DesignTalk...

Chetan Bhagat's speech at symbiosis

noreply@blogger.com (grafic7) — Sun, 03 May 2009 07:21:00 +0000

I'm currently reading '3 Mistakes of my life' by Chetan Bhagat. It has a different story. But like all his earlier books this one is also meant to catch the Indian YOUTH's attention. Recently I got an e-mail attachment having Chetan Bhagat's Inaugural Speech for the new batch at the Symbiosis BBA program 2008. Interesting, inspiring and enjoyable...like his books. I'm qouting it here. Read it!!

Inaugural Speech for the new batch at the Symbiosis BBA program 2008
© Chetan Bhagat

"Good Morning everyone and thank you for giving me this chance to speak to you. This day is about you. You, who have come to this college, leaving the comfort of your homes (or in some cases discomfort), to become something in your life. I am sure you are excited. There are few days in human life when one is truly elated. The first day in college is one of them. When you were getting ready today, you felt a tingling in your stomach. What would the auditorium be like, what would the teachers be like, who are my new classmates - there is so much to be curious about. I call this excitement, the spark within you that makes you feel truly alive today. Today I am going to talk about keeping the spark shining. Or to put it another way, how to be happy most, if not all the time.

Where do these sparks start? I think we are born with them. My 3-year old twin boys have a million sparks. A little Spiderman toy can make them jump on the bed. They get thrills from creaky swings in the park. A story from daddy gets them excited. They do a daily countdown for birthday party – several months in advance – just for the day they will cut their own birthday cake.

I see students like you, and I still see some sparks. But when I see older people, the spark is difficult to find. That means as we age, the spark fades. People whose spark has faded too much are dull, dejected, aimless and bitter. Remember Kareena in the first half of Jab We Met vs the second half? That is what happens when the spark is lost. So how to save the spark?

Imagine the spark to be a lamp's flame. The first aspect is nurturing - to give your spark the fuel, continuously. The second is to guard against storms.

To nurture, always have goals. It is human nature to strive, improve and achieve full potential. In fact, that is success. It is what is possible for you. It isn't any external measure - a certain cost to company pay package, a particular car or house.

Most of us are from middle class families. To us, having material landmarks is success and rightly so. When you have grown up where money constraints force everyday choices, financial freedom is a big achievement.

But it isn't the purpose of life. If that was the case, Mr Ambani would not show up for work. Shah Rukh Khan would stay at home and not dance anymore. Steve Jobs won't be working hard to make a better iPhone, as he sold Pixar for billions of dollars already. Why do they do it? What makes them come to work everyday?

They do it because it makes them happy. They do it because it makes them feel alive. Just getting better from current levels feels good. If you study hard, you can improve your rank. If you make an effort to interact with people, you will do better in interviews. If you practice, your cricket will get better. You may also know that you cannot become Tendulkar, yet. But you can get to the next level. Striving for that next level is important.

Nature designed with a random set of genes and circumstances in which we were born. To be happy, we have to accept it and make the most of nature's design. Are you? Goals will help you do that.

I must add, don't just have career or academic goals. Set goals to give you a balanced, successful life. I use the word balanced before successful. Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace are all in good order.

There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions.

You must have read some quotes - Life is a tough race, it is a marathon or whatever. No, from what I have seen so far, life is one of those races in nursery school. Where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first. Same with life, where health and relationships are the marble. Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die.

One last thing about nurturing the spark - don't take life seriously. One of my yoga teachers used to make students laugh during classes. One student asked him if these jokes would take away something from the yoga practice. The teacher said - don't be serious, be sincere. This quote has defined my work ever since. Whether its my writing, my job, my relationships or any of my goals. I get thousands of opinions on my writing everyday. There is heaps of praise, there is intense criticism. If I take it all seriously, how will I write? Or rather, how will I live? Life is not to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? It's ok, bunk a few classes, goof up a few interviews, fall in love. We are people, not programmed devices.

I've told you three things - reasonable goals, balance and not taking it too seriously that will nurture the spark. However, there are four storms in life that will threaten to completely put out the flame. These must be guarded against. These are disappointment, frustration, unfairness and loneliness of purpose.

Disappointment will come when your effort does not give you the expected return. If things don't go as planned or if you face failure. Failure is extremely difficult to handle, but those that do come out stronger. What did this failure teach me? is the question you will need to ask. You will feel miserable. You will want to quit, like I wanted to when nine publishers rejected my first book. Some IITians kill themselves over low grades – how silly is that? But that is how much failure can hurt you.

