I designed Norta.
Norta was my graphic design thesis at OCAD University, finished in 2021 while Navratri couldn’t be celebrated in person. I wanted to know whether a video game could hold a festival for people who couldn’t get to one.
Who’s behind it
I’m a graphic designer based in Toronto. Branding and editorial design are home for me, and I’ll borrow from any discipline a problem needs.
Norta borrowed from a lot of them. What began as a question about a festival turned into a logo, a game concept, a brand book, a pitch deck and an ad campaign, all held together by one identity.
This site keeps the thesis as I presented it at GradEx 106, along with the research and sources that shaped it.
What went into it
- Brand strategyWorking out who Norta was for and what it had to promise them.
- Identity and brandingA logo drawn from the story of Navratri and the goddess Durga.
- Editorial designThe brand book, plus a 74-page process book with the sketches and dead ends left in.
- Print designPosters and printed pieces for the ad campaign.
- Digital and web designScreens for the game concept, and the site you're reading.
- Digital media marketingAd creatives planned around survey data on how people find and download games.
- Photography and filmI shoot and edit my own photos and footage when a project calls for it.
Awards
- RGD Award of MeritRGD In-House Design Awards · 2024
For the OceanMD rebrand, which I worked on as part of the in-house design team.
- Student Employee Excellence AwardOCAD University · March 2020
For my design work as a student employee at OCAD U, the year before Norta.
Press and features
- GradEx 106OCAD University · 2021
OCAD U’s announcement for GradEx 106, its graduate exhibition, named Norta among the projects taking on real-world problems. Read it
- CBC RadioInterview
I was interviewed on CBC Radio about Norta and the idea of celebrating a festival inside a game.
- Toronto SunFeature
The Toronto Sun wrote about Norta and the Navratri celebration it was built around.
Norta is one project. The rest live on my main site.
My client work, and everything I’ve made since Norta, is at rahulbagdai.com.