Mascot Design for Khan Sahab Biryani

Giving the brand a face it could own forever

Khan Sahab Biryani had a strong product and a loyal customer base — but lacked a visual identity that could travel beyond the restaurant itself. In a category saturated with red-and-gold signage and generic Mughal motifs, they needed something that would stop a scroll, spark delight, and be instantly recognisable across packaging, social media, and in-store communication.

Our mission was to design a mascot that felt native to the brand's heritage — rooted in the magic of great food — while being contemporary enough to carry the brand into digital formats and beyond.

A character with warmth, magic, and appetite

We wanted the mascot to embody the brand promise: that every plate of biryani from Khan Sahab is a wish fulfilled. The metaphor of a genie — emerging from a magic lamp, granting culinary wishes — aligned perfectly with the brand's identity and gave us creative latitude to build a character full of personality.

The vision was not just a logo element, but a full brand character: expressive across poses, scalable across formats, and memorable enough that customers would associate the genie with Khan Sahab before they saw the name.

Concept development, pose library, and brand integration

We started with mood-boarding across cultural archetypes — Aladdin, Mughal miniature art, and modern food mascots — before narrowing down to a concept that balanced heritage and modernity. The genie character was deliberately designed to be warm and approachable rather than intimidating: a stocky, cheerful figure with a signature purple hat, golden jewellery, and a wide smile that communicates hospitality.

• Six distinct poses designed for varied use cases — serving biryani, welcoming guests, holding a blank signboard for promotions, and celebratory stances
• 3D render style chosen for maximum versatility across print, digital, and environmental applications
• Brand colours integrated directly into character design for seamless co-existence with the Khan Sahab visual identity
• Character sheets prepared in scalable formats, ready for deployment across social media, packaging, and signage

The entire process — from brief to final delivery — took three rounds of ideation and two rounds of visual refinement, with the client actively involved in pose selection and expression feedback.

A mascot that became the brand

The Khan Sahab Genie was immediately embraced by the brand's team and its customers. Within weeks of deployment across social channels, it became the most-recalled visual element associated with the restaurant — surpassing the logo itself in recognition tests conducted informally by the client.

The character has since been deployed across Instagram posts, WhatsApp promotional material, and in-store print collateral — with plans to bring it into packaging and outdoor advertising in 2026.