Designer Dhvani Shah Advances Human‑Centered Design for Social Impact

Award‑winning multidisciplinary designer Dhvani Shah began her career at Miami Ad School, where she created the #BreakTheCloset pop‑up experience to help LGBTQ+ individuals symbolically break a physical closet. She later joined Ogilvy in New York and Mumbai, devising award‑winning campaigns for major brands such as Cadbury, Unilever and Tata Salt, including the Cadbury Dairy Milk Unity Bar and Unilever Hamam Waterproof Saree, which earned shortlistings at Cannes Glass Lion 2019, D&AD and the Clio Awards.

Shah was named to the IMPACT 30 Under 30 list in 2017 and pursued an MA in Social Design at Maryland Institute College of Art. Her thesis examined gender inequity in patrilineal naming conventions, leading her to develop a prototype game called The Last Name Game, informed by over 20 interviews to spark conversation on naming practices.