Portfolio - Designwale

We, The Designwale

How does one attract talent to come and be a part of a lovely team?

So yes, we are a product company and that would generally suffice as an intro for the global greats. But what about when your team help design for a B2B product and that too dealing with India tier 2 and 3 cities? Your amantran or invitation has to be hatke, fun, and masaledaar!

How did we arrive at the solution?

Well, to be honest, this was an experiment that got great traction and we stuck with it. Our team grew from just 8 people to 27 people within one year. We had the best people that would pull off projects, pitches and parties! We cracked the content style and the visual style having fun quirky elements that you find in India and incorporated them throughout our communication channels. We got, "dher saara pyar" from the audience and of course, the stakeholders in the B2B domain were super appreciative. We figured out that B2B is usually considered boring because the designers think it's more about the dhanda than the design. But, what if we could turn that around? We experimented with Hinglish because wanted our product to feature localisation. We experimented with Indian characters ( yes that includes the biker babe wearing the rip-off Puma pants called Upma pants). A lot of the candidates applied because they felt that the posters were absolutely dhamakedaar.

Content Design Guardrails for Designwale

Voice

Desi, Confident, Conversational
Leans into colloquial vernacular phrases, Bollywood references, and a bit of desi swag.
Feels like a chat with a cool colleague who knows their design, roots and cinema equally well.

Tone

Playful, Inclusive, Aspirational
Encouraging and warm with a dash of cheekiness.
Makes people feel they are joining a team that’s not just skilled but fun and down-to-earth.
Cultural pride is used as a narrative anchor — "hamare mitti ke log", "mohallas and gullies", etc.

Illustration Style

Style Attributes

Medium: Digital illustrations with a textured, grainy finish that mimics print posters or folk murals.
Color Palette: Warm, earthy tones with vibrant pops (mustard, indigo, rust, and parrot green) – reflective of Indian street aesthetics.
Character Design: Quirky, exaggerated, rooted in local attire (sarees, sunglasses, tilak, gajra), and designed to express sass, pride, and personality.
Visual Tropes: Indian streets, shops, wall murals, signboards, and vernacular fonts — evoke a nostalgic, hyperlocal feel.
Cultural Influence: Looks inspired by Indian kitsch, vintage Bollywood posters, and bazaar signage.

Illustration Tone

Whimsical yet rooted: Illustrations are fun but not frivolous — they carry cultural cues and local identity with pride.
Inclusive & Expressive: Gender-positive, emotive characters; no Eurocentric beauty standards.
Campaign-Specific Match: Each visual pairs well with its copy — e.g., sunglasses-wearing character for "an offer you can’t refuse", or a sari-clad grandma for “Aaji Sunte Ho?”

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