What’s in a Name? Everything, if You’re TooSid

What do you call a designer who names himself after a long-forgotten T-shirt brand, dreams in symmetry, and can turn a traffic roundabout into a logo for Ranbir Kapoor? Meet Sidhant Gandhi, better known as TooSid. In a world where most creatives chase disruption, TooSid thrives on balance between chaos and clarity, heritage and modernity, storytelling and sleek design. He’s part philosopher, part prankster, and part visual alchemist, the kind of mind that can spot design lessons in fallen leaves or in the bold red ads of yesteryear. We, at LuxeBook, caught up with him to talk pseudonyms, psychedelic rock, and why design, at its best, is less about looking good and more about shaping the future.

LuxeBook: You call yourself TooSid. What’s the story behind the pseudonym?

Sidhant: TooSid was originally the name of a hand-painted t-shirt company I started with my friends a decade ago. The company didn’t last, but the name stuck. Over time it became my nickname, and eventually my artist pseudonym.

LuxeBook: When did you first realize that design and storytelling could be one and the same language?

Sidhant: I actually have two moments that made me realize. The first realization came in 2013-14, I was working as a designer for a company that used to sell hair growth serums. Like any designer my attempt was to make the campaign as good looking of a design as possible, but we soon realised that whenever we would put something ‘good looking’ the sales would drop instantly. We took a deep dive as to why it was happening, spoke to multiple customers, did our homework and the conclusion was that most of our customers – were men. They didn’t want an aesthetic looking product, they wanted a solution. Whenever they would see a simple Ad with Red bold text “Stop Hairfall Now” they would instantly click. That taught me that in advertising, design isn’t about what you want to say, but about what the customer feels when they see it.

The other was while designing a music festival. A top official of the sponsoring brand asked me to hide all the visible trees at the venue so that the venue could look futuristic. It hit me. How could his version of the future not include trees? He instantly googled futuristic cities and all the artwork that showed up was very cyberpunk and barely had any greenery in it. Which made me realize that artists hold a deeper responsibility towards society. Whatever you make today is going to inspire people tomorrow. So somewhere you create the world you’d actually want to see. So if you want your future to be full of anything, add that to your work. Let others get inspired by it!

LuxeBook: What’s the one visual element you believe instantly elevates a brand or film campaign?

Sidhant: Symmetry. It’s one of those things, you’ll only notice during the absence of it. If it’s present, it elevates your layout/ artwork. If it’s not there, it makes people uneasy even without knowing. If you’re confused, just follow natural symmetry, it’s all around you. You can literally take a fallen leaf- Copy its pattern and have a killer design. Similarly, you can make design languages out of finger prints. Nature has provided enough visual symmetry to steal from.

LuxeBook: What went behind designing the Arks logo for Ranbir Kapoor. Could you describe the process?

Sidhant: When the brief came to me, it had already been out there with a bunch of people taking jabs at it. None of them were able to crack it, so it was a bit difficult to gauge as to why the existing designs are not working. I made the first round that got rejected as soon as I had sent it. So then I met RK and took a briefing from him. His brief to me was “It shouldn’t be disruptive”, which was a bit new for me because all other clients or projects always wanted to do something disruptive. It got me thinking about disruption in general. The first thing that sort of disrupts all of us as soon as we leave our houses is traffic, flyovers and roundabouts which are actually pretty significant reminders of how design has been used to ease disruptions. So I took the top angle of a flyover roundabout and sort of reimagined it from my lens and that’s how we landed on the ARKS Logomark.

LuxeBook: Indian aesthetics often lean maximalism. How do you balance that heritage richness with your clean, contemporary lens?

Sidhant: I don’t see it as a conflict at all, but as an opportunity instead. Indian heritage aesthetics are so vast and carry symbolism that are very emotional. Approach wise I try to distill that wealth. Take one motif or texture from the heritage world and let it settle in a cleaner composition. In this way you preserve the cultural depth while still speaking the visual language of today.

LuxeBook: If design were music, what genre would TooSid’s playlist be?

Sidhant: I’d like to be French House, but I think I’ll probably land in Psychedelic Rock.

LuxeBook: Do you think India’s design scene is finally getting its global ‘spotlight moment’?

Sidhant: It definitely has started, you see artists from all fields cracking international projects. Instagram has made it easier to connect with a wider audience. But it’s still at a very early stage.

LuxeBook: If you could reimagine one iconic Indian brand or film poster from history in your style, what would it be?

Sidhant: A film from the past that I’d like to redo would be Rangeela. I loved everything about the film but the poster might need some work. Not from history but I’d love to reimagine Jio, visually as well. It has one of the biggest footprints in our country and would be a great opportunity to touch so many people visually and push some visual boundaries.

LuxeBook: Describe the future of Indian design.

Sidhant: With AI coming into the picture, it’s difficult to predict which direction things will take, but whatever happens—it will move very fast. I believe the next generation of founders will emerge from the Indian design scene. While many are still contemplating the possibility of losing jobs, people like me are already experiencing dents in our business. All of us disrupted by AI will evolve, and eventually, we’ll find a way to use it to our benefit.

LuxeBook: What’s a project still on your bucket list, something you must create before you’re 40?

Sidhant: So many! I have to make a film, a reality show and also something new. Something people and I haven’t seen before.

You may also read: Rashmika Mandanna on Her Scented Storytelling with Dear Diary