Designecdotes

Chennai Soru

2014-01-15T04:33:00.001+05:30

My cousin is a foodie, a food critique and an avid blogger. He reviews and periodically re-reviews restaurant in Chennai; posts vivid pictures of the delicacies served at various restaurants and passionately describes his entire experience. He's been around the block for some time now, and gets invited to write about most restaurant openings and special events in town. I promised a logo for his site ages ago, but buckled up and completed it only today. His blog is called Chennai Soru. Soru translates to Steamed Rice in tamil.

The one iconic landmark that has always been associated with Chennai is The Chennai Central Railway Station. Invariably, in all tamil movies, a shot of the busy station marks the arrival of every dreamy eyed country lad to the big city. My cousin and I were sure that the logo should feature the central station. Then we planned to slap in some banana leaves and rice pots, and call it a day.

Initially, we did not put much effort into capturing any specific local culinary experience, but concentrated only on monumental landmarks. Recently, one quiet evening, as I sat down pondering over what captures the essence of Chennai completely, I was reminded of an experience unique to the big city. The Kai-endhi Bhavan. It is the most incredible variant of a standing buffet, served atop a cart, in street corners. They are self contained restaurants, equipped with a fully functioning kitchen. These carts are a significant part of every hard working citizen in this great city. In short, they serve some of the best home-cooked-tasting meals for a killer price. Patrons need not worry about cooking or packing food every day, they just walk to the cart, grab a plate and enjoy a hot meal, standing.

Every year thousands of people flock to Chennai with hopes of making something of themselves. They depend on the MTC busses and Kai-endhi Bhavans everyday, before moving on to BMW's and fancy five star restaurants. I firmly believe that these carts, peddled by selfless entrepreneurs, will continue to remain a beacon of hope to innumerable dreamers. I was thoroughly convinced that the logo should be a tribute to the nurturing womb that has birthed innumerable thriving restaurants in this busy city.

I urge you to visit his blog : http://www.chennaisoru.com ; He has some brilliant insights into where to eat what, and what to eat where.

Economics Ambigram

2013-11-24T04:06:00.000+05:30

It has been ages since I last drew an ambigram. Having absolutely nothing to do can create a lot of demons in you. I decided to annihilate a few at the least. When you are questioning the purpose of your existence, one very familiar campus-interview question comes to mind: "Where do you see yourself in five years?"

I gave it a lot of thought, I took my own sweet time, you know, because I am jobless, and I came up with a lot of answeres. One of which, was to embark on a Doctoral programme in Economics, or financial economics. I still have a long way to go before committing to that. However, I could draw an Ambigram now, I thought.

So here goes, an Ambigram of the most Awesome social science of all, Economics. Also, the world would be a better place if the Economy reaches the symmetry and balance of an Ambigram (not mine of course, there could be better ambigrams of Economics out in the internet)

Courage Ambigram

2013-07-21T20:21:00.001+05:30

What is the one trait I have prayed for the most, you ask? It is undeniably the strength to face my fears, Courage. I am sure the one most important traits that people are incredibly lacking is courage. I am not stating that I am one hell of a courageous person; I can only hope I can find it in myself to make mistakes, learn from them and have the strength to do it all over again, and again.

This is also dedicated to a very passionate dancer from canada who wanted to get this ambigram tattooed.

I stop being Sad and be Awesome instead...

2013-07-21T20:19:00.000+05:30

When I went to London... - London Ambigram

2013-07-18T15:00:00.002+05:30

I went on a Six Month Secondment to Aon Hewitt's London office earlier this year. I had the best time ever. I was exposed to an extremely considerate work culture; overwhelmed by the never-depleting motivation of the workforce and amazed by the intricacy and quality of the work that got done there.

Despite my inherent introverted nature, I made a lot of friend and a few very close ones. However, I did have something inadvertently helping me with it (Shhhh...those who know...Zipp it!).

I dedicate this Ambigram to my good peeps at the London Office. You will be missed; and I hope I get another chance to meet you all over again.

