Visual Communication Design Course In Mumbai, India

Devyani Arya

Faculty

Ms. Devyani Arya hails from a background in information technology. She went on to receive a master’s degree in New Media Design from the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad. With a zealous intent to stay away from run-of-the-mill work, her take on most subjects is refreshingly quirky and borderline oddball. Her work collaborations include but are not limited to, the Mumbai Film Festival, Habitat for Humanity International, Naandi Foundation, Grandmother India, the Ranthambore Festival, Nariyal Paani. With over thirteen years of experience in Branding, Graphic Design, UI/UX design – her focus lies in edgy storytelling through design. Her future projects include a children’s book, a collaborative art project and research on Indian Art and tribal jewelry.

Fueled by a fierce passion for the Arts, at the Whistling Woods International, she teaches various subjects related to Art, such as Art and Aesthetics, Classical Indian Art, Western and Oriental Art.

Kruti Saraiya

Visiting Faculty

Kruti Saraiya is a graphic designer/ typographer based in Mumbai. The focus of her practice has been to allow a contemporary Indian design narrative to emerge to fill the gap between streetside kitsch and traditional Indian crafts. As a typographer, she sees her role in infusing context into letters and bringing the written word alive. Her strengths lie in working with scripts of Indian languages to create an equal space for them alongside English in urban India. Her commercial and experimental work celebrates the Indian aesthetic in a fusion of east and west. ‘The key’, she says, ‘is to change our mindset from an either-or to an AND.’

Nivedita Deshmukh

Visiting Faculty

Nivedita Deshmukh is a design educator, independent design consultant and a happy mother from Mumbai, India. After graduating from Sir J.J.Institute of Applied Art, she spent her early professional years navigating advertising at reputed ad agencies in India. As a student and professional, her work has won several national and international awards – the Cannes lion (silver), Spikes Asia (silver) and Government Gold Medal (for her student work) to name a few.

She has completed her Masters degree in Design and is a certified storyteller and library educator. In 2019, she co-founded the children’s library and storytelling initiative – Anek Chidiya. She is also engaged with an NGO named LeTS (Learn Through Stories) where she conducts workshops for both teachers and children. She investigates the dual nature of design for children and design by children through her workshops, research and design projects.

While storytelling for brands and children has a strong appeal for Nivedita, she has found her true passion in teaching and has engaged as a visiting faculty for various design institutes and conducted several workshops through brands, NGOs, schools and art festivals.

Pooja Shinde

Visiting Faculty

Pooja is a Visual artist and printmaker. She received her BFA from Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai University in 2016, with a gold medal and MFA in 2018. She received a Scholarship to Young Artist in the field of Visual Arts. Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India (June 2018-June2020.) She specializes in printmaking, etching techniques. where she creates prints with contemporary techniques, approaches, and imagery focusing on the constantly changing urban landscapes and nature in Mumbai and how they incorporate with each other these years. Her prints have been shown extensively nationally and internationally in both invitational and competitive juried exhibitions. Some works have been published, won awards, and are in permanent and private collections. She continues to uphold an active and engaged studio art practice by creating/exhibiting prints, completing artist residencies, and conducting workshops, giving demonstrations and lectures about her art practices.

Prosenjit Ganguly

Visiting Faculty

An alumnus of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, Prosenjit has served as Director of Special Projects, with Toonz Animation India (2002- 2009) creating award-winning animation properties for international broadcasters. His short films have been showcased at prestigious film festivals in over 15 countries, winning several international awards and nominations. A regular speaker at prestigious festivals and forums that include, TEDx, Anifest India, Hamburg Film Festival, Asifa India amongst many others, he is also a visiting faculty at premier Film and Design Schools that include NIDs, IITs, SRFTI, Whistling Woods & CEPT University. An avid nature lover and traveller, his professional projects include Story & Screenwriting for

Animation Cinema and Television, Show Development for Studios, Concept Art, Illustration, Stop motion Animation, Short films and Voice direction. He also conducts story and design workshops for Children and Advanced Workshops for Students, Corporates and Creative professionals.

Rajesh Thakare

Visiting Faculty

Akshaya Thombre

Visiting Faculty

Akshaya has been practising calligraphy for over 11 years and specialises in Roman calligraphy. Her calligraphy exhibition in 2017 at the Nehru Centre Art Gallery, Worli, was based on the development and modification of letters as design composition and presented it in a painting form. Her various experiments in the art led to the development and modification of her own variation of a style called ‘Blackletter’, which has a lot of variations internationally. She bases her creation on her sense of identity, space, design forms, and the grace of each letter. She has furthered the idea and presented it in wall paintings, chocolate engravings, and more. She is presently working on various other letters and styles with different perspectives to look forward towards calligraphy and take it to a new level.
A former student of the Achyut Palav school of Calligraphy, she is currently visiting faculty at Whistling Woods International (Visual Communication Design), I.E.S. College of Architecture, Rachna Sansad College of architecture, and MGM University. She also freelances as a Calligrapher and is associated with Artico Enterprises for designing projects. She has participated in representing India in various international exhibitions, and in 2021 she won The Excellence Award at the 18th Cheongju Jikji World Calligraphy Association, South Korea.

Rituparna Sarkar

Visiting Faculty

Vinay Goenka

Visiting Faculty

Mr. Vinay completed his bachelor’s in multimedia at the International Academy of Computer Graphics in Hyderabad. At the beginning of his career, he held a variety of positions, such as audio/video editor, CG Generalist and Lead, to Managing Director, and has collaborated with numerous animation production studios around the world on both domestic and foreign projects. Thereafter, he founded Gratiaverse Animation & VFX. Through Gratiaverse, he collaborated with clients like Cadbury, and Netflix on numerous movies and web series. (Invisible Rabbit, Monkey on Hot Bricks, Mondelze, Switch Studio, NDW, Asian Paints Nilaya.) Along with running a studio, he mentors students studying animation and VFX and has spent the past two years helping Whistling Woods International students learn motion graphics.

Wasim Saiyed

Visiting Faculty

Wasim is a creative professional working in the television industry for the past 15 years. He is alumnus of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, (Visual Communication – Animation Film Design.) He was Executive Producer, English Cluster at Star India Pvt. Ltd.(WALT DISNEY COMPANY,) where he headed the on-air promos team for the English movies business at Star India – Ideate and create brand campaigns; collaborate with the marketing team for stunts, new launches, campaigns and  execute them; manage daily workflow of on-air promos, manage the OAP budgets and liaise with external production houses/animators/graphic artists/voice-over artists/music composers for promos. He is a passionate storyteller and visual communications buff.