Yadavi Patil

Yadavi Patil has always been drawn to design, finding inspiration in everything from food packaging to her mother’s patterned dresses. As a Graphic Designer at Cannondale, she transforms everyday observations into vibrant visuals that have been featured in campaigns and even on a bike ridden at the Tour de France Femmes. We got to chat with her about deadlines, slowing down, and her creative journey.

What I do

How would you describe what you do?
I’m a graphic designer currently working on Cannondale’s marketing team. I started as a concept designer on the color and graphics team, where I helped create graphics for bikes like the Topstone Carbon, Quick CX, and one ridden at the Tour de France Femmes.

In my current role, I focus on designing visuals for marketing campaigns and digital or print products. Outside of work, I take on freelance projects to explore variety and expand my creative experience. I’ve always been drawn to design—no matter the medium, I love creating with color and typography.

What are the main influences and inspirations behind your work?
I draw inspiration from ordinary things. Growing up in a South Asian household, color and design were intertwined in daily life—from my mom’s dresses to the packaging of Indian food, the bold color and the funky typography shaped my design thinking early on. I also find inspiration in museums and bookstores, where seeing artwork and printed design sparks my creativity and fuels my design thinking.

Would you say you need any specific training for what you do?
I think you just need to be someone who is curious and open to feedback. Being teachable is far more important than having the raw skills needed for the role. Knowing the basic tools is necessary, but having the passion and excitement for design goes a long way.

What’s been your favourite project to work on from the past year, and why?
I got to work with the wonderful team at Where are the Black Designers this year and developed the brand identity for their upcoming creative festival, The Spaces Between. It was my first project where I really got to lead the entire visual identity — everything from designing the wordmark to establishing how the visual language looks and feels. It was really exciting to be able to create the full branding. Working with the whole WATBD team was so much fun, and honestly, good people make the project so much better.

What does a normal day-to-day usually look like for you?
Keeping a routine makes everything so much easier. I usually go to work, design, work out, eat, and then paint or work on freelance projects at night. Sometimes I’ll take an early call before work or a late call just to squeeze in freelance projects. A large part of my life is consumed by creativity, so if it’s not freelance work, it’s painting for hours at a time.

Home office and studio

How I got here

What was your journey like when you were first starting out in your career?
When I started designing I made it a point to take any and every project I could. I didn’t really care about what the work was; I cared more that I was working with people and getting to be creative. I think that helped a lot later on when I started getting more professional clients and commissions because I already knew how to navigate the less creative parts of freelance work. Even now, with a full-time design job, I always try to keep my freelance work going because it’s such a good way to stretch your design muscles and network with people outside of the design industry.

How did you go about landing your first few jobs, clients and/or commissions?
I had a college alum I was close with who pulled me into projects he was working on or just put me on to clients. It was super helpful early on when I didn’t have much to show professionally. After that, I always tried to go above and beyond with any clients or commissions and worked really hard to produce good work on those projects.

Type design for Kevin Holiday’s “Bugs life” music video

What has been your biggest challenge along the way?
Learning to own up to my mistakes was really hard for me. When I started as a concept designer I thought making mistakes meant I was a bad designer, when in reality I was doing something I never did before.

What skills from your creative work have you found helpful – and vice versa?
Not being afraid to ask questions and being curious are two big ones. By asking questions and being curious, you can see far beyond the brief and maybe discover something that will help with designing the end product. I also found being organised and a good communicator is always appreciated by clients and bosses. Well, I’m still working on the ‘being organized’ part.

How important are social media and self-promotion to your work?
Super important. I got a lot of my early work just by posting and sharing stuff I was making for fun. Whether it was paintings, drawings, or making zines, I was sharing them with people.

What are three things that you’ve found useful to your work or career, and why?
Following designers and artists on Instagram was super helpful. Seeing what they are making and how they think about design inspired me. Having multiple creative outlets was also useful because it helped me not get bored with one thing. The last thing I found helpful was giving myself enough buffer between projects and deadlines, having some room just in case life happens and I can’t work on something.

What have been your greatest learnings with making money and supporting yourself as a creative?
Price yourself fairly, especially in the start. Don’t undervalue your work or your skills just because it feels more comfortable. Most projects will have multiple rounds of revisions and back-and-forths, so if you price yourself to account for those things as well, you’ll be much happier doing the work and end up with a better result because of it. 

Advice

What’s the best career-related advice you’ve ever received?
Your career is going to be long, so don’t rush to get to the next thing so quickly. Being patient and doing good work will always set you up for success. Even if you’re not where you want to be, doing whatever you can with the opportunity you have will help you in the long run.

Where do you go to feel connected as a creative?
I look to my friends who are creatives and designers. Sharing work with them, talking about projects, and hearing what they’ve been up to creatively always gives me motivation to keep going. Also going to art fairs or tabling at them is great because there are so many creative people sharing work in one room.

Wordmark designed for “Food For Thought”, a Manners Institute community based sub brand.

What advice would you give to someone looking to get into a similar role?
If you’re interested in specifically designing graphics for bikes, having a mix of industrial design and graphic design skills are helpful. Being good at making patterns, working on 3D forms, having a strong sense of color, and understanding the target demographic is key for a design role like this. A lot of the technical skills I learned on the job, but it’s important to have strong ideas and experience making physical mockups. Even though this role is super niche, it taught me technical skills and gave me the chance to explore an area of design that people can use and interact with, which was really cool.