Born in Bangalore and now based in New York, Malavika Srinivasan is a communication designer whose work sits at the intersection of creativity, justice, and community. Her practice is rooted in movement — visual, social, collective — and shaped by a desire to make design accessible to the people and organisations working hardest for change. At Tandem NYC, she has carved out a path defined by clarity, purpose, and values-driven craft, using design to elevate stories often left at the margins.
Can you tell us a little about your first few steps in your career. Was there a moment or experience when you realised this was what you'd do as a career?
In the beginning, I didn’t have a clear idea of what I wanted to do as my career, but I still knew what I liked.
I was obsessed with movement in all forms – whether it was motion graphics, hand-drawn animation, or dance – and I wanted to explore movement however I could. Growing up in Bangalore, India, I went to a rigorous science-focused school that didn’t always give me the opportunities to explore my passions creatively, so I sought those out myself. By my early teens, I’d taught myself how to code and experimented with multiple design softwares.
Living in Bangalore also taught me what was important to me. The social injustice woven into daily life is impossible to miss – wealth and poverty coexisted in plain sight. When I came to the United States to study at Parsons School of Design, I realized inequality was just as visible here too, just in different ways.
I wasn’t initially comfortable with the label of being “just a designer.” I wanted my career to mean more than making things “look good”. I wanted everything I work on to make the world a little better by focusing on real and tangible issues. Over time, I’ve come to appreciate how design allows me to do exactly that. It’s inherently multidisciplinary; to truly address problems, you have to understand systems, people, and stories.
My current role at Tandem NYC was my first job in the industry. When I joined, it felt like I had found a space where I could bring all of that together. In my first week as an intern, I was offered a full-time role – it felt like a sign that I was exactly where I was meant to be, honing a design philosophy that harnesses creativity for the greater good.
What lessons from your career have most shaped your style and approach?
Primarily working with non-profit organizations and grassroots movements has taught me to make design simple and accessible. A complex brand that’s only usable by senior designers isn’t the goal – I’m striving to make design and brand elements accessible to the sole comms manager at a small non-profit, or a passionate volunteer with no design experience.
When I started my career, I was really inspired by novel and innovative web interactions and reinventing the web with fancy and complex tools. Working with clients who are often under-resourced or underrepresented taught me to be efficient and generous at the same time. I learnt to strip away interactivity for interaction’s sake, reduce flashy elements, and make brands both functional and purposeful. My career also forced me out of a style, rather than into one. Often in the space we occupy, style and taste are about who you’re working for, rather than your own set of ideals and preferences.
I’ve learned that designing for some of our clients isn’t always about raising the bar; many times, the most important work is helping them reach the existing bar. And that’s the approach I carry into almost every project.
Tell us about the core values or philosophies that guide your creative practice.
My creative practice is guided by the goal of using communication and design to advance the greater good. I’m driven by the impact of my work – is it helping someone? And if not, is it at the very least not negatively affecting the world? As lofty as it sounds, every project I undertake is often an attempt to make the world a slightly better place, whether that’s tackling global issues like climate change, promoting equity within organizations, or helping a single person thrive.
Another part of my creative philosophy holds two perspectives in parallel: the macro and the micro. I try to bounce between the 10,000ft view – the conceptual, heady space that drives the purpose of the project, and the 1ft view – the actual execution, the pixel-pushing, and the attention to detail that makes all the difference.
What needs to change, so emerging and under-represented creative professionals have more opportunity, are seen and heard?
The barrier to entry for opportunities shouldn’t be experience. I see all these job postings for people with a minimum 5 years of experience right out of college – it makes getting your foot into the door nearly impossible. The creative world needs to rely less on perceived merit and take more chances on people. Tandem took a chance on me when I was still a young and in design school and that has made all the difference.
I think creativity thrives on collectivity and collaboration. As creative professionals, we need to develop and nurture communities that ensure everyone feels seen and heard. My ideal vision for our industry is closer to a co-op model – one where agencies don’t always bid against each other for projects, but instead open the door for us to work together and bring unique strengths to the table.
How important is it that creative professionals find their unique voice?
Looking ahead, what do you think are the key factors that will influence change for creative professionals?
I think the most present change that we’re seeing is the rise of AI and our tools changing really quickly. We’re going to be moving from “creation” to curation, and thinking exclusively in systems more than individual components. We’ll go from designing buttons and apps to thinking even bigger – something we can’t yet predict. Our jobs are going to be drastically different in a few years.
However, the key factor I wish was influencing our creative work is our relationship to energy. I want us all to be thinking about the implications of our creative work on the world and the influence our work has on it. I think our jobs need to be drastically different to cope with climate change and a looming energy crisis.
How much does your city influence your work?
How much does your culture influence your work?
India is such a community-oriented culture and that’s had such a major impact on how I see the world and how I design around it. It has molded me to work for society, and not just myself.
There’s always a thousand things happening: the sights, the smells, and even the traffic. I’ve learned to accept complexity, focus on the important things and see the forest for the trees.
Also, because we have such a multilingual culture, I’ve learned to think in multiple metaphors and not be bogged down by a potential language barrier. It’s been valuable to think of visuals as a universal language, and that to design literally means to de-sign.
Tell us some of your favourite, creative professionals and inspiring places in your city!
What should emerging creative professionals keep in mind as they begin their design career?
A few things come to mind.
Don’t network, make friends. I think we all get so caught up in this idea of expanding our network that we forget that it’s about making connections with those you find interesting.
For young designers especially: create projects that communicate on behalf of someone. It’s the difference between design and artistic expression, and it’ll force you to work without your ego or self in the driving seat.
And lastly, “leave it better than you found it.” This has been my mantra lately and it drives so much of my work. I want to take a thing and make it a little better – whether that’s my workplace, the actual design work I’m doing, or the world at large. A lot can be done with incremental, iterative change.
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