Ibtihaj Shaikh
Designing Powerful Logos That Define Brands
New to Contra
Ibtihaj is ready for their next project!
Project Title:
Gaurus Streetwear — Illustrative Graphic Hoodie Series
Project Overview / Case Study:
About the Project:
Continuing the visual expansion for Gaurus (launched in 2022), this volume focuses on expressive, illustrative graphics that combine traditional streetwear iconography—such as flaming roses, gaming dice, skeleton elements, and custom Urdu typography—into cohesive streetwear art.
Design Breakdown & Concept:
Flaming Rose & Dice Art (Black Hoodie): A high-energy graphic featuring white dice wrapped in flaming red roses, blending high stakes with raw street passion.
Urdu Calligraphy & Floral Fusion (Black Hoodie): Custom block Urdu calligraphy reading "گورس" (Gaurus) accented with vibrant red roses, seamlessly fusing cultural heritage with contemporary urban fashion.
Skeleton Hand & Rose Graphic (Black Hoodie): A clean, modern layout featuring a skeletal hand holding a red rose paired with sleek, bold GAURUS branding.
Teal Rose & Red Dice Art (White Hoodie): A color-inverted contrast variant featuring fiery teal-cyan roses over bold red dice, optimized for crisp presentation on a clean white fleece base.
Scope of Work & Deliverables:
Graphic & Apparel Design: Developed custom vector illustrations, calligraphic typography, and complex multi-color artwork layouts.
Color Story & Placement Strategy: Balanced high-contrast colorways across light and dark hoodie bases for maximum visual impact.
Production & Presentation Mockups: Prepared print-ready graphics alongside photorealistic commercial mockups for brand marketing and portfolio presentation.
Project Tags & Skills for Contra:
Apparel Design • Streetwear Graphics • Vector Illustration • Urdu Calligraphy • Merchandise Design • Brand Identity • Adobe Illustrator • Mockup Presentation
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Project Title:
Gaurus Streetwear — Brand Apparel & Graphic Hoodie Collection
Project Overview / Case Study:
About the Project:
Founded in 2022, Gaurus is an urban streetwear brand focused on producing bold, high-contrast, and contemporary apparel. This collection showcases a series of custom graphic hoodie designs engineered to reflect a strong, edgy visual identity and modern street culture aesthetics.
Design Breakdown & Concept:
Block Typography (Black Hoodie): A heavy, custom block-type layout designed for maximum brand presence and bold street appeal.
Abstract Geometric Typography (Black & White Hoodies): A custom diagonal line-art pattern that seamlessly integrates and conceals the brand name "GAURUS" into a sleek, futuristic typographic maze.
Gothic Skull & Rose Illustration (Black Hoodie): A detailed vector graphic pairing a skull with a red rose, symbolizing raw passion, resilience, and fearless individuality.
Scope of Work & Deliverables:
Apparel Graphic Design: Created original vector artwork, custom block typography, and geometric hidden-text pattern compositions.
Brand Identity & Merchandise Layout: Developed artwork placement strategies, color contrast schemes, and print-ready production files.
Product Mockups & Presentation: Designed realistic photorealistic mockups to present the apparel line in a clean, professional aesthetic for commercial launch.
Project Tags & Skills for Contra:
Apparel Design • Streetwear Graphics • Merchandise Design • Brand Identity • Vector Illustration • Typography • Adobe Illustrator • Mockup Presentation
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🎉 8 YEARS ON YOUTUBE! 🎥
Today marks 8 years since I started my YouTube journey!
What started back in 2018 as a simple way to share my knowledge and experience in Graphic Design, Adobe Illustrator, Logo Design, DesignCrowd, and freelancing has now become a journey of 329 videos, 341,578+ views, and 3,951 subscribers. ❤️
Over these 8 years, I’ve learned, experimented, made mistakes, improved, taught, and continued creating, even when things weren’t always easy.
8 years.
329 videos.
341,578+ views.
3,951 subscribers.
Countless memories.
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has watched my videos, subscribed, commented, shared my content, learned from my tutorials, or supported me in any way.
We’re just 49 subscribers away from 4,000! 🎯
Subscribe and share, and let’s make it 4,000 today! ❤️🔥
Subscribe to my YouTube channel (https://youtube.com/@ibtihajshaikh?si=tB6NUGBCS7vMFrE4&utm_source=chatgpt.com)
Thank you for being part of this journey. ❤️
Ibtihaj Shaikh
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The Story Behind the Republican Millennial Logo
Back in 2016, I worked on a logo improvement project for a U.S. national political organization called Republican Millennial.
The brief immediately caught my attention.
The organization was described as a group building technology tools for campaign and election management and serving as a nexus for new and forward-thinking members of the Republican Party.
And this was a very interesting time to be working on a Republican identity.
Donald Trump was the Republican presidential nominee in 2016, and the Republican Party was going through one of the most talked-about election campaigns in modern U.S. politics. At the same time, there was a strong focus on how the Republican movement could connect with younger, millennial voters.
So when I received the brief for Republican Millennial, the connection immediately felt significant to me.
The design direction was clear:
modern, minimalist, youthful — but unmistakably Republican.
The client specifically wanted an elephant incorporated into the identity.
Instead of simply placing an elephant illustration next to the name, I wanted to turn it into a proper brand symbol.
I simplified the elephant into a clean silhouette and incorporated three stars into the mark. The result was a symbol that could stand independently from the typography.
For the wordmark, I combined a strong traditional serif treatment for REPUBLICAN with a more contemporary MILLENNIAL treatment in red.
The final identity included:
Full Logo — Elephant symbol + wordmark
Icon Mark — Standalone elephant symbol
Wordmark — Typography-only version
The project was completed on August 15, 2016.
Looking back at it today, this project has a particularly interesting place in my portfolio.
I was a designer from Pakistan working on a U.S. national political organization connected to the Republican Party, during the same election year in which Donald Trump was the Republican nominee.
At the time, I didn't fully appreciate how interesting that connection would become in my design portfolio.
I was simply doing what I always did:
Taking a brief, understanding the audience, and turning an idea into an identity.
And that's what makes this logo more than just another logo contest entry.
It was a small piece of design work created during a very significant moment in American political history.
Project Completed: August 15, 2016
Client: Republican Millennial
Industry: Political / Campaign Technology
Location: United States
Deliverables: Logo, Icon Mark & Wordmark
Looking to elevate your brand’s visual identity with a high-impact logo? Send me a direct message or drop a comment below. Let’s collaborate and turn your vision into a strategic design that wins.
📩 Email: ibtihaj2011@hotmail.com
(mailto:ibtihaj2011@hotmail.com)📲 WhatsApp: +92 313 3322439
#BrandIdentity #LogoDesign #DesignCrowd #VisualIdentity #GraphicDesign #Branding #DesignCaseStudy #CreativeProcess #RepublicanMillennial #PoliticalDesign
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