client

National Anti Doping Agency

service name

Rebranding

01.

Intro of case

The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) was established on November 24, 2005, with a clear mandate to keep Indian sports clean. Tasked with implementing anti-doping rules aligned with the WADA code, NADA works to regulate dope control programs, promote education, and create awareness around the harmful effects of doping.

A Vision That Demanded Change
Under the leadership of IAS Ritu Sain, NADA’s CEO, the agency has been making significant strides in promoting clean sport and building trust within the athlete community. This vision sparked the need for a new identity, one that would match NADA’s purpose and ambition.

Why Rebranding?

1 The old logo, with its complex icons and elements, felt cluttered. It lacked the modern authority and clarity needed to represent the evolved NADA, and its commitment to athletes.

2 NADA represents India on the world stage so, the need to bring India’s tricolour into the identity was clear, but no one could quite agree on how. That’s where we came in.

02.

Objective

Create a modern, professional, globally recognisable logo for NADA.

Seamlessly integrate the Tricolour while maintaining a clean, focused design.

Simplify the branding while maintaining relevance to NADA’s core values and mission.

Reflect NADA’s evolving role: from an enforcer to an ally for athletes.

03.

The Challenge we faced

Multiple officials. Shifting directions. A brief that changed as the process unfolded. Everyone involved had a suggestion, but they all had a different vision.
Initially, the ask was for an icon-led logo representing sports. Then it shifted towards a purely typographic approach. And at one point, the brief even turned to incorporating their motto “PLAY FAIR” into the logo.

Countless calls, opinions, and changes later, did it finally shape the vision of the tricolour in the Logo. What’s more is that there was a mandate to have Hindi full form integrated along with the abbreviation Logo.
Every pivot of this process brought new sketches, explorations, and presentations. We weren’t just designing a Logo, we were navigating a moving brief while protecting the essence of NADA.

04.

How We Approached It

With every change in direction, we returned with revised explorations. We listened, adapted, and continued to build, ensuring each step moved us closer to a mark.

All while staying true to what NADA stands for and filtering every new request through that lens. With this approach, over the course of this process, we developed and delivered 120+ logo explorations, each a piece of the puzzle that brought NADA closer to an identity they could stand behind.

Outcome: Instead of fighting the chaos, we worked with it. And in the end, we arrived at a logo that felt inevitable. Clean. Confident.

05.

The Takeaway

This wasn’t just about a logo we made for NADA. It was about standing by NADA and standing by YOU.

It was about showing that clarity is possible, even when the process gets messy.

And while we delivered on every requirement, the Ministry of Sports then led by Captain Anurag Singh Thakur chose not to launch the new identity due to event timelines.

Nearly three years later, the work remains unpublished, and our payment remains unsettled. Still, for us, this is a win worth designing for, and a story we are proud to share.

NADA

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