We were lucky to catch up with Gandhar Vamburkar recently and have shared our conversation below.

Gandhar, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

Immensely happy!! Very few people get to do what they love as their means of livelihood. I am among those blessed few. Before coming into design, I was an engineer, so I have experienced what it is like having a regular job. I did not dislike that work, but design is something that makes me truly excited. Design is fun. That is the first thing that pops in my mind when I think about design. For me Graphic Design is a combination of exploration, wonder and curiosity coupled with thought & concept.

My journey as a creative, is even more difficult. While in the creative field, I could still have taken a job and things would be different with a steady flow of money. But I was hell-bent on being my own boss. I wanted to take up as diverse work as possible. At the same time, I knew that this is a tough field with long gestation and strong competition. You can survive only when you have passion and genuine creativity. It takes lot of grit to stay put, follow you instinct and deliver. Creativity is a draining process. You cannot sit at the table and switch-on creative design thinking. You can manage the administrative tasks but not the design-thoughts. The designer is subconsciously always thinking / visualizing/ designing his ideas. This is exhausting at times, especially when you have two contrast projects in hand.

But all said & done, if God ever gives me a chance to rewind and make my choices again, I would still want to be a Creative.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a creative, curious, and disciplined professional, who can go an extra mile to achieve nothing less than excellence. Branding, Website design, UI/UX design, Identity design, Motion Design, and Typography are some of the areas I work in. I specialize in design for the digital medium and can back that up with coding skills for the web and for motion design and branding.

I hold a Masters in Graphic Design from California Institute of the Arts. My background in Engineering along with my Masters in Graphic Design has uniquely positioned me at the confluence of technology and design, which undoubtedly, is the call of the day. I have around eight national and international awards to my credit, like Indigo International Design Awards, Graphis International New Talent Award, GD USA60th American Graphic Design Award and CSS Awards, to name a few

As a designer, my personal philosophy is to try and drive the change that we want should happen in any given field. ‘Be the Change that you want to bring out’ is my motto. I am from India (Bharat), hailing from a very highly and diversely educated family. My upbringing has been a judicious mix of pride for Indian culture & heritage, with due respect for global sources of knowledge as well as acceptance of contemporary concepts & lifestyle. I draw a lot from my Indian roots but can effectively merge it with global, contemporary design trends. However, I believe in setting my own trend.

I believe, transparency is the key to trust. I do not push the client into signing a contract unless I and the client are on same page and confident of each other. My pitch document is very detailed and it defines every deliverable and due date meticulously. This orients the client on what to expect when and what to provide. I strictly adhere to the promised dates and go an extra mile to deliver quality. Professional interaction, regular & responsive communication and active listening are the triode to building good rapport with the client. I usually arrange regular one-on-ones with vendors and clients to keep everyone updated and in loop. I am a very disciplined person. When I sign any project, I have a dashboard ready for smallest of the tasks including follow-up mails for client data. I prioritize projects based on scale, deadlines, scope of work and dependencies.

I see myself as an upcoming, respected, designer; having a studio of my own. This shall be one step in fulfilment of my dream to contribute as a trend-setter in design field.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I graduated in May 2023, which was not the best economic phase in USA. Hiring-freeze, lay-offs, budget-cuts were making news rounds. Companies did think twice before spending a dollar. And here I was, bent on starting on my own, because that was the dream I had cherished all through. I decided I would start my freelance practice, but did not quite know how and where to start.

I went on a spree to make connects on professional media like Linkedin, Behance, Insta-pages of known personalities in design field and so on. I wrote to host of different people, asking them for a reference, or some work. Initial one month was extremely tough. I did not get an encouraging response. Very few responded, more few said they will look for something while others just gave good wishes.

Thankfully, I had a few things in my favour. While I was studying, I had received around eight national /international awards for my work as a student. My year-end jury had been fantastic and I got a lot of appreciation for my thesis work. This had given me some confidence that I had a creative spark in me, and had the requisite skills. Moreover, I knew I was a very stubborn person, and so if I had decided I would freelance, I can relentlessly work towards that goal. I had that zeal and perseverance in me. The CalArts alumni network was also a big support here. The alums had my back and I got my first break and then one more.

In addition to the design skills that I honed, I had to learn by myself, the bigger skills like negotiations, customer interaction, public relations, to the smaller ones like contract drafting, keeping track of hours worked & tasks completed, timely reporting, taxation etc. These are all things that everyone has to learn eventually, but it is a rough and tiring road for sure.

Looking back today, I feel good for where I stand. Of course, there are miles to go before I sleep, but what I have achieved is worthy of mention. In a span of just nine months, I have personal & professional rapport with some renowned designers/ design studios, I get consistent work from multiple sources, my clients are happy with the quality & timely delivery of my work.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I think the word ‘non-creative’ is incorrect. In my opinion, Creativity is not about artists only. A pharmacologist who invents a medicine, a scientist working on a theory, even a chef cooking a good dish, need to be “Creative.” However, an artist, designer, literary person has no boundaries to their creative thinking & expression; while thinkers working in science/math or other domains have ground rules/principles to adhere to.

A designer can visualize what others do not see and can take liberties to express it. There are no boundaries, no set norms, no rules for his expression and with that, comes a lot of subjectivity. Since it is about an abstract, liberal expression of ideas, what is appreciated by one might not be appreciated by another. While one is practicing as a professional designer, they need to walk a thin line between what the designer feels is the best creative expression of the idea vs what the client expects. These days everyone is looking for something new and, exciting, unique and “out of the box.” However, to make something truly out of the box, one should first thoroughly know what the box looks like. Design must be a balance of what is functional and what is expressive. I am still trying to figure out that balance.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://gandhar.design/
• Instagram: gandhar12