But it's life. If challenges could always be overcome, they would cease to be a challenge. And remember - if you are failing at something, that means you are at your limit or potential. And that's where you want to be.

Disappointment's cousin is frustration, the second storm. Have you ever been frustrated? It happens when things are stuck. This is especially relevant in India. From traffic jams to getting that job you deserve, sometimes things take so long that you don't know if you chose the right goal. After books, I set the goal of writing for Bollywood, as I thought they needed writers. I am called extremely lucky, but it took me five years to get close to a release.

Frustration saps excitement, and turns your initial energy into something negative, making you a bitter person. How did I deal with it? A realistic assessment of the time involved – movies take a long time to make even though they are watched quickly, seeking a certain enjoyment in the process rather than the end result – at least I was learning how to write scripts , having a side plan – I had my third book to write and even something as simple as pleasurable distractions in your life - friends, food, travel can help you overcome it. Remember, nothing is to be taken seriously. Frustration is a sign somewhere, you took it too seriously.

Unfairness - this is hardest to deal with, but unfortunately that is how our country works. People with connections, rich dads, beautiful faces, pedigree find it easier to make it – not just in Bollywood, but everywhere. And sometimes it is just plain luck. There are so few opportunities in India, so many stars need to be aligned for you to make it happen. Merit and hard work is not always linked to achievement in the short term, but the long term correlation is high, and ultimately things do work out. But realize, there will be some people luckier than you.

In fact, to have an opportunity to go to college and understand this speech in English means you are pretty darn lucky by Indian standards. Let's be grateful for what we have and get the strength to accept what we don't. I have so much love from my readers that other writers cannot even imagine it. However, I don't get literary praise. It's ok. I don't look like Aishwarya Rai, but I have two boys who I think are more beautiful than her. It's ok. Don't let unfairness kill your spark.

Finally, the last point that can kill your spark is isolation. As you grow older you will realize you are unique. When you are little, all kids want Ice cream and Spiderman. As you grow older to college, you still are a lot like your friends. But ten years later and you realize you are unique. What you want, what you believe in, what makes you feel, may be different from even the people closest to you. This can create conflict as your goals may not match with others. . And you may drop some of them. Basketball captains in college invariably stop playing basketball by the time they have their second child. They give up something that meant so much to them. They do it for their family. But in doing that, the spark dies. Never, ever make that compromise. Love yourself first, and then others.

There you go. I've told you the four thunderstorms - disappointment, frustration, unfairness and isolation. You cannot avoid them, as like the monsoon they will come into your life at regular intervals. You just need to keep the raincoat handy to not let the spark die.

I welcome you again to the most wonderful years of your life. If someone gave me the choice to go back in time, I will surely choose college. But I also hope that ten years later as well, you eyes will shine the same way as they do today. That you will Keep the Spark alive, not only through college, but through the next 2,500 weekends. And I hope not just you, but my whole country will keep that spark alive, as we really need it now more than any moment in history. And there is something cool about saying - I come from the land of a billion sparks. "

Welcome back ME !!

noreply@blogger.com (grafic7) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 10:57:00 +0000

After a really looooong period of time i'm back in the blogosphere. I just hope not to disappear again.

Anniversary Thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (grafic7) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:16:00 +0000

It's July... and a thought flashed through my mind. It's the first anniversary of my blog!!

I never thought that I could keep this blog for more than six months. But it has survived, for almost an year! That itself is an encouraging sign for me. I feel good when I realize that my creative juices are still flowing despite a dry spell of work less period.

Since last one year I have tried to find similar design blogs and bloggers on this vast blogoshpere. Many helped me learn new things associated with my field. Some designers like David Airey and Douglas Bowman, influenced and inspired me a lot. Others like LaurenMarie of 'Creative Curio', Tara of 'GraphicDesignBlog', Michael Martin of 'Pro Blog Design' and Dustin Brewer are resources that I have found very informative and worth to be subscribed to. I have linked to their blogs under the heading 'Creative Resources'.

One more blog that I often check in my feed reader is that of 'FreelanceSwitch'. It is an essential resource for new and old freelancers. I have found the practical tips and advices to be of great value. I like the writing style of FreelanceSwitch and must congratulate the writers for sharing their "wealth of experience" in freelancing.

