Co-Founder & Director, Elephant

Ashwini Deshpande

A Visual Communications Designer from the National Institute of Design, Ahmadabad, India, Ashwini started her design entrepreneurship journey 35 years ago, by co-founding India’s pioneering design practice, Elephant.

Elephant, where Ashwini leads Branding & Communication Design, is India’s largest independent integrated design consultancy with presence in India & Singapore. She has been part of the award-winning work for global brands in diverse segments, including Global ReBrand 100 (USA), Worldstar (Germany), Lexus Design Awards, A’Design (Italy), Design for Asia Awards (HK) and Best of the Best at CII Design Excellence.

She has been a jury at marquee awards, such as the Cannes Lions (France), The One Show (USA), Pentawards London, Design for Asia Awards (HK) & Spikes Asia (Singapore). Ashwini was Jury President at the at the LIA – London International Awards, D&AD Awards in UK, MAD Stars awards in South Korea and AdFest at Thailand in 2024.

Ashwini is an active member of Association of Designers of India and, The Collective, an initiative by women creative leaders in India to foster safe workplaces. She is an advisor-mentor to the ‘Indian Creative Women’ that promotes diversity.

Her work has been recognised on several notable platforms: Impact Magazine has featured Ashwini among 50 Most Influential Women in Media for ten consecutive years and she is also on the Campaign India’s A-List for several years.

She was invited to join the board of as an independent director by Indigo Paints (1 B USD), a listed entity. Ashwini mentors start-ups through the “Nurture” initiative of TiE – The Indus Entrepreneurs platform where she also serves on the Governing Council. She is part of several educational advisory boards.