A quick look at Li-Anne Dias’ CV would suggest that she’s always been destined to work in the world of brand design. Over the course of her career, the creative director has helped build the brand design team at Grammarly from scratch and evolve its visual identity; established the first brand design systems at Reddit and led the creative direction of its first major integrated campaign; and consulted for big-name brands ranging from Crunchbase to Uber.

In reality, Dias is the first to admit that her first love is art. Originally starting out as a full-time illustrator, today her freelance practice sees her work with clients including Wired and Techcrunch. Now based in Oakland, California, her illustration style is directly inspired by her upbringing in Mumbai in the 90s, where she was surrounded by Indian advertising, movie posters, miniature paintings and hand-painted packaging designs such as matchbox labels.