A brand's image is the vital factor for any business today to grab the customer’s attention, and only a select few branding & design firms are committed to ensuring that the initial impression is truly memorable. Such firms are fervent about shaping brand identities that not only possess visual allure but also effectively communicate the distinctive personality of the brand imbibed with creative market insights. With the rise of numerous startups in recent years, there is a growing demand for brand identity, and positioning. To sum up, the landscape of branding, brand consultancy, and space design is currently flourishing in India and globally. Well, appreciably marking its distinguished presence in this field is The Turtle Story, a branding & packaging and Exhibition design firm incepted by the Founder & CEO Kedaar Naik. Kedaar, a graduate of J.J. School of Arts and NID, has nearly two decades of design experience. He worked with Pantaloon, VIP Luggage, and Pepperfry before establishing The Turtle Story, his design studio, seven years ago.

The Turtle Story as a branding & packaging firm specializes in crafting brands that captivate, resonate, and inspire action using a unique, multidisciplinary approach. It helps clients strategize, reimagine and transform their brand experiences creatively.

Kedaar explains, “We heavily focus on getting the positioning of any brand right because

once a brand makes a certain space in people’s mind it’s very difficult to change it. Our research-oriented approach enables us to discover deep insights and opportunities based on which, we craft impactful strategies and compelling and scalable visual identity which further finds expression into exhibition design, store design, website design, social media, and print collaterals”.

Branding is an iterative and evolving process, hence softwares like Adobe Suite, Figma, Microsoft, and various generative AI tools are often used for experimentation & concept generation. Especially today, when tools like ChatGPT have made content creation quite seamless, it rather chooses to create content from scratch in order to provide the most value to its clients. The firm has a young team of Gen Z talent who are naturally curious and constantly abreast with the fast-changing design and technology trends. Conducting team meetings for brainstorming & knowledge-sharing, encouraging cross-learning internally, and also following entrepreneurial blogs for strategic insights, The Turtle Story makes remarkable efforts in providing the best consulting services to its clients.

The Turtle Story is extensively involved as a creative partner with major global corporations, and concurrently supports regional brands across India in their formidable entrepreneurial endeavors. Furthermore, the company collaborates with government agencies such as the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council to orchestrate largescale jewelry exhibitions. The fruition of these endeavors is attributed to The Turtle Story's remarkable team, which comprises both international designers and zealous designers from preeminent Indian design institutes including NID, NIFT, Shristi, and MIT.

Growth & Future Plans

In its tenure, the firm has worked with esteemed clients such as Shane Watson and brands like Asian Paints and GMG, and worked with the GJEPC to design and brand the IIJS jewelry show. Additionally, it successfully launched Abbott India’s skincare range, Skinnable, Abbot’s first D2C brand.

“Well, each project came with its own challenges, such as adhering to strict guidelines while being creative, introducing unique concepts and materials within tight budgets, and navigating multi-level approval processes to deliver projects before deadlines. Ultimately, witnessing these brands flourish and seeing the joy of end-users interacting with our creations makes it all worth while and immensely gratifying. We are thrilled to mark this significant growth milestone today and look forward to more challenging projects that push our creative boundaries ", signs off Kedaar