Prof. Nivedita Deshmukh

Nivedita has worked extensively as an independent design consultant since 2013, collaborating with brands, NGOs, and cultural organisations on branding, packaging, and communication projects. Her industry career includes significant tenures at leading advertising agencies such as Creativeland Asia and Mullen Lowe Lintas Group, where she contributed to campaigns for renowned brands including Audi, Croma, Hindustan Times, Frooti, Café Coffee Day, Woodland, and Parle Agro.

Alongside her professional practice, she has built a strong academic portfolio as a faculty member and workshop facilitator. She has taught at institutions such as Sir J. J. Institute of Applied Art, École Intuit Lab, Whistling Woods International, Atlas SkillTech University (ISDI), and MICA, where she currently serves as an Adjunct Faculty for Crafting Creative Communications Programme.

Her engagement with social impact initiatives includes collaborative work with Learn Through Stories (LeTS), an initiative rooted in research from IDC IIT, focused on enabling children to write and illustrate their own stories. She has also worked with Navnirmiti Eduquality Foundation on training Anganwadi sevikas and government school teachers as part of early childhood education programs in collaboration with the Government of Maharashtra.

Nivedita Deshmukh holds a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Communication Design (2019–2021), where her academic research explored child art creation, visual literacy, and the integration of digital technology in early childhood art education. Her postgraduate work included a dissertation on the transitional phases of child art, from spontaneous expression to influenced creation, alongside essays on visual literacy frameworks and emerging pedagogical tools.

She completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Applied Art (Visualisation) between 2003 and 2007, graduating with multiple academic distinctions, including a Government Gold Medal. Her undergraduate education was deeply rooted in the study of Indian aesthetics, art history, visual culture, and critical theory, forming a strong conceptual foundation for her later professional and academic pursuits.

Further enriching her interdisciplinary outlook, Nivedita pursued a Postgraduate Diploma in Indian Aesthetics at Jnanapravaha, Mumbai (2013–2014), followed by advanced philosophical studies on the Principal Upanishads at the Somaiya Centre for Lifelong Learning (2014–2015). She also holds a Library Educator’s Certification from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), conducted by the Bookworm Trust, Goa (2022), and a Certificate in Story Crafting from the Applied Theatre India Foundation (2020).

• Art Direction for Advertising
• Advertising Art
• Ideas Theory
• Idea Generation
• Visualization
• Design Studio Practice
• Campaign Design
• Spatial Graphic Design
• Typography
• Branding
• Packaging Design
• Visual Communication
• History of Visual Communication

Nivedita Deshmukh’s creative work has been widely recognised at national and international levels. She is a recipient of a Silver Cannes Lion, Silver at Spikes Asia, and multiple accolades at Goafest Creative Abbys. She has also received several prestigious academic and industry awards, including the Leo Burnett Award for Best Strategic Communication, the FCB Ulka Idea Award, the TBWA India Award, and the Late Prof. C. W. Salve Memorial Award.

In 2021, her children’s picture book design on soil biodiversity won Fifth Prize in an international scientific children’s book design competition organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS), and the Global Soil Partnership (GSP). The work was published and launched at the Global Soil Biodiversity Symposium, underscoring her commitment to combining design, research, and education for social impact.