We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Devika Kulkarni a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Devika, appreciate you joining us today. Is there a lesson you learned in school that’s stuck with you and has meaningfully impacted your journey?
If you ask me how I was in school, I have no shame in saying I was absent, mentally and physically. I was never regular in school because the environment didn’t feed my interests. Although the skills I was learning were essential and pushed me out of my comfort zone, I just wasn’t ready to put myself out there. I didn’t feel safe enough to express myself because I thought my way of thinking was unconventional or “wrong”.
I was taught to take academics very seriously and when I didn’t do as good as everyone else I felt like a failure and stopped trying as hard. I settled for my average grades and spent my days making YouTube videos, following drawing tutorials or even collecting candy wrappers. All things that people would consider hobbies or fun activities. Little did I know, those seemingly insignificant moments were shaping the designer I was meant to become.
In my undergraduate school, I decided to pursue visual communication design solely because I thought it included making drawings. But when I actually went through with the course my life had changed. The little girl who once would find a seat in the back of the class was now in front of people giving presentations about her wacky ideas. And guess what? No one laughed. Everyone was listening because they knew I had something to say.
I had found my people. My community.
They helped my ideas grow and transformed them from fleeting thoughts into full-fledged projects with real-world impact. That’s when I started gaining confidence in myself, not only as a designer but as a person. I was no longer afraid of the stage. I was no longer in the back seat, trying to hide. I wanted to be heard, and I was heard. The environment encouraged me to experiment, try new things and learn software that could bring my ideas to life.
Undergrad lit a fire in me, making me believe I could take on any challenge. And so, I did. I pursued a master’s in graphic design, thinking it would refine my skills, but instead, it reshaped my entire way of thinking. If I thought undergraduate school changed me, grad school transformed me. I am currently still in grad school and learning new ways of thinking. I am being challenged every day, but these challenges don’t scare me, they empower me. Every day, I learn, I grow, and I push past the limits I once placed on myself.
School is a subjective experience for everyone. For me, high school was not my place to shine because I never found interest in the subjects or my peers, and that was okay. But when I did find my subject that truly built me as a human, I soared. I went from being the kid who would shake and shiver every time my teacher would call on me to answer a question to now giving a TED talk on “Designing like a child in a grown-up world”, applying to companies that I thought were so out of reach and meeting designers who I once only dreamed of seeing on screen.
I am making my dreams come true simply because I found my community. That, above all, is the greatest lesson I’ve learned: the right people will help you grow in ways you never imagined. And for that, I am endlessly grateful.
Devika, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am Devika Kulkarni, from Mumbai India.I am a graphic designer and storyteller currently pursuing a Masters of Fine Arts in Graphic Design at Savanah College of Art and Design.
I got into the design field on a random Thursday. During the summer of 2017, I followed a YouTube tutorial on how to draw a bird and discovered I knew my way around pencil sketches pretty easily. I showed my parents and they were shocked. I was sitting on these drawing skills for 16 years of my life and I never knew what I was capable of until I decided to experiment. Once I started showing more interest in drawing I told my parents who had hopes of me being an engineer that if I did engineering I would fail miserably and never get a job.
That clearly terrified them, and my dramatic personality definitely convinced them that design and art was the right field for me. I then applied to multiple design schools and got into a BA in Visual Communication program at Whistling Woods International, where I became a true designer equipped with the skills to conquer the world.
However, during undergrad, I never really found my style. That came later, through work experience and my master’s program, where I discovered my love for children’s book illustrations, branding, and packaging—all infused with a hand-drawn, illustrative charm. I couldn’t let that found-of-nowhere drawing skill go to waste.
So I decided to start combining my illustration interests with my branding interests and developed a certain style which focuses on my hand-drawn quirky illustrations. Most of my work revolves around quirky, humourous illustrations that get people thinking. I also like to focus on creating work that solves the bigger issues. One project I worked on was creating a vitamin brand for women that only branded the product but also created a brand language that encouraged women to be more regular with vitamins while still keeping them fun and easy to manage.
My design interests are mostly in the fields of entertainment, healthcare, lifestyle and brands that have a strong story. Having a strong background story and a strong reason behind any brand or design is the key to success for the brands. I have done this for multiple brands where they come up with a simple brief of a package design, but by asking the right questions, I get to understand the deeper layers behind their motive to help me drive strategic design decisions. Design isn’t a formal job. It’s very unconventional in the sense that you have to understand people. You have to have the ability to dive through information to find what matters to people. If your people skills are strong your design decisions have the ability to be strong.
At the heart of my design process is human-centred research. I always prioritise the audience’s needs. But when it comes to generating ideas, I throw logic out the window (at first). I let go of my adult conditioning and embrace the craziest, weirdest ideas. Because in that mess of absurdity, I often find the best connections, the unique visual metaphors that make my work stand out.
Seeing patterns where others see ambiguity is my biggest strength, and if there’s one thing I want people to take away from me, it’s this: No idea is too wild, too weird, or too stupid. The key is asking the right questions, finding the right angles, and shaping the madness into something brilliant. You never know where it might lead.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
For me, the most rewarding aspect of being a creative is making people think, whether it’s about themselves, an overlooked detail in everyday life, or something as unexpected as cheese. I love using humor as a tool to spark reflection because that’s how I’ve always processed the world around me. Seeing someone smile, chuckle, or pause to reconsider something through my work is incredibly fulfilling. It reminds me that design isn’t just about aesthetics, it’s about connection, perspective, and leaving a lasting impression in the most unexpected ways.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
One thing non-creatives might struggle to understand about the creative journey is that there’s no set routine or formula for generating ideas. Creativity isn’t a 9-to-5 process where I sit at a desk, and inspiration magically appears. Some days, a simple nap sparks a breakthrough; other times, a long walk helps me connect the dots. It’s all about experiences, curiosity, and continuously developing visual literacy. The more projects I take on, the more I refine my thinking and discover new ways to approach problems. It’s never a linear process, sometimes an idea takes shape in a day, and other times, it takes a month. But as long as you keep questioning, exploring, and staying curious, you’ll always grow as a designer.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.devikakulkarni.com
- Instagram: Art: @lowkeywokee Personal: @doneforrreal
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devikakulkarni
- Other: Linktree: https://linktr.ee/devikakulkarni?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=93f8cef4-44e4-4bb6-8b19-da8a4e966e2e
Image Credits
Portfolio Project Photos: Insane Photography Studio