Here is the doodle that I traced over in Adobe Illustrator CS6.

The other unforgettable thing that happened in London, was how I came to be known to have the "Voice of an Angel". I am pretty sure that was a sarcastic comment written on my Going-Away-We-Will-Miss-You-Card. I am going to take it as a compliment nonetheless. I did, however, feel a little disappointed that people wrote that they will only miss the-hard-work-that-I-did and not me, on the aforementioned card.

I have this perennial-hay-fever thing going on, that did not act up in London. Sadly, I will never be able to sing nearly as well here in India. Here is a video of me singing Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton.

I was never the performing type. I get all flustered and shaky from the waste down, when I am up on Stage (a metaphorical one in this case). Consequently, I was too anxious to listen to the compliments I got while I was singing. That made watching this video even more special. Thanks Ashwani, for shooting this.

Roots - Ambigram of Chennai and Tamil

2013-06-29T03:40:00.002+05:30

This post is dedicated to the two of the most fundamental aspects that define me. My hometown: Chennai and my Mother tongue: Tamil.

One's hometown moulds a person's general emotional disposition almost permanently. A sarcastic Tamil adage comes to mind - ஐந்தில் வளையாதது ஐம்பதில் வளையாது - That which does not bend at five, would never bend at fifty. I admit its a convoluted reference, but an apt one nonetheless.

More importantly, I believe a person's mind begins to "think" in the same language used when he was a toddler (I wonder how cognitive processes work in a toddler's brain, when a language is not available at it's disposal - Will ponder about that later - I digress, excuse me. Coming back...) Even today, when I am locked up in my fortress of solitude, my mind "thinks" only in Tamil.

I usually think out loud, when I am alone. However, I have a confession to make. I am sure most of my colleagues have caught me inadvertently-loudly-verbally-abusing myself in Tamil occasionally.

I recently spent six months in London on a Get-Trained/Make-Connections-Onshore-Visit. I was all alone on a depressing Saturday morning, in bed, at the Straw House - St Albans. And that is when I decided to make an Ambigram of decidedly the most awesome'est city and the undisputed'ly awesome'est language ever.

I apologise for not making the Ambigram of Tamil in Tamil - It is IMPOSSIBLE. Unfortunately Tamil does not have an Ambigram friendly script now. The only desirable aspect of the English language ( I have strong feelings against the English Language; Yeah I said it; Love the people though)

Here are a couple initial-draft-doodles of these Ambigrams.

Islam Ambigram

2013-03-29T21:40:00.003+05:30

Religion and I have always had the ficklest of relationships. Having been brought up in a fairly pious Muslim family, I adhere to most of the Islamic customs. However, I lack in what is apparently the most important pillar of all - consistent unfaltering faith in God. I am not as much as a firm believer as I'd like to be. In fact, strangely, I feel guilty sometimes, that I do not have to gift of faith.

I have to admit, I have looked up to the Quran as a perfect moral and social code. I have not read it entirely, but from the minuscule portion that I know of, I say this: if a person could become half an Ideal Muslim as is he is obligated to be, heaven will descend to earth.

I do not claim to be a Muslim, for I am not worthy of such honor However, I am proud to have been brought up to at least give it a genuine try. After innumerable failed attempts to convince myself that I am a believer, I reconciled with the fact that I would never reach an absolute state. I shall always remain indecisive; a cat on the wall, if you will.

I continue to be overwhelmed by Islam as a religion, nonetheless. Hence I created this Ambigram. A token of recognition to my heritage. And a dedication to all the wonderful Muslim Brothers and Sisters all over the world - I envy you all.

Alhamdulillah.

P.S: I used the word Heaven, because I'd like to think it exists. One of the privileges of being agnostic. *winks*

Send me a mail at ejaz.ahmed.1989@gmail.com if you would like me to try making an Ambigram of something you like.

