Vikas Satwalekar

Professor Vikas Satwalekar is a renowned Indian graphic designer who has also remained the executive director at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad while also being a faculty. He has made significant contributions in the field of design which include Graphic Design, Exhibition Design, publication Design, Identity systems etc. He later started working as a design consultant in Mumbai. He studied literature at college, but he used to go to art classes. His dad used to be an art teacher and a relatively well-known painter of his time.

He grew up in a family of artists. His grand-father was also a photographer and painter, till the age of 60 after which he became a Sanskrit scholar. Prof. Satwalekar chose to take his way in the arts to focus on design. But during that time, there were no excellent schools on the subject. He decided to join Xavier’s College, to pursue literature. In evenings he used to go to the J. J. School of Art, for taking the live study classes. In his third year of college, one of his father’s friends, Dashrath Patel, who came from Czechoslovakia, joined the N.I.D. as the head, which started in 1963. Dashrath Patel suggested him to visit the institute.

In July 1964, after finishing college, he joined NID. The period 1964 to 1965 was one of the most intriguing phases in his career. During that period, the institute organised the Nehru exhibition by Charles and Ray Eames. He was involved in the original exhibition opened in New York Click to look into! >> Read More... in 1972 when it was also set up in Pragati Maidan. Apart from designs, he has also built many communication projects such as Discovery of India running in Mumbai’s Nehru Centre. Prof. Satwalekar also designed the famous Mother Dairy logo. According to him, the secret of creating great work depends on the client, and it is the client-designer relationship that helped him produce designs.