Thirty posts, handful yet encouraging comments and loads of inspiration. So what am I going to do next? With my wedding, scheduled to be held on the 25th next month, I have got a bit busy on the personal front. Yet, in the coming months I wish to implement my 2nd resolution for this year i.e., to learn 'how to build dynamic web sites from scratch'. Also, looking forward to find more interesting design projects and to improve my blog further. Wish me luck!

What is Graphic Design?...Take a look!

noreply@blogger.com (grafic7) — Sat, 31 May 2008 16:52:00 +0000

This is something i have been looking for long. And I just stumbled upon this interestingly captured video about this very basic question " What exactly is Graphic Design? " which is featured on www.printquotesdirect.com
Check out this You Tube video:

My 'New Year' resolutions: keeping them

noreply@blogger.com (grafic7) — Mon, 26 May 2008 19:42:00 +0000

Resolutions are always a lot easier to make than to keep. But I am happy to tell you that so far I have been able to act upon and keep the first and the toughest of all resolutions i.e., to be a vegetarian all trough the year.

Vegetarianism has had a positive influence on me so far. It is a proven fact that the kind of food we eat affect our moods and behavior. And let me tell you all that I feel good when on a vegetarian diet. Apart from physical benefits like weight control healthier skin, plant based foods have helped me a lot in keeping my mind cool and at peace. For me it means:

Less fat
Less spice
More fiber
Better metabolism
Better concentration
Less body weight

It is basically like trying one's will power against oneself. I feel great when I am able to accomplish that. Competing against oneself and winning it helps enhance one's self-image. When i compare myself pre and post vegetarianistically.... i feel an overall personal satisfaction.

What's your say? Have you been a vegetarian ever? Share your story and thoughts. I'd be glad to read and respond to them.

'Mind' is faster than the 'Mouse'!

noreply@blogger.com (grafic7) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 18:49:00 +0000

What a catchy phrase!!

I just happened to pass by ICOGRADA's website and saw a thought-provoking piece of work in the 'Galleria' section. The work is by designer Victor Garcia, Argentina for Japan Design Foundation.
It follows with a brief description about the design and the designer. Let me quote it here:

"Design aim: 'The mind always outruns the mouse.'
A critical reflection on design about the new tools put within our reach by technological advances, which often conceals the absence of design's main ingredient: The Idea."

Do take a look at it at http://www.icograda.org/feature/galleria/galleria351.htm

How was it? Share your comments.

Redesgning kalachithra.com

noreply@blogger.com (grafic7) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 08:34:00 +0000

This post was supposed to be published in January as the first post of the 2008, but which somehow got postponed. Sadly, I’ve been not giving much thought and time to my blog of late. Not just that, I really missed reading the blogs that I have subscribed to for want of time. But from now on, I hope, I would be able to post at regular intervals.

So were you wondering what I’ve been busy with? I just finished working on a static website. Yes! Static websites are still in demand. At least, here in India it is so.

There are many people, organizations and small businesses out here that have just become aware that the web is a great place to spread some word about their work. Even if they did have a website it would be a pathetically old-fashioned table and frame based design which needs to be converted into a valid XHTML and CSS based one.I’ve done three static websites so far. One of which was a redesign.

The site is called kalachithra.com . The site owner Suresh is an artist. He has a vast collection of paintings which he wanted to display. A snapshot of his old site is given below:

This old site was made using Frontpage and had heavily used frames to contain the pages. No wonder that the pages of his site didn't feature much in the google searches. The brief was to totally change the look of the site, which you can see below:

Now after converting to a XHTML and CSS based design the site now has a fresh feel and it also features on the 1st page of google for the search keyword 'kalachithra'.

How do you evaluate this redesign?

Do let me know about your views through the comment box.

Contact

noreply@blogger.com (grafic7) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 07:50:00 +0000

How did you find my posts?

Is there any topic falling within my areas of interests that you would like me to talk about?
Have any comment, idea or suggestion to improve this blog? Then do share it.

For comments use the 'comment box' of respective posts.
For queries and sugesstions e-mail at :grafic.seven[@]yahoo.com

PS: Remove the square brackets before mailing.

About

noreply@blogger.com (grafic7) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 07:19:00 +0000

Hello all! I am Rashmi, the author of this blog. I am an Arts and Communication graduate interested in graphic design and web design. Precisely, an year ago I decided to go freelance after a brief career as a tutor. My primary areas of interests are designing advertisements, logos and web pages (div based method, using XHTML & CSS).

grafic7

I provide my design services under the brand name grafic7.

