Vaishnavi Mahendran is an Indian-born designer and researcher based in San Francisco. Vaishnavi holds an MFA in graphic design from the Rhode Island School of Design, an AAS degree from Parsons School of Design and an MA in Marketing from Durham University, UK. Her practice centers on exploring cultural synergies and examining decoloniality, with an emphasis on re-structuring archival power through documentation and translation.

In her MFA thesis EthnoGraphemes, she explores linguistic systems through metaphorical iconographies, arguing that preserving indigenous languages and cultures through visual translations can shift historical and future narratives. Ongoing research projects from EthnoGraphemes can be viewed here.

From 2013-2018, Vaishnavi was a co-founding partner at BLÕK, a Mumbai-based multidisciplinary studio that focused on designing brand identities, packaging, books, posters, installations, signages and objects for corporate and cultural clients.

Vaishnavi is currently an Art Director at Apple. Previously, she has worked on the branding team at 2×4 and been a part-time lecturer and guest critic at the School of Visual Arts at Boston University. Her past clients include Netflix, Facebook, Universal Music Group, Goldman Sachs, Rhode Island School of Design, RISD Museum and FutureGroup. Vaishnavi is a recipient of the RISD Museum Dorner Prize, D&AD’s Kyoorius Design Award and has been featured in publications such as Novum – World of Graphic Design, Brand New: Under Consideration and The Dieline amongst others.

To hire her for freelance projects, collaborate or just say hi get in touch with her here.