Divya Venkatesh

Hello! I’m Divya, a freelance purpose-driven designer like you.

Being your own boss, and the creative freedom that comes with that is THE BEST. But flying solo without a community of professional design peers to exchange ideas with, to offer friendly critique, to experiment and push your creative boundaries with, to hold you accountable to evolving best-practice, can sometimes be a challenge.

This is where I can help.

Since the last 14 years I’ve been freelancing as a creative designer for conservation and sustainable development IGOs, NGOs and charities. The fast-paced nature of disseminating project results has meant that I’ve had to figure out quick and efficient ways of generating and executing ideas that consistently deliver impact. But if I don’t regularly book in time to revisit these design processes, or re-evaluate them against the current design landscape, I take the risk that the work I produce starts looking the same. Even if I’m working with organisation brand guidelines, the way in which I articulate visual language can start feeling formulaic and repetitive.

What has helped me more than anything else, has been to find those 2 – 3 other freelance designers working in the same industry that I can have regular exchanges and brainstorms with. Getting a second pair of eyes to look at my scribbled down ideas and chat for even just 10 minutes has yielded more reward and ‘a-ha!’ moments than hours of trying to problem-solve on my own.

If you’ve experienced similar frustrations, and having a design peer to help you keep on your toes would benefit your creative practice, I’d love to hear from you.

We can work together on project-specific issues, unblock idea generation using creative exercises, research best-practice design case studies / examples, brainstorm creative approaches to live briefs, write pitches and responses to tenders together, and more.