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AKHIL MALHOTRA
10 years of real-world experience across Asia, Europe, and the U.S.
A strategic, process-driven approach, with a keen understanding of project management.
Experience in not just design, but also implementation.
E-mail: [email protected] Skype: Akhil.Malhotra (HCMC, Vietnam) Skype Phone: 301.852.6994 Home: 301.215.5949 Mobile: +84 8 091 295 5594
Forum PanelistRMIT VietnamForum on Branding & Design
Forum PanelistRMIT VietnamForum on PR & Advertising
Member, AIGAWashington, D.C. chapter
Member, IDSAMid-Atlantic chapter
M & N DESIGNBranding & Design Consultant2011 - present
red | brand buildersClient Representative Director2009 - 2011
Golden-CBD A/sIndustrial Designer2004 - 2008
Led development of Branding and Packaging solutions for a variety of local and international clients, in market categories ranging from food and beverage, banking and finance, professional services, to consumer goods.
Branding solutions provider for agencies such as Dentsu Young & Rubicam Vietnam.
Client Service Consultant for advertising and design agencies such as Cowan, Edge Asia, and Daybreak Digital.
Refined Packaging for Red Rock Beer and created Brand Strategy, Identity, and Guidelines for Gauden Beer.
Collaborated closely with Creative Team to upgrade Packaging Design and Corporate Identity services for clients such as Unilever, Nestle, and various local brands.
Doubled agency revenue from Packaging Design services, led upgrade of overall agency credentials, website, and presentations.
Creative Lead and Project Manager on Product, Interior, and Packaging design projects. Led a team of multinational designers and interns developing design solutions for local and international clients. Design assignments in China, Denmark, and Vietnam.
Led team developing 1st full-size clay motorcycle mockup in Vietnam, developed Interior Designs and Branding Guidelines for Jetstar’s offices in Vietnam.
BFA, Product Design College for Creative Studies (2003)
Art Center College of Design (1999 - 2000)Assorted courses in Transporation Design, Graphic Design, and Model Construction
BA, Graphic Design University of Maryland: College Park (1999)
Adobe IllustratorAdobe PhotoshopAdobe InDesign
RhinoiWorkMicrosoft Office
CONTACT
EXPERIENCE
EDUCATION
AFFILIATIONS
SKILLSET
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Breakthru Media, a startup digital media company, approached us to develop a boldly confident identity.
In collaboration with the Client, we developed a Brand Identity that enables Breakthru to stand out in the crowded digital media field in Vietnam.
To future-proof the Identity, and to allow for future expansion, we developed a Brand Architecture Model for various Product Categories and visualized their implementation.
The Client approached us to refine the Visual Identity for their latest product, a dark beer developed specifically for the Vietnamese market.
While the original design captured traditional bear and typographic visual cues, it lacked visual impact and felt decidedly dated, a big no-no for a young, dynamic Vietnamese beer drinker.
We took a strategic approach, developing first a Brand Strategy that underpinned our Creative Approach, then refining the Visual Identity for the brand.
We then developed Brand Guidelines for implementing the identity across various touchpoints, and most recently, we have worked with the Client to develop key packaging and marketing materials for the brand.
Before After
Red Rock Lager approached us to revise their 24-can carton.
The previous carton was a minimalist white with grey accents - attractive, but impractical for the market in Vietnam, while the color lacked visual appeal in the cluttered shop environments typically found in Vietnam.
We developed an eye-catching new carton design for the Client which built upon market sensibilities of red as a lucky color. This was especially fortuitous around Tet for gifting.
We have worked closely with Red Rock Lager on a number of projects ranging from marketing collateral such as posters to beer taps for use in restaurants and beer clubs
Red Horizon is a consultancy specializing in retail sales training.
With clients ranging from Louis Vuitton to other ultra-premium brands, Red Horizon focuses on enhancing the sales experience for consumers.
The founder, the former Managing Director of one of Vietnam’s largest insurance companies, saw a gap in the market for retail sales, particularly in the premium market segment.
While he had developed a design for his logo previously, he felt it lacked a dynamic interpretation of their services.
We developed an eye-catching yet premium color palette to capture attention - much like the effects of Red Horizon’s training will result in capturing consumer attention, and wallets.
The design signifies growth, unity, and the human touch - utilizing a custom wordmark derived from the letters to create a shape that is evocative of a human form.
Incu Global, a global investment fund based in Hong Kong, wanted a brand identity that reflected the company’s global ambitions, yet presented a secure investment opportunity to potential investors.
We developed a minimalist design that was both modern and confident, utilizing a dynamic youthful blue that captured the Brand Personality and personified the principals involved.
We developed a custom sans serif wordmark with subtle rounded edges that soften the starkness of the letters and balance the design with a softer, more natural and approachable feel.
