Mustaali Raj (IDEA Grad 2014) is an independent art director and graphic designer whose focus lies at the intersection of interdisciplinary concept development and visual communication. Photo (shown above): Mustaali Raj — Cards for All Campaign (Made for Rethink and London Drugs).

As an engineer turned designer, his creative process is a cohesive blend between left and right brain thinking. He is a circle, living in a square, drawing triangles.

We recently caught up with Mustaali for an in-depth two-part interview. In Part 2 of our interview with Mustaali, find out about his life after graduating from IDEA School of Design at Capilano University including buying a one-way ticket to Thailand with his wife, joining the GDC BC Board as Communications Director, his latest projects and advice for our students.

What was life like for you following graduation?

Post grad show, I had an offer lined up as a full-time designer at a local design studio but turned it down for a chance to intern at Rethink. I wanted to get some experience as an art director and see if advertising was something I liked. As a multi-service agency, Rethink offered me the opportunity to work as a hybrid creative — working as both art director and designer. Alongside working on ad campaigns with my writing partner, I also got to work with the design team on branding and graphic design projects. I thought the workload and timelines were intense in school, but the industry took it to a whole new level.

When and why did you move back to Calgary?

I got married haha. My fiance at the time was still finishing her degree at Alberta University of the Arts.

In 2016, you and your wife bought a one-way ticket to Thailand and travelled for 9 months. What prompted this and describe your journey into freelance work

It was always a dream of mine to purchase a one-way ticket and just take off. I had just started working remotely and transitioned into full-time freelance. It seemed like the perfect opportunity. I figured what’s the difference between me working out of a local coffee shop or working out of a beach house in Thailand. The flexibility, freedom and sense of adventure is what captivated me. 

And so, in the fall of 2016, me and my wife took off to Thailand, travelling through South East Asia, Australasia, up to Japan, over to the Middle East and finally passing through Europe on the way back to Canada. It was an incredible experience. We really got to “live” and experience each place as we were both working and travelling at the same time. Not to mention all the fascinating places, stories, people we met along the way.

The shift from agency to full-time freelance started with a Calgary startup (Keshmiri), which gave me the chance to be mobile and work remotely. As word got out that I had started freelancing, I started getting more projects through my agency contacts. Chris Zawada (co-founder of Full Punch) and 123w were instrumental in getting me started with my first big freelance projects. 

You’ve been freelancing full-time in Vancouver since 2017. Please share a bit more about your transition including any tips and insights.

Initially, I started with self-directed work for social causes and movements, while I was still working full-time at agencies. Slowly transitioning into brand identity development for small businesses and startups. I love being able to work across varying project scopes and industries, everything ranging from law firm branding to chocolate packaging.

The transition to full-time freelance happened mainly through word-of-mouth. My experience working at agencies helped me build contacts and networks that were invaluable to establishing myself as an independent contractor. I think it’s important to get firsthand industry exposure before making the switch. I mean, freelancing isn’t for everyone. It takes a certain aptitude and self-discipline to make it work. You need to have the aptitude to put yourself out there, build connections, get organized and create structure to do the work. It’s equally important to be able to turn it off and take breaks, because more often than not, your mind is always working and on the go as a freelancer. 

Tell us a bit about joining the GDC BC Board as Communications Director

While at IDEA School of Design, I was always looking for opportunities to get involved with organizations such as CAPIC, AIGA, GDC and attending their events. In 2018, I joined the GDC BC executive board (Graphic Designers of Canada BC Chapter) as the Communications Director. I wanted to connect and give back to the creative community in a different capacity. It was a great learning experience to be able to shape and inform community events and build upon both old and new design-oriented initiatives within BC. 

Tell us a bit about your recent work with TypeBrigade

TypeBrigade is a local community of type designers, typographers, lettering artists, and general type enthusiasts. They run a wide range of programming that caters to type design and typography in general. I had previously gone to a few of their events where I met Kenneth Ormandy (the founder). He reached out to me earlier last year inviting me to do a talk about working with multiple scripts. I created a custom number for the talk (Type Brigade no. 47) that was an integration of both the Latin and Arabic characters for the number 47. Building upon my personal work, my typographic expressions utilize multilingual scripts building upon centuries of calligraphic tradition repurposed for a digital medium. My approach to type design is not just type in isolation, rather exists at the intersection of diverse visual components coming together such as pattern, illustration, motion, or other typographic forms resulting in multiscriptual and multi-pictorial artworks. 

Tell us a bit about Line of Control, describe how you work in interactive and what it’s like to work with freelance developer Jayme Cochrane

The term Line of Control (LoC) originally refers to the military controlled line between the Indian and Pakistani parts of the Kashmir region — a line that does not constitute a formal International Boundary, but serves as the de facto border. Originally part of the same nation, India and Pakistan were torn into two entities following the departure of the British.

In the summer of 2018, both me and my partner, Minahil, travelled to both India and Pakistan, our birth places respectively. These two countries share a common history, heritage and political tension. The poetics of this conjoined relationship, between both countries, became apparent when we visited the Lahori gate in Delhi and the Delhi gate in Lahore. There were moments in our  travels that emanated this sentiment so perfectly we decided to capture it through the lens of our camera. This led to the beginning of the Line of Control series where we captured history, moments, architecture, and subject matter that mirrored one another across the Indo-Pak border. This photographic project aims to reimagine the Line of Control to open up human connections.

I’ve worked with a few developers over the course of my career, but one of the main things I like about Jayme Cochrane is his approach to tricky design problems — instead of saying “ that’s not going to work”, he says “let’s figure out how to do that”. Our collaborative problem solving process is key. Jayme and I are currently working on another interactive collaboration for the Indian Summer Festival, which will be launching later this fall. Stay tuned.

