Image Is Everything!

Andre Agassi once famously said that, "Image Is Everything."

As superficial as that may sound, he wasn't necessarily incorrect. There is most definitely a correlation between perception and interaction with an individual or entity. In fact, the entire concept of BRANDING is a multi-billion dollar industry. Athletes, entertainers, executives and politicians all have well-crafted images that strike a chord with the general populace to get you to buy what they're selling.

Closer to home, one of the things that we learned after wrapping up Season 1 of STATE OF MIND was that we too needed to start thinking about the type of image that we wanted to project to our viewers and followers. STATE OF MIND had become so much more than just our flagship TV program, ‘STATE OF MIND with Krishna C. Nadella’. We were also profiling students for a series entitled, ‘What’s Your STATE OF MIND?’ (thank you Zehra Khawaja!), I was doing more speaking engagements at a multiple colleges both in the U.S. and in Canada and I was actively posting  articles on LinkedIn…like the one you’re reading right now!

With all that was going on, when it came to BRANDING, I had no idea where to start. Fortunately, a talented Graphic Designer by the name of Cindy Shtevi just so happened to take an interest in our show and was willing to help us out.

I explained to her that even though I may be the initial force behind STATE OF MIND, real success would only be attained when college students across the country felt as much ownership as I did. Using that as a starting point, we went through at least seven different designs (and a lot of back and forth) before we decided on the logo you see below:

 Clean. Simple. To the Point.

First off, we start with my name and silhouette to create a written and visual familiarity between myself and our audience. Second, my silhouette is embedded in the ‘O’ of ‘SOM’ to show that I am part of the larger cog that is the STATE OF MIND community. (The ‘SOM’ also allows for us to refer to ourselves in short-hand.) Finally, ‘STATE OF MIND’ is clearly written at the bottom to show that our community of viewers and followers are the underlying foundation of everything we do. All-in-all, a universal logo that can be used as a whole or in parts across multiple audiences and for multiple purposes.

During the creative process, I came to learn that Cindy was a successful entrepreneur, managing multiple businesses and a mother of three wonderful children. As such, it only made sense that I take the time to hear her story, gain her insights and share any advice/guidance she could offer.  Enjoy!