Our featured creative in this publication has been weaving spells across the digital landscape for a bit now. Before exploring the freelance world, Reema Trehan lead the Art team as an art director at We Communication, orchestrating visuals that brought B2B tech brands like NCS, SAP, McKinsey, and Think with Google to life.
She also adorned the halls of Mullenlowe as an Art Director, leaving an indelible mark on brands such as Closeup, Pepsodent, Signal, and more. Her creative journey includes remarkable collaborations with iconic brands like Nokia, Lay’s, Pepsi, PizzaHut, JWT and FCB.
Her confidence is so palpable that she brings not just her art prowess but her video making A-game to every team she works with. Let’s meet her!
Hi Reema, nice to meet you!
1. First, the cliché introductory question😅 Can you share your background story of how you started out as an art director?
Haha sure, I was always obsessed with TV ads and radio jingles. I applied on JWT’s (now called wunderman thompson) career page, and i got a call back. I still remember I bought my first formal shirt for this interview and my interviewer did giggle while looking at me. I also carried all my degrees and educational documents. Since then there’s been no looking back. Fun fact: I cried on my first day at work.
2. Okay, seeing that’s out of the way, can you tell us your go-to creative magic trick for maintaining a perfect balance between expressing your unique creativity and meeting the specific branding needs of your clients?
My personal trick is to do a lot of research myself. If I am creating a branding for a client and they have given me research documents and findings I still try to do as much research as possible to find new perspectives and directions and just see what’s happening on the internet.
Also keep saving stuff everywhere, make a pinterest board, save stuff on instagram.
Brand Identity Design for Zenso
3. Creating visuals for global brands like Closeup, Lay’s, and clear shampoo sounds like a creative rollercoaster. Can you share a memorable project where you had to think outside the box to make your designs resonate with a global audience while keeping the local flair intact?
Yes, I worked on a closeup india campaign while i was in singapore. I loved creating illustrations with Indian context to make it more memorable. The best part was i was being mentored by an Indonesian senior art director (williana chen) and she was actually handwriting all the copy in hindi. The fact that she learned how to write in hindi just for a campaign was amazing. I am very blessed that i got to work with her.
4. How do you approach the challenge of creating visuals that support long-form articles for B2B tech brands like NCS, SAP, McKinsey, and Think with Google?
It’s very difficult because I have always worked with visual heavy text formats for broadcast. But once you start reading the long articles and really understand what the article is all about, you automatically know what illustration is required. I highly recommend reading articles before designing for them.
Illustration for Think with Google Asia Pacific
5. Looking into your creative forward journey, what exciting design trends do you foresee, and how are you preparing to stay ahead of the curve in the dynamic world of graphic design for branding and advertising?
I foresee a clean design that looks aesthetic for branding and labelling, so it looks great on anybody’s shelf or home. In terms of advertising I think branded content is winning. Creating short series with subtle (Not excessive) mention of products is a great way to advertise. Looking forward to coming up with some experimental ideas where I can mix tech and entertainment.
Thank you Reema for these amazing insights!
You can Check out more of Reema’s work here
