Design Dodos, A Mumbai Based Design Studio

Started as a carnival that brings together a bunch of creative people who love their work as designers, Design Dodos is focused on collaboration, both national and international, with the idea of giving their clients visibility solutions that help keep them in the limelight.As of today, they have designers based not just in Mumbai and Pune, but also Zagreb, Croatia; Suva, Fiji and are in the process of finalizing some artists in New York as well. While the bulk of their clients are domestic, they have worked on international campaigns too.

“The idea was to create a platform in India for some great graphic and artistic work from all over. We are also looking to tap the new conscious CSR market in India.”, Says Romel, co-founder, Design Dodos.

The team that they have is a set of designers and artists that love the concept of sharing their ideas and being part of a global team. They are constantly on the look-out to collaborate with more artists across the globe, working towards creating a showcase for global talent.

As far as investments are concerned, they have looked at stage based investment. For the first stage, they have kept it down to a bare minimum. “However, with the current pace that we are moving at, we are seriously looking to tap into small/mid-level investments by the end of the year.”

So far, their business development has been largely referral and network based with the current pool of clients consisting of DHL Express, DHL Lemuir India, Asian Paints, etc In the past, they have also executed work for Moneygram India and the Ecole Mondial World School.

Romel Dias is the driving force behind the company and has over 10 years of experience in animation and design. His work portfolio consists of work on the multi-award winning, internationally acclaimed, animated short film ‘Raju &I’, the Cannes Silver Lion winning commercial ‘Happydent Palace’, India’s 2007 official entry to the Oscar – Eklavya and lots more. He is also a visiting faculty at Symbiosis Institute of Media & communication, Pune, where he teaches animation to the AV students.Alankrata Seth, co-founder, has six years of experience in the Indian film industry. She has worked on films like ‘A Wednesday’ and ‘Daayen ya Baayen’. Apart from these features, she also has worked on numerous ad films.

Talking about their design philosophy, Romel says, “The first question is always about the core message. What does the business need to communicate? We, as a studio, focus on spirituality as the basis of our work and expression. We look at every project as something we offer back to the universe and therefore that needs our best with all our purity. Our designers and illustrators are people that we love to hang out with as well. And that positivity we bring to our work.”

Expansion Plans

They feel that there is an incredible amount of work waiting to be tapped. Currently they are focusing on strengthening their network and growing organically. Both partners feel very strongly about having the right foundation.

“We are looking at the end of our first year of operations to start with stage II of expansion. While we currently operate out of one studio space, we hope to begin setting up at least one more local office by that time.

To know more about them, visit www.designdodos.co.in