I always cherished to have a brand of my own one day. And I'm glad that I have one now. I have worked with a very selective set of clients ranging from artists, non-profit organizations to individuals.

DesignTalk: My blog

This blog is a platform to share my views, ideas and whatever little knowledge I have gathered so far. I hope you like the stuff that I put on this blog. I'm sure you'll have many suggestions, ideas and comments on this blog. All are most welcome. Do share them with me through the comments box. I'd love to read and reply them.

A new year thought...

noreply@blogger.com (grafic7) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 18:18:00 +0000

As I publish this post it would already be a few moments past midnight, the begining of a brand new year. Let not sorrows fill our minds, only joys pure and simple be our diet in the coming year. So let me welcome you all to a very wonderful New Year-2008!!

My New year Resolutions

This year I have decided to keep and follow three major resolutions. I wish and hope the very best to keep all these resolutions from the 2nd of January 2008 till 2nd of January 2009. Making these resolutions public is the first step towards the goal. May be some of you might remind me and help me keep track of these.

To be a vegetarian all through the year: After being a total veggie for almost two and a half years, I went non-vegetarian last year. But I didn't feel the change in diet much good. So, the first resolution for 2008 is to stick to a vegetarian diet strictly.
To learn ActionScript,XML and dynamic web page creation:In 2007 I have had the opportunity to build two static websites so far. Both of them features an image gallery. With my little knowledge in Flash it was really difficult to create them. So I heavily relied on a free software called 'Flash Slide show Maker Professional' to create those galleries. Although the software allows us to customize a lot things, there is no total control over each and every aspect of the SWF, XML and other supportive files. Since creating a dynamic Image gallery requires the use of ActionScript and XML I have decided to lean these two languages as a must.
To look for better freelancing opportunities:To make a living out of freelancing is a very difficult proposition. The past six months were my initial days of freelancing. Now from this year onwards I wish to break out of the comfort zone and look for better freelancing opportunities.

So that were my resolutions for the year 2008. What are yours? Share them in the comment box below.

Color matters in design – Part III

noreply@blogger.com (grafic7) — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 16:44:00 +0000

This is the third part of my series of posts on ‘Color matters in Design’. In my previous posts I wrote about colors in general, how through a different color scheme I changed the look and feel of my blog and how colors affect our behavior. Today I’ll be sharing some info about color management and color modes on computer.

Color matching woes

I remember the first time when I used a professional graphic application. It was two years back when I enrolled for a course in multimedia. My Faculty introduced to the whole class the ultimate image editing software called ‘Photoshop’. She taught us how to create a new document, how to choose a size, set the resolution and color mode. But never did she touch the topic of color management. It was not until after a year had passed that I came to face the result of improperly ‘color managed document’. Precisely speaking it was when our group took our project work to printing and found the results to be a very different than expected! The colors were so dull and lifeless.

The need for Color Managed Documents

Color management is the process of reproducing colors in a similar way irrespective of the devices used to create, display and print them. In simple words let me illustrate a situation. you take a picture from your digital camera, transfer it to your system and create something with it on using a specific application; you take it to a friend of yours and see that on his/her system and find that the colors in the document are not the same one you had on yours; you rectify and bring out some changes in the document and take it to you service bureau to print them; and when you finally get the output you find it to be even more different! Why so? Why didn’t the colors of your document match? It is because for three reasons:

The color profile of the camera (an input device) is different from your monitor.
The default color profile of your monitor and your friends’ were not the same.
Before creating the document you didn’t ask your service bureau what color profile they are using and so you didn’t choose the proper color profile in your graphic application.

The color profiles

Color management starts with choosing a standard color profile for your system and the applications you are running. The color matching problems result because various devices and softwares have their different color spaces.

Now let’s see what a color space is. Devices see colors much differently than a human eye. In fact human eyes are perceptive to much-much broader range of colors than electronic devices. A color space thus defines the range of colors within a color mode. One should consider seriously the ‘out of gamut’ warnings in the color palette to avoid mismatched colors while working on documents for print.

Color mode is nothing but a bunch of values and their inter relationships used to represent a color. There are two major color modes, RGB -- which is suitable for all on-screen displays and CMYK -- basically associated with four color process printing. So a color mode determines the range of color (or the ‘color space’ in technical terms) that a device can produce. Quite technical eh! No need to scratch you head, there is a solution to all this color matching fuss.

