Aarti Bhalekar

Aarti Bhalekar

Multi Disciplinary Designer in London, she/her

About


Aarti is a Multidisciplinary designer based in London whose portfolio spans various segments, including VR, AR, games, advertising, film, education, and communication design. She is passionate about crafting captivating art pieces in themes such as ecology, playfulness, and love, and she loves experimenting with emerging technologies and 3D art that have the potential to tell meaningful stories.

With experience in both the corporate environment and independent studios, she has had the privilege of contributing to projects in the ed-tech space and collaborating on projects with brands such as Amazon Prime, Royal Enfield, Nickelodeon, and many more.

She holds an MA in Digital Direction from the Royal College of Art, a Graduate Diploma Certificate in Digital Design from Vancouver Film School, and a Bachelor in Animation from Rubika, India.

Beyond her professional endeavors, Aarti finds fulfillment in supporting communities through her creative practice. She has assisted foundations, including Monami and the Rotary Club in Mumbai. She uses her design expertise to create impactful visuals for their products and branding initiatives, contributing to their missions of making a positive difference in society.

Projects

2024

Created a Digital Narrative and Interactive Experience in Snap Lens tailored for young children to teach them about cross-pollination.

Our objective was to craft an immersive AR card game that would help children understand the different kinds of flowers pollinators like to pollinate.

  • Showcased at the Snapchat x Royal College of Art Symposium at the Battersea RCA Rausing Building.
2024

Will We Disappear in the Cover of the Sky? is about the current landscape of avian ecology in the UK. The experimental film invites visitors to traverse different landscapes, from an urban park to the higher altitudes of open skies. A more-than-human perspective emerges as a starling narrates an account of the challenges brought about by rapidly growing human activities, especially a change in starlings’ wayfinding, nesting, and foraging opportunities.

  • Showcased at Outernet: Now Building, Pop One Space.
2023

The Secret Garden is an AR experience that invites the audience to visit a hidden garden that only comes to life in extended reality. It is the first chapter of a series that encourages the flourishing of starlings by translating bird behavior to humans through immersive technologies.

  • Showcased as part of the Sustain Lab exhibit "Co-Creating with Nature" at the Upper Gulbenkian Gallery

  • Showcased at the SnapChat X Royal College of Art Symposium at Battersea RCA Rausing Building.

  • Showcased at Saatchi Gallery as part of the British Art Fair

2023

STALL Is a 360 VR film about a young person getting their period for the first time.

  • Showcased at the Ivy Film Festival at Brown University

  • It will be screened at the Aesthetica Film Festival in York in November.

Exhibitions

2024
London

AR Projects " The Secret Garden" & "HIVE" were exhibited in Saatchi Gallery from 26th- 29th September.

Awards

2020
Best Team Project in Communication and Motion Design for the Brand , Speak Up from Vancouber Film School
2020
Best Student Project for Less is More from Vancouver Film School

Work Experience

2024 — 2024
Teaching Assistance at Snapchat
London

I assisted in teaching a workshop for ten students to create AR experiences using Snapchat Lens Studio software during the AR Lens Hackathon Challenge at Snapchat's office.

2024 — 2024
Interaction & Visual Designer at Snapchat
London

We worked on creating an AR experience for the RCA x Snap program.

2023 — 2023
Motion Designer at Landor & Fitch
Mumbai
2021 — 2022
Motion Designer at Improper.TV
Delhi
2021 — 2021
Visual Designer at Openhouse
Bangalore

Volunteering

2022 — 2022
Graphic Designer at Rotary Club
Mumbai
2017 — 2017
Visual Designer at Monami Foundation
Delhi

Education

2023 — 2024
Masters in Digital Direction at Royal College of Art
London
2020 — 2020
Diploma with Honours at Vancouver Film School
Vancouver
2016 — 2019
Bachelors in Animation at Rubika
India