Cursive Ambigram

2012-12-23T16:13:00.000+05:30

I have seen a lot of Ambigrams on the internet. Most of them were Gothic Styled Ambigrams. They give the artist more freedom I feel and they also look amazing. For instance, the ones that you would have seen on the Angels and Demons are predominantly Gothic styled. My style closely resembles this with thick strokes and a mixture of straight lines and curves. However, there was one style that I never dared to try.

I felt that making a Caligraphy styled cursive ambigram is pretty tough and I wanted to strike that off my list. I played it safe with a small word, a one that I have already worked with. I opened up Adobe Illustrator, and used the Vector Brush Tool and jotted out the basic path. Then I applied a Caligraphy styled stroke and then outlined it. Finally I played with the outlines a bit, and flipped it around to complete the Ambigram.

This Ambigram Reads "Arfaj"; he is one of my best buddies from school. This one goes out to him.

If you are interested in Ambigrams, click here to take a look at the 10 most famous ones.

Click here is you want to take a look at some of my previous ambigrams.

Send me a mail at ejaz.ahmed.1989@gmail.com if you would like me to try making an Ambigram of something you like.

Secret Santa

2012-12-23T08:35:00.000+05:30

Yes it is that time of the year. Everything looks a lot more brighter and everyone is a tad more kinder. We had a Secret Santa game going on at my workplace last week; and I Daniel was my kid.

I had no idea what to gift him, but finally decided - what better gift than spending time making one. My usual routine is to try making an Ambigram of the person's name, and if it does not work out, I try to make an abstract design that means absolutely nothing to that person *winks*.

The past few months have been very hectic - I've been working sixty hour weeks, week after week after week. I had not gotten the time to draw in a very long time. I was really excited about this. I got back, after work, to the Dungeon of a place that I live in now - temporarily - at around 2:00 AM in the morning; I pulled out a couple of blank A4 sheets and started working. It took me an hour to settle on a pattern and then 4 more to draw it on the computer - I did not have a mouse and I had to use the touch pad instead (very proud of that though - I was that excited to gift my kid a gift *winks* )

My technique to designing Ambigrams is pretty standard. I figure out a pattern for the first half of the word, which when rotated 180 degrees, reads the other half of the word. This I do it on a sheet of paper - It is way more easier that way. Then I switch on the computer and use Adobe Illustrator to make a vector path of the pattern. Finally, I export the pattern to Adobe Photoshop and "complete" the Ambigram and add colours.

Over the week, I topped off this gift off with a couple of chocolates and biscuits. I actually delivered some of the gifts to him myself, but I guess he guessed I was his Secret Santa already - thanks to a bunch of Abstract designs I hung up in my Office-Cubicle.

This is what I came up with - I am not particularly happy with the D to L solution, but I think this is my best yet.

I hope my Kid liked it as much as I do.

P.S: I did not add any watermark to it - since it was supposed to be a secret gift - and I am not going to add it now either.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everybody!

Send me a mail at ejaz.ahmed.1989@gmail.com if you would like me to try making an Ambigram of something you like.

My Ambigram Style

2012-12-23T03:08:00.000+05:30

In one of my previous posts, I talk about wanting to establish my own Ambigram style. Inadvertantly I have settled on one style - I am not sure if this is permanent though.

When I started making ambigrams, I was a very Impatient little Bastard. I draw half the design;scan it; flip it over to Adobe Photoshop; adjust levels and then publish them on my previous - pretentious blog: I used to call my Blog Zaje-Labz then. However, gradually life has seasoned me into a more patient artist with an affinity towards computer aided art.

Vector art has an enchanting effect I should say. The smoothness that a bunch of equations can achieve is unparalleled. I slowly shifted from publishing scanned ambigrams to recreating them inside the computer in vector form. It was then I realized I needed a signature effect and started adding layers of edges to the font. In fact, the ambigram would be discernible even if I remove the main font, leaving just the edges - That is my Style.

Click here to take a look at the latest Ambigram I made.