The ICC color profile

To overcome this situation and to produce device-independent consistent color output a Color Management System (CMS) is used. What it does? A CMS lets you specify and translate colors using a standard color profile. There are many color profiles out there. But the first one that comes to mind is the ICC color profile.

ICC is an Industry consortium founded in 1993. It stands for International Color Consortium. ICC was formed by a group of industry vendors namely Adobe Systems Incorporated, Agfa-Gevaert N.V., Apple Computer, Inc., Eastman Kodak Company, FOGRA-Institute (Honorary), Microsoft Corporation, Silicon Graphics Inc., Sun Microsystems, Inc. and Taligent, Inc.

Very big names indeed! The ICC has developed and is promoting a standard color profile specification known as the ICC color profile. It is an open, vendor-neutral and cross-platform profile. While saving your documents be sure to select the ICC color profile in the options dialogue box for a color managed document.

Have you thought about color management before? If yes, I’d be glad to know how you did it. Do share your views in the comment box.

Color matters in design – Part II

noreply@blogger.com (grafic7) — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 13:50:00 +0000

This is the second part of my series of posts on ‘Color matters in Design’. In my previous post I wrote about colors in general and how a different color scheme changed the look and feel of my blog. Today I’ll be writing something about…what colors mean to us .

Influences of color

I have found that mood plays an important role in color selection in any work of art. Every finished piece of design is intended to create some sort of mood, which finally elicits a response from the viewers. This in itself says a lot about the psychological influence of color.

Have you noticed that your online experience varies according to the kind of color used in a blog or a website? Let me tell you a personal example. I feel more positive, attentive, composed and responsive when I visit sites which use tints and shades of blue. It gives a nice cool feel. Observe some sites and blogs which I visit regularly or more often: StopDesign, Wikipedia, Orkut, David Airey’s blog, Daily Blog Tips, etc. They all are using blue color in some way or the other. So personally, I feel inclined to visit such sites which not only fulfill my need for info but which also make my eyes feel comfortable.

This is not just a case of mine. I’m sure you too have felt the same some time or the other. The power of colors is acknowledged by science. In fact there is a branch called Color Psychology which administers color therapy! While designers do not use color for therapeutic purposes, they do use it to induce a desired response through the graphics.

Several studies have been made to understand which colors induce which kind of feelings? Let’s see the effects of the primary colors red, yellow and blue in pure hue. The feelings conveyed by these are as per my observation and are basic psychological conditions.

Red: It evokes strong and intense emotions. Exudes warmth by nature. Arouses the senses.

Yellow: Conveys cheerfulness energy and fun. But is very intense in pure form. Can cause fatigue if it's too much.

Blue: Peaceful, calm and symbolizes intellect. Overuse can lead to a feeling of hopelessnes and gloom.

Our color palette is not limited to red, yellow and blue. When two these colors mix they produce not just secondary colors but also result in a mix of feelings depending on the domination of one of the colors. Colors are also formed when they are mixed with a neutral color like black or white. An old post of mine Hues, Shades and Tints describes about this in more length.

It really pays to know about these things when you have to decide a color scheme. Especially if one is working on a new logo or a campaign for a new company or product. Giving a deep thought on the color aspect of design in relation to the target audience is not only beneficial but is a must.

How do you respond to a color? Share you views in the comment box.

Color matters in design - Part I

noreply@blogger.com (grafic7) — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 09:39:00 +0000

As a continuation of one of my previous posts ‘color: hues, shades and tint’, today I’ll be saying something more about colors.

Colors and Schemes

When it comes to choosing proper colors I have found myself in tight corners many a times. Colors have a life of their own. They have friends and foes. Some gels very well with other, while some never. What goes well with a theme and how, I have to think about it more too often. But when I’m too confused I stick to the neutrals white or black.

The first thing we are taught about colors is probably the color-wheel. While you may have seen one in your school life but you might not have given much thought to it then. The color wheel is a simple device for understanding colors in relation to one another. This circle is based on three primary colors namely red, yellow and blue.

There are further classifications such as secondary and tertiary colors. As shown here, secondary colors consist of violet, orange and green. These colors are obtained by mixing the primary colors. Tertiary colors are for example reddish-orange, yellowish-orange, yellowish-green, bluish-green, bluish-violet and reddish-violet. These are obtained when mixing one secondary and one primary color in equal proportions.

