Forbes India 30 Under 30 2025: Simoul Alva seamlessly merges creativity and thoughtfulness

Designing for products or tech that need to be explained by visualisation is what sets Alva apart. She has worked on brands such as Amazon, Apple, and more

By Benu Joshi Routh

Published: Feb 12, 2025 11:11:49 AM IST

Updated: Feb 13, 2025 05:30:34 PM IST

Simoul Alva, Visual Design Lead, Ripple Image: Sonia Broman; Photo imaging By: Kapil Kashyap

Simoul Alva grew up watching films and reading voraciously. Both served as windows to the world of design and helped her discover the power of imagination.

A recipient of the Ratan Tata Foundation Grant and a winner of the Helen Lansdowne Resor Scholarship by J Walter Thompson, Alva’s talent was first spotted when as a student at the National Institute of Design she was selected to represent India at the 44th Worldskills Competition in 2017 at Abu Dhabi. It involved competing against 30 other applicants of different nationalities on projects including packaging design, editorial, and visual identity. Alva went on to earn the medallion of excellence.

During her final year, Alva interned at Pentagram in New York, where she worked with award-winning designer Michael Bierut. She also interned at Samsung Research America’s Think Tank Team and freelanced at Sagmeister & Walsh, securing full-time employment there in 2019.

At her first design role at &Walsh (previously Sagmeister & Walsh) Alva got to work on founder and creative director Jessica Walsh’s team where she led the project on developing the visual identity of earth-conscious biodesign firm Geltor. The project, which took cues from the tree of life, combining vibrant colours with flowers and leaves encased in 3D spheres inspired by glass orb terrariums, received critical acclaim in publications including the Creative Review, It’s Nice That, Fast Company and Creative Boom. At &Walsh, Alva honed her skills working on brands such as Twitch, Apple, Adobe, and Parle Agro.

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“Simoul approaches every project with an open mind and a desire to push boundaries,” says Jessica Walsh, founder and creative director, &Walsh. “Her ability to seamlessly merge creativity with thoughtfulness and precision makes her a standout in the field of design.”

Also read: Forbes India 30 Under 30 2025: Brinda Dudhat's Morii Design restores pride for craft in artisans

In 2019, Alva’s first editorial illustration in The New York Times for an article titled, ‘Slack Wants to Replace Email. Is That What We Want?’ opened the floodgates for a host of illustrations over the years for other prestigious news publications such as The Washington Post, Wired, and MIT Tech Review, to name a few.

In 2019, Alva was invited by Adobe for their annual flagship event Adobe Max conference, where she spoke about her work and performed a demo using their 3Dtools to a global audience.

Her work has been featured and awarded a Certificate of Typographic Excellence by The Type Directors Club, D&AD, Art Directors Club, One Club for Creativity, PRINT Magazine & Communication Arts.

In 2022, Alva was commissioned to create a 3D illustration for The Museum of Living History by the Mahindra Group in Mumbai, titled ‘Bridges of Tomorrow’, which offers an interactive experience showcasing the philosophy, DNA, core values, and culture of the group.

Her foray into Brand Design for tech in 2021 with financial services company Robinhood as senior visual designer & art director was one of the turning points for Alva. As the lead visual designer on the Robinhood Retirement Project, she contributed to the design identity, key visuals, typography, and colours, which won the San Francisco Design Week Awards in 2023.

“Being comfortable with ambiguity, designing for products or technology that needs to be visualised in order to be explained is what sets me apart,” says Alva.

Currently, as Visual Design Lead for blockchain fintech company Ripple, her notable projects include Ripple’s Brand Refresh, visual identity for flagship events and Ripple USD.

Simoul Alva (29)

Visual Design Lead, Ripple

Design and Architecture