Ambigrams

2012-12-23T02:29:00.001+05:30

I dedicate this post to the person who Introduced me to the world of Ambigrams, my cousin Suhail Mohammed. He is brilliant. He has been creating them for so long, he had an established style - his Ambigrams closely resembel Gothic font : Thick strokes, curved edges and intricate designs decorating the main piece. I could identify his work from miles away. I have been begging him to collect all his work and publish it on the Internet for the work to see.

I was so very intrigued by the idea, I was extremely tempted to try making one myself. My first Ambigram was of my Name - obviously, I am irrevocably obsessed with my name. I have made many more ambigrams since then. I have to admit I felt overly proud every time I successfully pulled off one. However, looking back at some of my designs, I myself feel they look slightly hideous.

This post hosts some of my very first designs - I have come a long way since then - and I have a long way to go. I started off with making ambigrams of small names and then slowly ventured into the bigger ones. I have been working on establishing a style for myself too. I will dedicate a post to that soon.

Below are some of my first ambigrams: Christo, Anand, Sanya, Havi, Hady, Nandy, Muna, Ruby, Juhi, Laxmi, Farha, Arfaj, Nazya, Valia, Vaishnavi, Shadir, Jaya and Rahman.

Click here to take a look at My First Ambigram.

Click here for a neat Definition of an Ambigram - One that is not from Wikipedia.

Send me a mail at ejaz.ahmed.1989@gmail.com if you would like me to try making an Ambigram of something you like.

Vector Art

2012-12-16T19:44:00.000+05:30

This post is for the people who do not speak the design language. I am going to take some time to explain the most basic classification of computer art. There are inherently two ways of representing graphics on the computer.

The first, and more basic way is known as the the Raster Graphics. An image is represented by a 2-Dimensional matrix of Pixels and each pixel is assigned a colour. This is how digital pictures are stored. The higher number of pixels used to represent the picture, the higher the quality is. I am pretty sure you would have heard this term called megapixel - it means that

The other is the more-complex way of storing images - The Mathematical way. This is also known as Vector Graphics. The computer uses a bunch of points and tangent strengths to represent curves. These curves and points constitute a shape; and each shape is assigned a colour profile or style. The advantage of vector graphics is that, they are less space consuming and they can be zoomed to any level with no loss in quality. The computer automatically interpolates and fills up the points in-between, no matter how much we zoom in. That is exactly why I prefer working with Vectors.

These are some of my Vector Designs. Most of them are influenced by the Alien-Art style that I generally use, but some of them are a bit more earthy too.

Ergonomic Computer Table

2012-08-07T12:28:00.000+05:30

Normally, when I work on creative projects, I run out of patience half way through. And when that happens, I hastily finish it up and move on. Even though I started this one when I was pressed for time, I finished it with dignity. I designed this for a design contest called Ergo-Design. An even that was part of the Annual National level Symposium, Indcon, hosted by The Department of Industrial Engineering - Anna University.

It was a time when people who worked in the Information Technology sector were frowned upon for making easy money. And the media was busy lighting up the darkest corners of IT-jobs. One of the very widely accepted problems that caught a lot of attention is the sedentary nature of the job. Long hours of maintaining the "wrong" posture could result in a variety of bone-related-diseases.

Designing a better computer table seemed like a good objective for the contest and so it was. I was part of a team of three, and I hardly got any inputs from my team mates. So I bounced off Ideas off a wall, all by myself and finally decided to go with the bean-shaped design. Personally, I opine that the wrist is the only part that takes the worst hits and the whole arm should be supported.

I quickly drafted a few pencil sketches and started making a 3D Model with 3D Studio Max. This was one my first projects in 3D and what makes it more special is that this baby fetched me the second position and two grands cash.

For those of you who do not know what Ergonomics is, it is the study of human capabilities in relationship to work demands. The term "ergonomics" is derived from two Greek words: "ergon," meaning work, and "nomoi," meaning natural laws.

Music: The theme music of a very famous Kollyhood movie, Billa.

A few months later, when I learnt how to use Maya, I redesigned the same table. I also designed a LCD-Screen and a CPU Cabinet. Here are a few Rendered Images.