Project: lineofcontrol.org

Concept, Design, Art Direction: Mustaali Raj & Minahil Bukhari.
Web Development: Jayme Cochrane.

Has your engineering background helped you?

My engineering background does give me a unique perspective to things — a systems oriented approach to design and branding. It also helped me develop soft skills such as presenting, public speaking, organization, working in teams, which really benefited me as an independent designer. Client relations is another aspect of my work where it has served as a valuable asset. Connecting with the client, understanding where they are coming from and how to nurture that relationship further. It has also helped me better connect with clients in the energy and tech. sectors as well, who feel they can trust me as a designer given my technical background. Working with the TRIUMF lab at UBC, developing the visual identity for Hummingbird Smart,  and rebranding Energy Safety Canada (ESC) are a few examples. I actually remember taking ESC safety courses (previously ENFORM) as a young engineer working at Imperial. 

What’s in your design toolkit these days?

Pencils and sketchbooks always come first. Then AI, ID and AE. Of course, I tap into the rest of the Adobe Creative Cloud including Photoshop as needed. I started playing around with After Effects before I came to IDEA, which helped me dive into motion graphics earlier than most of my peers. It’s still something that I enjoy doing today. I recently got the new iPad Pro and have started using  Procreate and Affinity Designer as alt. tools (mainly for illustration and quick prototyping). 

What’s in your communications toolkit these days and have tools changed much during the pandemic?

Digital communication tools (Zoom, Google Meet (formerly Hangouts), Slack) are key nowadays. I’m pretty much active on all of them given that clients and agencies tend to favour one over the other. Of course, email still seems to be the first touch point. You have to be on top of email as a freelancer. Although I am on a texting basis with some of my clients and agency contacts as well.

Now that everyone was forced to work remotely during the pandemic, it feels like agencies and clients are realizing it’s value. Tools haven’t changed much for me given that I was working remotely even before, but I do miss the in-studio interactions and face-to-face communications that periodically came my way. 

Tell us a bit about your latest project Stay Okay At Home

Since the COVID-19 shutdowns and lockdowns, there was a lot of emphasis on people staying at home. Many were having trouble coping with this change given the sudden shock to their daily routine. For me, it meant a sudden halt in commercial work as projects got cancelled or postponed. It did provide me with some free time to work on my own personal initiatives. I knew that at the time, it was crucial to stay at home, however it was equally important to make sure that we were also doing OKAY at home. That led to the Stay Okay at Home project, whose goal was to foster positive and lively inspiration for activities to do at home and hopefully bring a smile to your face in doing so.

I custom built an interactive microsite to help generate inspiration for those staying at home alongside a series of illustrated posters. The outdoors had an eerie feeling like never before with empty streets and closed businesses everywhere. The large vibrant posters were meant to add a bit of joy back into the streets while encouraging people to stay okay at home. I reached out to local collaborators to bring the project to life. Special thanks to @mitchellprinters @gdcbc and @the.poster.guy for making this happen!

What type of other projects have you recently or are you currently working on?

There’s a lot of different things on the go. Current projects include event branding and collateral for a local developer, visual identities for an orthopedic clinic, youth sports campaign and a Canadian health initiative. Another fun project I’m currently working on is branding a Samosa Eatery in the UK called AWESAMOSA :) . It’s funny, because one of my final year IDEA projects was a conceptual Samosa Food Cart.

Here are some recent projects that I’ve worked on:

Where do you see yourself in the next few years?

I’m looking forward to continued collaborations with other creatives taking on larger projects with several multi-disciplinary components. Something that I’ve already started dabbling in but want to further formalize is branching deeper into product and surface design. More often than not, there is a lack of diversity and perspective that exists in both the Canadian creative industry. I want to focus my efforts on bringing those voices out in the open and projecting a more inclusive and holistic view of Canada’s diverse framework through client projects, personal initiatives and community activations. I’m hoping to launch a new initiative called ‘Colour Theories’ later this year — a platform that promotes and celebrates diversity among creative professions. 

What advice would you give to our current students or anyone considering applying to IDEA School of Design?

— Don’t wait till the grad show to get your work online. 

— Play around with the Adobe Suite (or other software) on your own, even before you apply to IDEA School of Design.

— The more diverse things you can dabble in the better. It will help you be more well-rounded as a designer.

— Stay engaged with rapid developments in technology and techniques by following relevant organizations, podcasts, blogs and publications. 

—  For inspiration, I would highly recommend subscribing to Brand New and AIGA Eye on Design. 

— Deadlines are important. Schedules can be crazy out there in the real world so make the most of  learning to multi-task and juggle projects while you are still in school. 

— Relationships are super valuable if not everything.

— Stay curious. It’s a never ending journey of continuous learning and growth, which is what makes it exciting.

— Think about the user experience in everything you do (regardless of whether it is a digital project or not). 

— Putting presentation decks together, being able to present is a huge part of design and advertising. 

— Don’t be afraid of being who you are. Your identity is unique to you and should be something that you celebrate through your work.

— Keep personal projects alive… always. 

— Volunteer with local design/creative organizations. Reach out to studios that you admire. 

— Showcase your creative process. Employers like to see the thinking behind the final project. Why did you do this? Why did you do that? Quickly walk through your thinking process. Show sketches and the exploration you did. Talk about your process.

— Respect the pencil and paper. 

For more on Mustaali, check out mustaaliraj.com or follow him on Instagram @mraj, Linkedin, and Twitter @MustaaliRaj.

See also: Part 1