As a consultant to a digital agency, we were tasked with developing visuals for Viber’s Facebook page.
We developed 2-week long Content Plans with indicative visuals and, upon approval, developed visuals using Viber’s stickers and other visual properties.
We were also requested to develop emergency Facebook content for Viber for periods of service outages in Vietnam.
tiNiWorld is the leading provider of children’s entertainment centers in Vietnam.
They approached a digital agency to develop their website.
We were asked to consult in development of a Design Strategy and initial concept work for a website that communicated tiNiWorld’s services as well as its paid properties and upcoming activities.
We created a webpage that was appropriate for our Target Audience, Parents.
To maximize the effectiveness of the site, we developed a Site Map and navigation links that were easy to access, efficient, and informative, all the better for time-poor parents.
JTI approached our digital partner to develop an internal social network website.
We developed multiple Design Concepts for them utilizing existing JTI visual properties and adhering to JTI Brand Guidelines.
The selected design put relevant news and information at the user’s fingertips, with a clean design aesthetic that was informative and easy to navigate.
ALT is an educational consultancy that seeks to match students with study abroad and exchange programs.
We developed a conservative, classy Brand Identity that conveyed a sense of authority as well as trustworthiness.
We developed a full Business System for ALT as well as a Brand Guideline system they could utilize for development of future marketing material and other consumer touchpoints.
Daybreak is a digital media startup based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, founded by a trio of experienced digital marketers who broke away from the traditional agency model.
They wanted a brand identity that reflected both their services and their personalities, and approached us to guide them through the process.
The hash-marks allude directly to their digital design and media services - the URL of each web address, an icon inextricably linked with the web ever since the Internet became a common fixture in our daily lives.
A bold, masculine typeface was customized to give them a bespoke font and reflected their bold, young nature, while an eye-catching color palette lent itself to reflecting their bold confidence.
5th floor, 123 Le Loi StreetDistrict 1, HCMC, VietnamTel: +84 83 821 5529Fax: +84 83 821 5530www.twog-architecture.com
5th floor | 123 Le Loi Street | District 1 | HCMC | VietnamT: +84 83 821 5529 | F: +84 83 821 5530 | M: +84 903 973 [email protected] | www.twog-architecture.com
Arch. Nguyen Thi Hoang Giang | Design Director
TwoG is an architectural partnership between two well-known architects in Vietnam.
The company principals’ wanted an identity that communicated a sense of gravitas and trust.
After developing different strategic approaches and branding solutions based on each direction, the client elected to go with a strong, stable typeface with a clear service descriptor.
The selected approach was termed “Conservative Dynamism”, a blend of the brand’s core values with a modern, dynamic visual identity that accurately depicted who they were.
The color palette was driven by the brand’s keywords of trust, stability, security, and gravitas, while the typeface, a customized sans serif, was selected for its modern, simple and elegant look.
The client has since gone forward with their second collaboration together - this time, a bouncing baby girl!
Matterhorn Communications is an emerging powerhouse in the PR field in Vietnam.
Led by a charismatic Australian who built one of the preeminent PR firms in Ho Chi Minh City before striking out on his own, Matterhorn was a metaphor of the lengths his company would go to service their clients.
While the logo would be primarily in English, a Vietnamese version was also required - this was quite a challenge as the Vietnamese translation “Dai Hung Song” (literally, “Big Mountain”) was quite long. The client wanted a simple icon, something that represented the namesake, as well as a typeface that could easily switch between English and Vietnamese versions of the logo.
We developed an icon that used interlocking diamond and triangular elements to represent both the harsh ridges of the mountain and the complexities of PR in Vietnam.
One of Vietnam’s leading entrepreneurs was looking to produce a series of TV shows under a single brand.
He had a name in mind and needed a visualization of the concept - a multi-faceted program that looked at Vietnamese life, but brought to it Western style.
The brand name, Rubic8, referred to the different facets of Vietnamese life covered by the programs as well as a wordplay on the number “8”, which in spoken Vietnamese can be slang for gossip.
The logo was developed concurrently with a production house, who brought it to life through an animated intro.
INTERIOR DESIGN
Jetstar entered Vietnam through a collaboration with Pacific Airways. They needed a major overhaul of their existing corporate office lobby and for all their ticket offices in Vietnam to reflect Jetstar’s global brand, and to upgrade the existing ticket offices.
Using Jetstar’s guidelines in Australia as a template, we developed an unique identity that was quintessentially Jetstar.
Bold colors, contrasting materials, and use of existing assets were used to create a young, dynamic office design that reflected the brand.
