Sid Mehta Works
Aananda

Aananda

Project details

Role

Solo

Year

2020

Tools

Illustrator · Figma

Client

Self Initiated

Project highlights

Jain philosophy

translated into brand & app

Solo

identity & product concept

2020

self-initiated study

Overview

Designed a complete identity system, mobile app, book and print, that translates Jain philosophy into a visual language a younger audience can actually sit with.

Branding · App DesignSolo · Self Initiated

Aananda: sat, chit, aanand
Naming and wordmark exploration, with the Devanagari setting of आनंदा

Where it started

Learning Jainism from my father, who is pursuing a PhD in the subject.

Early notebook pages working out the structure of the app
Research board: what Jainism carries as stories, symbols, sculpture and painting, and how a mobile app could connect it

Illustration style inspired by Jain temples.

A Jain temple rendered inside the identity pattern

The app

Mobile application for teachers and students.

User profile, a live class in progress, and upcoming events

App screens.

Onboarding: the splash, choosing learner or teacher, and a welcome from Aanand, the guide
Speaking Samyak, the story of Mahavira, upcoming events, and temples on a map
Jain products, a product page, conversations, a live class, the profile and a sanyasi profile

Newspaper advertisement.

A newspaper advertisement for the app
Roll-up banners announcing the first fully fledged Jainism app

Advertisements for the app.

About the book
The book, a look inside Jainism

In print

Aananda, the book.

The ahimsa chapter opening
The bhramacharya chapter opening
The asteya chapter opening
Spreads from the book at small scale
The aparigraha chapter opening
The satya chapter opening
More spreads, showing the colour coding by principle

Cards to be placed in temples.

Cards explaining why the Namokar Mantra is chanted, with the mantra itself
Cards on why Micchami Dukkadam is asked during Paryushan, and on jiva and ajiva
Satya cards, laid out as a cross
A card being read against a temple pillar: what does asteya mean

Stands to inform about sculptures.

A-frame stands carrying the app announcement
A stand beside a carved standing figure at a temple
Visitors at a temple entrance, beside a stand
A QR code stand in front of two temple idols
A card left at the foot of a seated marble idol
The Instagram profile and story cards: how do Jain sanyasis live their lives, is Mahavira the god of Jainism
Backlit posters in a metro underpass
Reflection

This project pushed me to work with something deeply personal and culturally layered. Translating Jain philosophy into design meant carrying responsibility alongside the aesthetics. The process was shaped more by conversations than by references: sitting with my father and understanding these ideas from the inside changed how I approached the visual decisions.

What stayed with me was how much the work depended on staying faithful to the source. Every type choice, color, and compositional pattern had to feel earned rather than borrowed. Design here was interpretation, not just production.

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