I hail from Kerala. I remember, as a child, I was always fascinated by art and culture of my town. Gradually, I leaned more and more towards drawing and painting. My father had started noticing my works, and advised to me that I should choose a career and own it and that it would be best if I could live a life with no regrets. I left home with a strong support to pursue my dream. I started working very hard to improve my work. My biggest challenge was finding a mentor – it’s not easy when you are an artist. During high school, I started working part-time, and I used to save money to buy art supplies. I kept practising and continued motivating myself. I also used to draw graffiti and paint posters for political campaigns. One day, I met one of Art facilitator and that was my turning point. After our conversation, the facilitator advised me to do Bachelors in Fine Arts. I went on to join the College of Fine Arts, Tripunithira, Kerala and enrolled myself in a four-year course. I learned a lot during my course. However, that was hardly enough to make a living. I needed a job, and for a job, I needed to be adept at using creative software.

My first job interview was at an advertising agency in Kochi. I offered to take an internship as it allowed me to learn the software that I wanted. Though I couldn’t afford it, there was no other way to upgrade my skills. After going through my portfolio; I was offered the role of a Graphic designer. I discovered that I was a fast learner when it came to working on software. I assisted a Art Director for few months and soon started working independently on projects. Over the years, I taught myself to design for brands, websites, mobile apps, UI and UX. I took every opportunity to learn and worked with people from all walks of life. I realized that being a passionate designer is great but I must also step back and think when things don’t work and try different options. I have to admit that doing this was hard – super, super hard! Especially so when you invest a lot of time and effort into your design solutions. Ultimately learning to be receptive to other people (not just designers!) and taking feedback and ideas only help in improving the work. It was also challenging to get used to agile methodology at first, but now I really appreciate it.