Vakas Siddiqui

Vakas Siddiqui (born 14 April 1985) is one of the youngest professionals and the most paid web designer in Pakistan, with expertise in communication design, website design, Graphic User Interface (GUI) design, social media and interactive applications.
Early life and family
Vakas Siddiqui was born in Karachi, Pakistan.
Vakas Siddiqui is in line of generations of artists from the renowned Siddiqui family; he is the grandson of late Shaukat Siddiqui -an influential author and play writer of his time. Vakas himself is a communication designer of his own making who founded Copycat Interactive team and operations. Academically challenged but abundantly gifted with talents, he has had a patchy ride through most of his education but an equally rewarding career as a professional communication artist. He boasts more than six years of rich experience working on website design, GUI development across various platforms, online business and social media.
Vakas has had his own share of battles -bad time for the family forced him to almost quit his professional education. He worked for more than two years to regain ground before eventually gaining enough momentum to pursue a degree course. At his core is the ingenious use of subtle design and social media to promote and market ideas, companies and organizations. Vakas believes that every artwork produced is not just a product, but an investment in business. His passion to bring about his distinct flair in each of his projects has earned him a niche as a meticulous artist.
Career
He started working as a basic web designer at Right Solutions (LDG) in 2005 where he worked for US based clients only. Vakas started his actual career in the local industry at the School of Leadership (SoL) with the help of his friend Umair Jaliawala who is now the Chief Turning Officer at Torque/SoL. Umair introduced Vakas to the School of Leadership in 2005 where he sketched his first campaign for the Women Empowerment Program titled Beyond Beauty lead by Urooj Mazhar at School of Leadership (SoL). That campaign was the first step for Vakas to enter the industry of Communication Design in Pakistan, soon after that Vakas worked on another project called the Young Leaders' Conference YLC 2006 at School of Leadership (SoL). Right after that Vakas was offered to join a multinational design firm, which he readily accepted and then went on to work there for four years. He started off as a web designer, then eventually got promoted to being a communication designer and later on he worked on online marketing and social media and then got promoted to Publicity Manager right before his resignation. After resignation he was offer by Creative Chaos to join them.
Education
Throughout this time Vakas was determined to continue his higher education and enrolled at Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVS), Karachi where he is currently doing Bachelors in Communication Design. He did his schooling from St Patrick's High School, Karachi. After resigning from the company he was working at, he planned to rebuild his own company with partners from Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVS) and Institute of Business Administration, Karachi (IBA), which included Aamir Riffat, Umair Jaliawala and others. Vakas is now a business partner and creative director at ALD (United States) where he is managing remotely from Pakistan. ALD is one of the best online design firms in United States which offers website and design solutions for American and International companies.
IVS
Vakas is currently enrolled at Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVS). He was the first student at Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVS) who was invited to join the IVS Committee for Brand Communication (IVSCBC). Besides his studies and multiple businesses he is actively involved in design projects for the school as a member of IVS Committee for Brand Communication (IVSCBC). He was the one who came up with the idea of the IVS Students Council website for the very first time at Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVS), which he himself designed, executed and implemented after the successful implementation of IVS Students Council website he revamped the entire IVS website which is now being managed by IVS IT Department. Vakas is the only student at IVS who became the member of The IVS Alumni Association (web-committee) when he was in his 2nd year of the degree program in 2009. The website for The IVS Alumni Association, designed by Vakas Siddiqui is not just a website but it’s one of best examples around the world which used facebook integration for an alumni association.
Moreover he was the one who keeps on adding to the online presence of Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVS) through social media and other online resources like Google maps, Google apps (which gives the IVS students an online collaboration platform). Recently the first Google Chrome web application from Pakistan was designed and published by Vakas on Google chrome web store.
He recently launched the iPhone version for the IVS Alumni Associations website at the 3rd IVS Alumni Collective show on 10th December, 2010 at the IVS Gallery and got honorable mention by the Executive Director on 17th Convocation at IVS.
Business
Vakas Siddiqui now owns Copycat Interactive in Pakistan which is the only name that believes in bringing in the new technology in Pakistan when it comes to desktop publishing. At this time Copycat have got a huge clientele from which some of the top lined names like ENGRO Corporation and MOVENPICK of Switzerland. He is also in process of expanding circles of Copycat Interactive and will be soon launching Copycat Interactive’s office in Canada in partnership.
Like every Pakistani Vakas is also loves patriotism and never forgets to add spice to his work when it comes to patriotism. He did event-based customization for many of his projects especially for 14th August the Independence day. Also in 2010 he came up with this online platform where artist around the world can contribute and share the patriotic work, which got enough response from it and gave a wakeup call to the rest of the artists to do something patriotic.
Notable projects
* The IVS Alumni Association website
* The IVS Alumni Association iPhone optimized website (to be viewed from iPhone only)
* Mahin Hussain Accessories website
* Engro Collage web-based newsletter
* Hashtag
* ICOGRADA's Mother Tongue

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu