Meet Sunanda Vasudevan

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sunanda Vasudevan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Sunanda, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?

I’m lucky that creativity isn’t just my job. It’s part of how I live. It shows up in small things like the way I make my bed, the meals I cook, the gifts I give, and the way I celebrate people I love. I like putting in that little extra effort so things don’t turn into routines that go unnoticed. I try to keep my creativity alive, and it returns the favor by making my life feel more alive.

I’m also always collecting ideas from people and moments around me, sometimes even imagining alternate versions of my own life. Those sparks keep me curious and often feed into my work, shaping everything from how I come up with ideas to how I share them and bring them to life.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I’m a visual experience designer and multidisciplinary creative. My background has been shaped by architecture, visual art, a recent master’s in graphic design, a game design internship, and the chance to be a resident creator at One Creator Lab with TikTok and The One Club.

I bring a bit of all of this into the rooms I join and use it to remind brands that their stories can be bigger than they imagine. I love bringing humor, wonder, and play into my work across print, games, social campaigns, digital, and web. For me, the choice of medium is the first act of creativity, and I hope to stay reliably multidisciplinary so I can keep exploring different ways to tell stories.

I’m always looking for ways to channel this sometimes-unhinged creative energy into supporting young brands finding their voice, social causes reaching more people, or big brands trying something new.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

It really takes a question like this to make me pause and reflect on the skills my creative career has leaned on the most. For me, the most helpful have been writing, being able to quickly visualize ideas, and learning how to ground them in research.

I’ve only gotten better at these by practicing often, without worrying too much about perfection. I’ve also put myself forward to use these skills within teams even when I wasn’t the obvious choice, because it gave me safe spaces to learn and get feedback. My advice is to keep at it, be open about what you can and can’t do yet, and let others help you grow.

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?

I first discovered the joy of design in classrooms where my mentors taught art. Those early experiences made me want to follow in their footsteps, and at the time my only choice in design felt like becoming an art teacher. Later I learned that design could live far beyond the classroom and shape people’s lives in many other ways, but I’ve always held onto that dream of teaching. If I only had a decade, I’d love to bring what I’ve learned back into the classroom and give kids the kind of “aha” moments I was lucky to have later in life.

I’d also want to travel. I’ve never been much of a traveler, but I know there’s art, architecture, and nature in the world that have inspired the greatest creators. I’d love to see those places and works in person, and more than that, experience them alongside the people who mean the most to me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sunandavasudevan.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stoporipies.bysunanda/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sunandavasudevan/

Image Credits

Srusti Shah and Naomi Trusty