Artwork at-work

2012-06-09T03:14:00.000+05:30

Well, its been a long time since I had the time to even think about drawing. Now that I am done with my exams, I have been meaning to draw something. I usually derive inspiration for my abstract tattoos from animals. Actually that is a lie. I just start drawing random patterns, and then I check if that reminds me of something I've seen before and then make adjustments. However, I have always wanted to draw a tattoo of this Big guy. I wanted to draw one of the meanest tattoos ever, and I decided to mimic the baddest of them all: The King of the Jungle himself.

I have to admit this does not look anything like what I wanted it to look like.

I did not have the time to vectorize this. This is just a scanned picture with level adjustments in Photoshop. For those of you who'd like to start learning to use photoshop, editing photos is a good start. And Level adjustment is one of the most Basic tools that you ought to master. Here is an extensive tutorial. Some day, when I have the time, I'd write tutorials myself; perhaps start my own Animation Academy.

Here is another piece of art I created at work:

Exploring Photoshop

2011-12-14T15:24:00.000+05:30

I have a folder full of designs I created just out of sheer curiosity. I don't think I can give a story for each of these designs, because the sole motive behind these pictures is one. Hence, I was left with no choice but to collect all of them under one post, but I had no clue what to call it. At first, I thought I should name it "Abstract Backgrounds"; a very suitable title, but does not do justice to that sole motive. These pictures are more than just a bunch of crazy, armature designs that I worked on whenever I found time; these are the results of the relentless effort I invested to exploring Adobe Photoshop.

Some of these pictures were created by following step-by-step instructions from tutorials; some of them were created by merging techniques derived from two or three tutorials; and some of them were my own expeditions to achieving a new effect. Hence the title, "Exploring Photoshop".

These pictures may not be excellent pieces of art, but I believe these pictures, or rather experiences have enabled me to create better designs and hopefully, enable me to create something magnificent in the future. Initially, I created backgrounds just by using the stock filters; then, I moved on to using brushes that I shamelessly ripped off the internet; Finally, I started creating my own brushes and vector shapes. This is how my style evolved, from crude abstract backgrounds that relied wholly on the randomness of the filters, to more structured designs.

P.S: I am slowly, but steadily gaining control over my designs. Total control instils the confidence a designer needs to venture into uncharted territories and discover new techniques. I hope to someday achieving my own unique style and educating others too.

Some Useful Links:

Click here to check out some of my other Abstract Designs
Click here for a basic tutorial on Filters
Click here for a collection of tutorials on Brushes

Dragon in Action

2011-12-14T12:16:00.002+05:30

This picture here is one of the first designs I made in Adobe Photoshop 6. If you had flipped through some of my blog posts, you might have noticed that I have three types of watermarks on my pictures. The first one is a digitized version of my signature; this was when I was too innocent to act cool. The second is a shiny chrome plated watermark that reads "Z@JELaBZ"; this was when I tried soo hard to be cool. And then finally, when I grew up, I decided to go with just a plain "EJAZ AHMED" written in a decent font.

Coming back to this picture. If I told you I had this all planned out, or I switched on my computer to draw a dragon, I'd be lying through my teeth. I drew that one pattern that resembles a sword and that is all I did. The next thing I did was, duplicate, rotate, rearrange and resize it to form that weird pattern that looks like a fancy scarecrow. I was bored so I thought I'd experiment with the Actions option.

I recorded an action that rotates the sword clockwise with a slight change in the pivot point. Then I just hit the play button again and again, and voilà! a neat pattern. I continued experimenting. I rearranged those patterns a bit, added some colour. That is how I caught the dragon in action.

P.S: I have to admit that I did not know that much about adding colour to a picture then. I just added a colour balance adjustment layer.

