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Young and Inspiring: Wedding Invitation Designer Ranjani Iyengar of Pink Whistle Man
Young and Inspiring - Mar 6, 2019
Our series ‘Young and Inspiring’ showcases exciting new talent powerhouses from the design, fashion and event domains who specialize in creating dream weddings for couples with stars in their eyes.
Pink Whistle Man was nowhere on Ranjani Iyengar’s roadmap to success when she began pursuing her education as a civil engineer. Her love for art however was impossible to ignore and she eventually founded a design company whose USP is to create stationery with intelligent appeal and longevity.
The brand believes in creating something extremely unique for every couple by adapting the design to their individual sensibilities. So in addition to bespoke commissions, they also have customizable designs on their website for those working within a smaller budget.
In a conversation with us, Ranjani Iyengar shares her story.
1. Take us through the journey of Pink Whistle Man and tell us about the story behind its name.
“I’ve always had a creative bent, and loved art. I chose civil engineering hoping it had the most amount of drawing compared to all the other fields. While my guess was right, the kind of illustrations it required dramatically missed the mark. After graduating, I worked as a software engineer but had to work twice as hard because coding just did not come to me naturally. What it did though was help me evolve past being a computer-averse noob. It made me realize how much I liked designing user interfaces.
I used to make cartoon strips and drawings for corporate activities. Fortunately, I had managers who encouraged this and they helped me move to the corporate marketing team. This was my first stint with digital design and I loved reinventing communication through design and content. During my next role as a consultant, I spent my spare time designing logos and wedding cards for friends and family. Gradually through word of mouth, I started working on cards for people outside my circle.
As for the name, Pink Whistle Man was an obvious choice because Mr. Pink Whistle was the name of my favorite Enid Blyton character growing up and also my go-to pseudonym. The brand, I hope, resonates with his personality.”
2. What is the process behind the creation of an invite?
“I usually try and understand the client’s visual aesthetics at the first meeting. I do not use the internet while coming up with the concept and ideas as it creates more of a hindrance to the creative thought process rather than inspiring it. Based on the couple’s personalities and choices I come up with an initial concept. During the iterations, the ideas always evolve and this evolution is organic and leads to something quite different. There is no structure to it ever.”
3. Tell us about the ways in which stationery adds to a wedding.
“Every wedding has a distinctive vibe to it. While the wedding cards let the guests get the first glimpse into the personality of the celebration, other stationery such as fun welcome letters, DND tags, baggage tags, favors and so on, elevate and reinforce the mood further. These little things definitely add a lot of charm and put a smile on the guests’ faces.”
4. What trends should brides keep an eye out for this year?
“I think reinventing various traditional Indian prints keeping in mind the couple’s personality and style is a cool trend that keeps all generations happy and should be on every bride’s radar.”
5. Which is the one place you always manage to find inspiration?
“On call! Whenever I’m stuck I always buzz the client whose project I’m working on and try to talk about general stuff that may not necessarily be related to their wedding. Talking is a great way of creating new thought patterns and it almost always leads to a new concept.”
6. On what criteria do you evaluate your own work?
“I evaluate my work usually based on the concept, content, design, and of late, illustrations.”
7. Tell us about your one favorite:
a. Font
“ I can never choose between ‘Autumn in November’ and ‘Champagnes and Limousines’.”
b. Quote
‘Your most difficult customers are your greatest source of learning’
To check out some of the amazing Pink Whistle Man invites created by Ranjani Iyengar, click here.
