Professor Mahendra Patel, one of the finest teachers of Design, taught students at the National Institute of Design for 39 years. His areas of expertise include Typography, Typeface design, Signage Systems, and Information Maps and Charts. He pioneered developments in these fields. Since 2004, he has retired from being a full-time faculty at NID. He now spends his time on projects and conducts workshops at different design institutes.

He was the recipient of the 18th Gutenberg Award for his contribution to Typography in 2010. He was also honored with the Design Grandmaster Award during the Icograda Design Week in India at IIT Bombay during 2007.