I am now – and I’m likely to keep doing that moving forward. There are plenty of people I have to thank who gave me their time, guidance and lent me their perspective which along with hardwork keeps me going.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am somewhere in the sweet spot between a Graphic Designer, Illustrator and Typographer. My art often involves a merging of these practices either pushing each outside the box – or at least closer to the edge.
A constant in my design efforts has been to ensure a push for unconventional means to finding solutions to any problem at hand. It is at that juncture where I can fully enjoy a good project brief and create innovative graphic styles that maintain a layer of personal voice.
In the course of following that ethos I’ve had the honor to be recognized for a handful of projects: By documenting historic narratives of noteworthy women in Indian history through a feminist lens; developing an illustrative graphic identity for a festival celebrating slow movement and close observation of flora and fauna; and visualizing the visceral discomforts when experiencing migraines.
In my day job, I apply myself as a creative in the Advertising industry where I act as a conduit for brands to bring out a visual articulation of their messaging.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Sheer curiosity and maintaining an inquisitive spirit have to be the main catalyst for my drive. A blinding excitement to be curious and learn what I don’t yet know are how I explore the dynamics of cultural background meeting new cultural spaces. These qualities are what lead me to the questions in design that I want to find answers for through self expression in creative forms.
By the same token, I’ve made it a self imposed rule to let loose and get bored. Creating a judgement-free zone for myself is crucial in allowing the brain to wonder, as I wonder I get curious all over again.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.drishtikhokhar.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drishti_khokhar/
