Nov. 10-25
A conversation with the Executive Creative Director and Founder of NH1 Design about blending curiosity with strategy, shaping authentic brand experiences, and how India’s dynamic cultural mix continues to inspire bold, meaningful design.
As part of our Indian Design in Focus series, we speak with Neha Tulsian, Executive Creative Director and Founder of NH1 Design, a Gurgaon-based brand consultancy known for its blend of design, strategy, and storytelling.
A graduate of the London College of Communication, Neha brings over fifteen years of multicultural experience to her work, having collaborated with leading global design studios and served as a member of the International Society of Typographic Designers (ISTD).
Since founding NH1 Design in 2013, she has built a boutique practice recognized with nine Blue Elephant awards and a Global Pentaward, with work featured in international design publications. The studio’s philosophy centers on curiosity and clarity—seeing design as a tool to ask the right questions and build authentic brand experiences.
We spoke with Neha about what makes Indian design unique on the world stage, her approach to bold, thoughtful design, the evolution of Indian aesthetics, and what fuels NH1’s creative ethos.
Indian design is like India itself. Walk into Chandni Chowk and you will see what I mean: a Fab India kurta brushing past Nike sneakers, a Bollywood poster hanging next to an Apple store, a Starbucks cup in one hand and a jalebi in the other. And somehow, it all belongs together.
That is the magic of India. We do not close the door on the world, we invite it in. We took Chinese food and made it Indian Chinese. We took every influence that came through trade, colonisation, and now globalisation, and we mixed it with our own masala. Out of that has come a design language that is impossible to mistake for anyone else’s.
It’s where the hyperlocal meets the global, where heritage meets now, where a hand-painted Bollywood poster can sit next to an Apple store and both feel completely at home.
Indian design today isn’t stuck in ethnic clichés. It’s where the hyperlocal meets the global, where heritage meets now, where a hand-painted Bollywood poster can sit next to an Apple store and both feel completely at home.
Simply put, at NH1 Design, we believe brands are not built in boardrooms. It is built in moments. Little moments of truth when a consumer interacts with you.
The cold check-out experience at a hospital. The dining experience begins before the meal is served. The smile when someone sees a brand. The pack on a shelf that feels like home. The thrill of tearing open a box. A brand is a sum of all these moments
Momentum happens when those moments and that mojo repeat again and again, across years.
Each of these moments creates memory. And those memories, when they spark feeling, add mojo to the brand. Mojo is not decoration. It is the sizzle to the sausage. It is what makes people feel something real and remember you for it.
Momentum happens when those moments and that mojo repeat again and again, across years. It accelerates brand growth. That is when bold beginnings grow into iconic legacies.
From challenger brands to heritage institutions, we know both need to be handled differently. One needs speed and visibility. The other needs renewal and trust.
Our role is to design the bridge between the two, building the strategies, identities, and systems that help brands be bold enough to begin and strong enough to last.
Someone told me 20 years ago, ”A client is only as courageous as you are. No one hires a design agency to craft something boring.”
Yes, clients are more open today. Earlier, many played it safe because safe felt secure. But safe never stands out. Overexposure to both good design and bad design has made everyone more aware.
People notice, people appreciate. Sometimes, they even think they know more about design than designers — that part I can happily do without.
At the end of the day, bold design is not about being loud. It is about being true.
We don’t convince clients with big speeches. I convince them with proof. Show them how a bold idea worked, how it made people smile. Once they see that, they don’t need convincing; they want to be part of it.
At the end of the day, bold design is not about being loud. It is about being true. If it feels honest and makes people feel something, a good client will always back it.
The biggest design problem is defining the right problem.
The brief defines the frame of the problem. Within that frame, you can do anything, from clarity to surprise, from rigor to play. The best work I have seen comes from designers who know exactly what problem they are solving.
Designers often think freedom means no boundaries, but in design, that usually creates confusion.
At NH1 Design, we welcome the clarity of a defined brief. And when a brief is vague, we do not hesitate to help shape it. Open briefs are tough because you cannot solve what you cannot define. That is why at NH1Deisign, sometimes we need to go the extra mile to co-create the brief with our clients.
Designers often think freedom means no boundaries, but in design, that usually creates confusion. A sharp brief does not limit creativity; it unlocks it.
Sustainable design? Of course, there’s a growing emphasis. Everybody’s talking about it. They put a green leaf on a tote bag, and suddenly, it’s saving the planet. That’s not design, that’s marketing spin.
In India, we’ve been sustainable forever. Cookie tins became sewing kits. Yesterday’s lentils turned into today’s tikki. Hand-me-downs lasted until the fabric gave up. That wasn’t a philosophy. It was called Jugaad.
They put a green leaf on a tote bag, and suddenly, it’s saving the planet. That’s not design, that’s marketing spin.
At NH1 Design, we tell clients the same thing our grandmothers told us: don’t waste, use what lasts, let’s choose the paper size meaningfully, make it mean something. We don’t greenwash for the hell of it.
If sustainability is in your DNA, we’ll help you show it. If it’s not, let’s not fool the people.
Good design isn’t a brochure about saving the world. Good design does good. Otherwise, it’s just another shiny piece of garbage with a recycling logo slapped on it.
My advice to young designers is this: India is your greatest design brief. Everywhere you look, there are problems waiting to be solved. From our transport systems to our hospitals, from our passports to our currency, everything can be better designed.
If you want your work to matter, if you want to see the impact of your ideas in real life, there is no better place than India.
In India, design has the power to take something broken and make it work, to take something ordinary and make it extraordinary. If you want your work to matter, if you want to see the impact of your ideas in real life, there is no better place than India. Here, design is not about style; it is about change and possibility.
And one more thing. Be patient, be consistent, and stay the course. Things take time here, and India will teach you that patience. I have seen too many people switch paths or give up too soon. But if you keep showing up, day after day, the results will come.
If someone is visiting India, I would recommend they experience an Indian thali meal. A thali is more than just food; it is culture on a plate. Sweet, sour, spicy, tangy, simple and rich, all coexist in harmony together. So don’t just see it, experience it.
I’d love to collaborate with the artists who create the festive lights in Kolkata during Durga Puja. The way they transform streets with light and story is lovely. Imagine bringing this aesthetic into a modern-day bar. Oh damn, I really want to do this.
Let’s find a client.
It’s the street and the people of India. Sit quietly, overhear conversations, catch the stories and conversations around you. If this doesn’t work drink some gin, three gins, and watch the aunties gossiping in the market.
To learn more visit www.nh1design.com
All images provided by NH1 Design