Love is a conniving little feline

2011-11-26T05:07:00.000+05:30

I came up with this idea in one of the most depressing moments of my life. The moment when I realized I was reduced to a minion by a manipulative witch, but a gorgeous one at that. A moment very similar to the one very vividly portrayed in the Awesome sitcom - How I met your mother - Season:5 - Episode:16 - Hooked - the moment I realized I've been hooked. I was sitting at the attic of my friend's house in Germany, contemplating on how to vent my angst. I was very particular about being creative about dealing with this mess, and that is exactly what I did. I decided to design a tattoo.

The idea was fairly simple; the tattoo had to signify two things: love and evil. The challenge was to combine two entirely disjoint subjects into one single artwork. For some reason cats have been associated with evil since ancient times. Egyptian legends portray cats as creatures sent to earth by the devil himself to assist witches in doing their evil deeds. Now that evil is taken care of, I had to bring love into the picture. The heart symbol is often seen on St. Valentine's Day cards, candy boxes, and similar artifacts as a symbol of romantic love. I combined both these concepts and created this tattoo.

I have nothing against cats. In fact, I prefer cats to dogs. I think cats are smarter than dogs and they emanate an aura of mystery. On an entirely different note, the witch was not entirely evil. There was a well defined covenant, and I was the one to breach the terms. I was actually angry at myself to allow things to get where they had gotten. As a coping mechanism, I channelled all the anger into hating her and it worked!

P.S: This tattoo is dedicated to all the lost souls who have been manipulated and deceived into serving someone's whims and fancies under the illusion of a loving relationship.

Zodiac Signs

2011-11-26T04:19:00.000+05:30

I am not a big fan of astrology and daily horoscopes. I also do not believe in changing the spelling of your name is spelt and that numbers can affect you life. In fact, I was an atheist for most part of my life up until now. But the almost accurate prediction of one's general emotional disposition based on their date of birth startles me. At least in my case. I read one of the descriptions and I thought "I am a typical Cancerian".

Hinduism is a patron of astrology, but Hindu astrology it is not the same as western astrology. The difference is that, Hindu astrology is based on the actual position of the stars, while western astrology is based on the orientation of the earth relative to the sun.

I am not very sure of the origin of the description I read, but the resemblance was uncanny. The description that I first read goes like this:

Considering how charming, caring and kind you are, you dislike unpleasant scenes, much less creating one yourself. You have great tolerance and rarely get provoked into losing your temper. If someone is unreasonable or trying to create trouble, you are more likely to walk away quietly. But that does not mean you do not have a temper. When angry, in your effort to control your emotions, you tremble, your hands get sweaty and sometimes you fumble for words. Tears roll down your eyes easily and the opponent is touched by your innocence and will seek an apology immediately

I got to read many more general descriptions and each time I thought some one who knows me better than I know myself must have written this. Then one day, I decided I should do something to honour astrology and this design came into being.

P.S: The other motivating factor is that, I had a crush on a girl who was also a Cancerian. And this picture has her nick name hidden in it. This picture doubled as a gift to her.

Malayalam, not just a script

2011-11-26T03:23:00.000+05:30

This picture here is one of the stupidest designs I have ever made. Before I begin to tell you about how this design came in to being, I would like to tell you all some thing. India is known for its diversity. It has diverse everything, from the people to their culture to the landscape they live in. India is home to the place which is called God's own county, Kerala. The native tongue of the people of Kerala is known as Malayalam and it is one of the four major Dravidian Languages of Southern India. It is because of their language, people of kerala came to be informally known as the Mallus. Malayalam is also the simplest of all palindromes. You may wonder why we are talking about Malayalam. Here's why.

I had a crush on a mallu girl when I was in high school. If you frequent my blog, you might have noticed that I am obsessed with creating designs that read "Ejaz". Correct me if I am wrong, If you have a crush on someone, they tend to lurk around in the back of your mind all day long. And because of this, the focus of my obsession temporarily shifted to her name from mine. I began to make designs of her name in ever form that I could possibly conceive. That is when I realized, English wasn't enough, I needed to do something different, I needed to draw in her mother tongue.

