An award-winning designer, an empathetic leader, and a passionate creative director.
I’m obsessed with EVERYTHING BRANDING!
I collaborate with businesses and clients to elevate design beyond the craft by bringing brands to life from the inside out.
With 15 years of agency and in-house experience, including 9 years in leadership roles, I’ve played a pivotal role in winning pitches, driving business goals, and consistently delivering a high standard of beautifully crafted brands through simple, meaningful, and innovative design solutions. That’s been across just about every discipline including through-the-line communication, packaging, digital, motion, UI/UX, experiential, and merchandising. And in almost every category from B2B to B2C, FMCG, tech, property, hospitality, luxury, art & culture, and sports.
DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT!
Z is an absolute gem and a delight to work with. She is so structured, disciplined and organised. She has exceptional depth of knowledge in brand strategy which she applies rigorously across her team’s outputs. She is brilliant at building global teams and getting them to work together as one. She has a great creative flair and was a key person in positioning Unruly as a differentiated brand in a highly competitive marketplace.
Louise Tullin - Chief Marketing Officer at Unruly
I miss Zainab. She was such a huge asset to our creative and design team at Skarma and we haven't been able to replace her. Not only was Zainab a great designer, she was a great leader. We had thrust a lot of responsibility on her when she joined and she came out on top every time. Anyone who worked under her had great respect for her and she truly mentored many young designers on their path to becoming great designers. I would have her back on our team in a heartbeat.
Akshay Tandon - Co-founder and CEO at Skarma
Zainab was one of the first creatives to eagerly take on a pro bono project with Creativity for Kindness - an initiative where creatives can volunteer their creative services to nonprofits. She was wonderful to work with! Despite doing this on the side of her full-time job, Zainab was extremely professional and timely, proactive with ideas and delivered exceptional work. She always delivered more than what was expected. Zainab has a really refreshing approach to work, deviating from anything standard or generic and finding a unique spin on every project. Her passion for creativity is obvious, and our nonprofits are really lucky to have her help!
Devika Dalal - Founder of Creativity for Kindness
As project leader on the design of our official website, Zainab went above and beyond, creating for us a site that truly captured the nature of our firm and the range of work that we do. Throughout the web design and scripting process, she was sure to clearly communicate with our team, working with us on design options & changes and ensuring that the final site would capture the goals of the project. As colleagues and friends have reached out to comment on the website and inquire about the design, our firm has been happy to recommend the Skarma team.
Amanda Morgan - Associate at nARCHITECTS
I have known Zainab as a young designer, she had worked with me closely on a couple of projects, especially on Gandhi Font. She is obsessed with graphic design and typography. She has the ability to solve any strategic design problems and in fact, thrives on challenges. I highly recommend her, she has the ability to lead any design stream.
Pops KV Sridhar - National Creative Director at Leo Burnett, India
I worked with Zainab in Leo Burnett and Creativeland Asia. Zainab is very enthusiastic about work and quick to learn. Her ideas and execution are very creative. She has an excellent eye for detail and puts in a lot of research into her work. Above all, she is a team player who is always willing to help and collaborate with everyone.
Payal Juthani - Creative Director at Creativeland Asia and Leo Burnett, India
As one of the more experienced people at Skarma, Zainab showed great poise and enthusiasm in getting the most out of a young core at the company. Design was one of the company's strengths prior to her arrival, and a ringing endorsement of her abilities is that they stayed that way as the baton passed onto her. She utilized her resources well, was approachable to peers and junior members alike and was a team player in every sense. As a creative force, brand strategist, leader and mentor, Zainab performed at a very high level. Her talent and attitude will be of tremendous help to anyone.
Arjun Rastogi - Co-founder at Skarma
Zainab has great style, in her knowledge of art and in people management, a true delight to work with. Gentle demeanour, energetic and creatively sharp Zainab, as the Head of the Creative department at Skarma, introduced great levels of professionalism for her team. Along with being firm on deliverables, she encouraged, nurtured and mentored her team with affection and friendship. A leader inspires their team to do their best, and that’s truly what Zainab accomplished at Skarma. Wishing you success all the way.
Rashi Malhotra - Chief Operations Officer at Skarma
Zainab is a very detail-oriented individual who doesn't compromise on her work or ethics. She led a team of young designers and was a great mentor to them as well. She is extremely creative and does her best to understand and deliver to the brief.
Danesh Narang - Co-founder at Skarma
Zainab is extremely talented and has a great eye for detail in design. She's a great mentor and can single-handedly manage an entire team with ease. Her concepts are extremely well thought of, she continuously evolves her design process and is great at art-direction.
Sargam Gupta - Senior Designer at Skarma
Zainab is a great team leader. She is great at looking at things from a micro and macro point of view, ensuring that we get the best results in the given framework. She is an extremely meticulous worker. Her designs are both meaningful and visually stunning.
Simoni Bhansali - Graphic Designer at Skarma