Principal, Lopez Design
If asked to choose between kite-flying, dancing the garba and strategising a multidimensional conference that eventually delivers ‘greater good’;, Anthony Lopez would choose the last. Lopez thrives on such complexity and he never shies away from the rock-climbing or cliffhanging it takes to make elaborate breath-taking solutions. Lopez’s family is from the port of Karwar, Karnataka but he grew up in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Once a State-level basketball player, he brings that enviable strength for rustling up creative synergy in a group. From making big screen outdoor audio-visuals with synchronised sound to bespoke environment branding across vast areas for corporates, Anthony has been an orchestrator of larger events, infusing meaning in everything he does.
The designer who did his Masters from NID advocates his philosophy “the why of what we do is more important than what we do”. Anthony believes for branding to be meaningful, it must necessarily move in several different directions simultaneously. Under his steering at Lopez Design, which he established in 1997, identity design and branding has grown beyond paper, hoardings and digital interfaces. He has redefined branding as a permeable spatial system emphasising its need to be contextual to people, place and local culture. Anthony’s ambidextrous methodology and dogged pursuit of excellence and integrity has gotten him many accolades. His studio played a pioneering role in the fusion of storytelling, games and puzzles into corporate culture, for firms such as Mercer, E&Y and PwC. More so, he has boldly defined design for India. Lopez Design’s branding and identity for Bihar Museum has won several national and international awards including the coveted iF Design Award. He has constantly used design to weave the bigger picture, rigorously championing a humanistic approach. The ingenious identity for PMNCH Partners’ Forum 2018, which invigorates the craft of Pipli, was unveiled by PM Shri Narendra Modi recently. The Forum in December will bring together 1000 members from 77 countries in December. For the Ayushman Bharat program, the studio designed a branding solution that allows Health Centres across the country to create their local identity under a centralised system.
A popular speaker, Anthony has given talks at national and international conferences – the Coalition, Kyoorius Design Yatra and The Sri Lanka Design Festival. He has addressed Wacom conferences across the country and spoken at Design X Design Forum, the ACA Design Festival at Mauritius and HT Brandfest at Kathmandu. He was invited to Pearl’s What Next 2017 conference, which included 80 eminent designers of the country. A regular teacher at NID, he was selected Graphic Design Representative, India for the World Skill competition 2017. In 2018, DJ Academy did a podcast interview with Anthony, as part of a series about eminent design thinkers. Anthony’s love for dialogues across fields catalysed his studio’s monthly Lopez Design Forum, where experts from diverse fields present their thinking and work, from young inventors and academics to creative professionals and eminent artists. When he’s not working, he’s dreaming up his next breakthrough for design.