I set out to find someone who can write in Malayalam. Finding some one who can speak the language is a cake walk. The enunciation of words in Malayalam, transcends beyond its own language and influences how native speakers pronounce words of other languages. This makes spotting a Mallu easy, but you can never be sure they could write in Malayalam. After many failed attempts, I finally managed to find someone for the job, my classmate's grandmother. Once I got the script in place, completing the design did not take much time.

The picture posted here is a convoluted version, distorted beyond recognition from the original design that I sent her. She is engaged to some guy now and I figured I should not just put up a post with her name on it. I have covertly engraved her name in many a designs. Here is one, for instance.

P.S: When I designed this picture, I realized that the South Indian scripts are a self-contained art form. They have the perfect balance of curves and straight lines. They twist and turn only to leave you looking at them, startled. However, I should admit that, it is absolutely impossible to design an Ambigram in these scripts.

My first Ambigram

2011-11-01T15:03:00.000+05:30

I don't read books. I didn't know about Dan Brown's Angels and Daemons. I bet that is how majority of you came to know about ambigrams. I came to know about this amazing form of art only because my cousin had a falir for designing ambigrams. He's capable of doing wonders with a tiny piece of pencil

Designing a neat and tidy Ambigram is not as simple as most of you would think. I realize that there are a couple of sites on the internet that create use algorithms to create Ambigrams. However, algorithms can never replace the human mind when it comes to art, at least not yet.

There are many different types of Ambigrams, the most common of which is the one that looks exactly the same even when you look at it upside down. The difficulty in designing one of them depends purely on the word you wish to work with.

The first word that popped into my head was my name and I went with it. Fortunately, my name is an ambigram friendly name. The "E" rotated upside down could easily be tweaked to resemble a "Z" and "A" matches with "J" similarly. I admit this is a very crude design, but it is my first.

I received harsh feed back from some moron the moment I published this. I was disheartened. A few seconds later, one of the most creative ambigram designers I have ever come across, commented that I was doing fine and cheered me on. In fact, you can see those comments below. And a few weeks later, I designed another ambigram of my name.

Click here to check out Nafga's ambigram blog. These guys are HEROS- Respect!

The Legacy

2011-10-29T19:16:00.000+05:30

Hotel Blue Diamond has always been and will always be one of the defining aspects of my identity. My grand father, late Mr. Abdul Razak and his six siblings played an important role not only in my life, but also in the lives of each and every member of my family and his employees. Back in Campellabad, we were called the Kadamba kudumbam and now here in Chennai, Blue Diamomd took Kadamba's place. We are a very close knit family despite the miles that separate us and I am extremely proud to be part of this amazing community that we are. You may wonder why I am blabbering about my family history here, but there is a reason.

This post is dedicated to my hotel's logo. A cursory glance does not reveal its true meaning. People might ask, What is great about this logo? It does not even relate to the hotel's name; a blue diamond would have been more appropriate. That is exactly what I asked my uncle and he sat me down and explained the legacy. A lot more than just a glance is required to understand this logo.

Take a closer look at the petal. Each petal consists of the initials of Blue Diamond,'B' and 'D'. The seven petals represent the seven siblings - six brothers and one sister - who dedicated their lives to their family and to the community through this hotel. I may be biased, but I believe that this logo has something that no other logo possesses; It has history.

This logo represents the deep rooted family values on which this hotel was built on. The feeling that every employee belongs to our family still runs through this great organization. We are one big happy family - that is why Hotel Blue Diamond is special.

P.S: Coming to think of it, I realize that my compulsive urge to incorporate letters into the logo is hereditary.

Click here for the Hotel's official website

Strawberry

2011-10-28T23:28:00.001+05:30

I am officially jobless at the moment, hence wanted do something to take my mind off the void that is consuming me lately. It has been such a long time since I designed a logo and I did not have anything to work on. I needed inspiration and It came to me in an unexpected form. I am not sure if this makes sense, but this is the story of how I ended up making this logo.

