nahalstudio

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Hello, I’m Nahal. A self-taught graphic designer and illustrator with Pakistani roots, based in Amsterdam. I’m curious about connecting historical and contemporary designs across cultures, and look at design and politics as inherently intertwined. Currently obsessing over bauhaus minimalism and Urdu typography. 

Alongside design, I’m a Lecturer in Media and Culture at the University of Amsterdam. I teach and research themes of racial/gendered identity and representation from a post/de-colonial perspective. Some of my research-related articles can be found below. 

Welcome to my independent creative practice. It’s a small space full of mindful collaborations with those who value visual design to narrate stories. I offer: editorial illustrations, book covers, posters, music album and podcast cover art, brand design, magazine and report layouts, and social media images. Ultimately, I love creating meaning through visual storytelling.

Thank you for being here.

Awards & exhibitions

“Harmonia” – Winning entry for brand design competition by Let’s Brief, 2025.

“The Compass of Racial Anti-Hate” — The Push Virtual Exhibition, 2021.

“Let’s go digital, let’s get active!” — Express Impress Virtual Exhibition, 2021.

Publications

“Pakistan’s Ambiguous Islamic Identity” – JSTOR Daily, 2024.

“The Sociogeny of Religious Discrimination in India’s Surveillance State” – Soapbox Journal of Cultural Analysis, 2022.

“Productively ‘perverse’: Punjabi films of the 1970s-80s as a tool for resistance during Zia-ul-Haq’s dictatorship” — Himal Southasian Magazine, 2022.

“Recognize your history: Re-narrating the ‘glorified’ Indian Partition 1947” – jfa human rights journal, 2021.

“Archiving Fashion: In conversation with the author and photographer of ‘Pakistan: A Fashionable History’” – Youlin Magazine, 2020.

“Reminiscences of Morals: A socio-psychological analysis of bystander unconsciousness in Waltz with Bashir” – Maastricht Journal of Liberal Arts, 2017.










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