To facilitate consistency of brand communications across Vietnam, we also developed Office Branding Guidelines that outlined key basic visual principles for signage, furniture, lighting, and layout for the corporate office in Ho Chi Minh City as well as key ticketing locations nationwide.
BankInvest, a Danish investment fund, was one of the first occupants of one of the newest and most prestigious buildings in downtown Ho Chi Minh City.
They approached us to design, implement, and oversee the fit out of their new offices in Vietnam.
We developed a quintessentially Danish design, with light woods and extensive use of glass partitions to create a light, airy feel to the office.
Floor to ceiling glass sandblasted glass panels separated the office from the reception, allowing privacy while still permitting light to pass through, while light woods and bespoke Danish-inspired furniture gave the office a distinctly Scandinavian flavor.
ArtGlass is a Vietnamese company specializing in glass and tile products.
They approached us to develop the shop design for their flagship store. We utilized key elements from their portfolio, including ceramic tiles to create a fountain in the foyer, glass shelving to emphasize their product characteristics, and the use of a modular shelving system with built-in lighting to give the space ample ambient lighting.
We were tasked with developing a new shop concept for a bike importer/distributor.
We created a shop design that captured the energy and power of the Aprilia brand through use of color and imagery in the shop interior.
We placed the products front and center, with clear space around them for customers to walk around and admire the bikes.
We also prominently displayed the products on the facade and in a display unit above the shop entrance.
CASE STUDY
One of the first projects I undertook in Vietnam was a motorcycle design project for a Vietnamese manufacturer.
When I arrived, the team had been grappling with the project for months and had gone through multiple iterations of cardboard mockups and 3D models.
We went back to basics, discarding the mockups and 3D models and focusing instead on the objective, developing design concepts.
I led the team in developing hundreds of hand sketches - examining and developing ideas for everything from the overall design to details and even crazy ideas such as integrated child safety seats and forward-mounted gas tanks.
After we’d exhaustively explored designs and developed concepts, we moved forward with development of 3D models, developed in Rhino3D and rendered using Vray and Swift3D.
After finalizing the design digitally, we developed technical drawings and moved forward with development of a full-size clay model.
This was a massive undertaking, involving coordination across multiple countries for sourcing of the materials, and a massive learning experience, as no one aside from myself on the team had ever built a clay model before.
Our multicultural (2 Danes, 1 Vietnamese, 1 Indian), multidisciplinary (graphic designers, product designers, engineers) team worked for weeks to develop a full-size clay model that captured the essence of our design and brought it to life via a real-life model that the Client could see, touch, and ride.
The final model was showcased - along with a 3D animation - at the client’s annual shareholder convention in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnamand was received with unanimous praise.
PRODUCT DESIGN
Kinh Do wanted to revise their ice cream packaging to compete with foreign brands such as Walls and New Zealand’s Best.
Utilizing the Kinh Do trademark color palette, the boxes were given a bold graphic look while an unusual bowed shape was developed that literally broke out of the box of traditional ice cream containers.
To give it a truly unique look and feel, we gave the box a semi-transparent gloss, finish with a sandblasted graphics on the side of the box.
Agtex28, one of Vietnam’s state-owned enterprises with holdings in garments, petroleum, and other fields wanted to enter the mineral water market.
The final design incorporated key visual cues from Agtex28’s logo, including their iconic flower shape that was woven into the bottle pattern on the 330-mL bottle neck and the 21-L bottle waist.
A side-effect of the pattern was to enhance the bottle’s structural rigidity, giving it a premium feel as well as look.
To cap off the bottle design, a strikingly distinctive label, cap, and cap tear-off were developed to create a strong, integrated brand identity and bottle design.
Unza was looking for a redesign for its Romano brand that captured the modern, young, fresh essence of the brand.
The selected design had a strikingly modern look and feel, from the way the sides broke out of the standard box to the intricate detailing on the shower foam bottle that distinguished it from its shampoo brethren.
Henkel wanted a revised cap for their Coast deodorants.
The final design kept the same geometry and general specifications of the original cap, but added in distinctive details and a contrasting finish for both practicalicality as well as beauty.
Tuong An is a major player in the cooking oil market space and wanted to revise their existing brands as well as develop new brands to expand their market presence.
We revised their cooking oil bottle to feature their signature elephant icon on the bottle neck to provide both added structural rigidity and brand recognition.
The Soyci brand was developed from the ground up to expand into new market categories.
We developed not only the Brand Name but also the bottle design, taking inspiration from traditional Japanese soy sauce bottles, but adding a modern twist in the form of a modern, integrated cap and neck sleeve, a first for this market segment.
CONTACT
E-mail: [email protected]
Skype: Akhil.Malhotra
Mobile: +84 91 295 5594 (VN)
Home: 301 215 5949 (US)
Work: 301 852 6994 (US)