I have always revered Apple's logo for its simplicity and elegance. When ever I design a logo, I compare mine with Apple's and ask myself if mine is simple enough. Steve Job's recent demise flooded my Facebook feed with the word, "Apple" and I suddenly got an urge to draw a fruit. Strawberries are my favourite, so I went with it.

P.S: I have always liked incorporating alphabets into the logos that I design, hence the S on top of the berry, that blends with the logo.

Click here to take a look at the other logos that I have designed.

Saphira, the blue dragon

2011-10-12T16:27:00.000+05:30

I am quick to judge and an accurate judgement it will be. However, there is one judgement of mine that Christopher Paolini proved wrong with his "The Inheritance Cycle". I used to think Dragons are these blood thirsty foul creatures that plagued the human race; they were synonymous with evil and gore. In Eragon, however, Saphira was the exact opposite of what I had in mind.

I used to do a lot of pencil art when I was a kid and wanted to give it another shot. And as for

why I drew Saphira, there is a story. I am not much of a reader, but I always wanted to start reading books because avid readers always seemed more sophisticated to me. Then one day, a friend of mine told me if I was ever going to start reading, Eragon would be a good book to start with. I took his advice. When I first read , I was stumped. Saphira turned out to be one of the most amazing beasts ever. I am not going to describe her more and will let you do the dirty work.

I started reading Eragon when I was a student in The Department of Industrial Engineering - Anna University. I have to let you know a little secret, this renowned university has some of the worst teachers this world has to offer and I spent most of the time doodling things behind my notebook. I fell in love with Saphira's character and I started drawing her with my pen instead of taking down notes.

This is what I could do then, without the freedom an eraser gives an artist. Since then, I always wanted to sit down and give her one more try with the dedication and respect she deserves. An that is how I drew Saphira, again.

P.S: If you have not read the Inheritance cycle, please do give it a read. I am sure you will like it. I cant wait to read the fourth book.

Take a look at a Dragon Tattoo that I designed a few years back.

Leave and Live

2011-07-19T19:25:00.000+05:30

One fine day, my cousin brother asked me to make a banner for an awareness programme; he explained that SRM Dental College was organizing a rally for the World No Tobacco Day and that he was one of the coordinators. To be honest, I never knew there was a no-tobacco-day and I was ashamed to then find out that this day was created by the World Health Organization way back in 1987. He and his team had even conjured up a cliché slogan that goes "Leave and Live".

After taking a few moments to de-shame myself, I took down a list of specifications for him and sat down to do the dirty work. I instantly decided there should be a lot of white, orange and gold-yellow in the picture because those were the colours that came to mind when I thought of cigarettes. My cousin wanted a picture of a man's eye in the banner because he thought that depicts the aim of the rally: creating awareness. The only aspect of the banner that I had an opportunity to be creative was the Slogan.

P.S: I do not smoke cigarettes, but I make up for it with the hookah. Most people wrongly assume that hookahs are harmless, or at the least less detrimental than a cigarette. Although there is no conclusive evidence, research suggests that a hookah is as tough on the lungs as a cigarette.

Speaking of Hookahs, here is the menu I designed for Blitzz.

Stirring Quotes

2011-07-19T00:10:00.000+05:30

One of my college buddies asked me if I had the time to put together a few posters for a charity event that he was organizing. He gave me a list of quotes, and asked me to come up with a poster for each of them. This is the first time I was asked to make posters based on famous quotations. I was stumped.

These quotes were overflowing with emotions. Just a white sheet with these quotes in black would have done the trick. However, I had to complement the quotes with something, else they wont qualify as posters, they would just be print-outs.

Suddenly, an old saying flashed in my mind, "A picture is worth a thousand words". So I decided I would add photographs to intensify the effect. At first, I added random wall papers as backdrops. A few posters later, I figured I could add pictures that relate to the quotes, at least remotely. That idea seemed more meaningful and challenging.

After a gruelling image search session that went on for hours, I had all the pictures I needed to complete this assignment. I put them all together and came up with these poster.

P.S: The following is the most inspiring quote I have ever read and I believe that picture captures the essence of that quote.

The Quotes