Another classification is of complementary colors. These are positioned opposite to each other on the color wheel. Designers or anybody who have to deal with colors frequently refer to these classifications so as to decide upon a suitable color-scheme for their work.

Talking about colors, I have changed the colors of my blog too. It's now sporting analogous color scheme of green and blue. Analogous colors are those which are placed close to each other on the color wheel. Hope you noticed it! If you've visited my blog a few weeks ago you might have seen rather dull looking colors. Since I intended to give a refreshing look I chose this present scheme. It is not a new combination. A popular site like StubleUpon is also using this. But the main difference here is the use of white background in entirety to give a clean and simple feel.

Recently I have read a well written article on choosing color combinations on Veerle’s blog. She has some really good tips on it explained in a lucid manner.

Google a bit and you can find plenty of useful links other than those given here.

How do you choose your color scheme? Share your views in the comment box.
I would be glad to read them!

Design Talk: Taking a look back

noreply@blogger.com (grafic7) — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 17:56:00 +0000

It’s not been quite long that I started this blog. And I haven’t reached any blogging milestones either. No cool stats of comments and subscription. Yet I feel like looking back and ponder where I am. Not because I feel stuck but because I really want to know what my readers want.

Yes. My Analytics report says that I have many visitors from across the globe. Something that I didn’t even thought of when starting this blog! I’m really thankful to all those people from UK, Spain, France, Switzerland, US, Germany, Morocco, Canada, UAE, and Australia who visited and read this blog. And also to my fellow brethren from India, who form my major chunk of readers. There are also people from among you who have found my blog worthy to be subscribed to. Big thanks to you all again!!

Four months back on 7^th July 2007 when I published my first post I have not even had the slightest idea of what I’m getting into. No theme in my mind no content for the posts. It was literally a beginning from the scratch. It simply started off as an enjoyable hobby.

My first post ‘kurkure vs. kurkure’ was sort of an Ad-analysis. Discussing the package design of a popular snack-food, available here in India, called ‘kurkure’. I compared its ad-campaign against one of its rival brand ‘bingo’. It was after this post that I decided my blog to be themed on ‘design’ in general. Sounds like a blogging mistake that’s got to be listed in David Airey’s blog.

Since I am a graphic designer, this topic I felt, could be dealt with ease. But soon I discovered how vast this topic was. Where to begin what to write was the next dilemma. I thought of things pretty dear to me and which also in some way were related to ‘design’. That’s how I decided on writing about Harry Potter one of my favorite literary characters. A bit childish thing on my part! And I must say, rather confess that I strayed from my theme and wrote a movie review on the film ‘Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix’. And I did confess about this in my successive post.

Two more ‘Potter’ posts and I knew I was getting off the track. So I sat up and decided to start with the basics of design. Since then no straying off, thankfully!

After this 18^th post of mine I intend to start afresh and reflect upon a variety of design related contents. But before that Let me ask YOU some questions.

What is the most boring aspect of my blog?
What is it that makes you to subscribe my blog?
How do you rate my posts on a scale of ten?
What would you like me to write about?

The answers to these questions any others if you have, I hope and I’m quite sure, will help me improve the content and the presentation of this blog. Once again a big thanks to all of you who patiently read this post.

I earnestly look forward to some insightful comments from you. Please feel free to share your thoughts.

Remember, there are no word limits!!

World Usability Day - 8th November 2007

noreply@blogger.com (grafic7) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 12:09:00 +0000

I'd written a post earlier about utility and design. And here is an occasion to spread some more word about it. All of us at some time or other have encountered many badly designed products and services. From your computer keyboard to your bathroom taps... many a times we might have asked ourselves 'what did they thought while making this uncomfortable product...that we'd love using it?'.

Now, there is actually a forum which discusses such issues and promotes the concept of user-friendly design. The World Usability Day is for us, all of us. It's is an initiative by 'The Usability Professionals’ Association (UPA)'. Celebrating an annual 'Global Event To Create Awareness for Usability'.

Read the official World Usability Day press release for all the necessary details.

Are you exploring consumers' mind?

noreply@blogger.com (grafic7) — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:34:00 +0000

Recently I happened to read an interesting and informative interview at exchange4media.com.The person interviewed was none other than Venkatesh Kini, VP Marketing Coca Cola India. He was being asked about maintaining a loyal customer base for brand Coca Cola, given the fact that there are so many similarly flavored products the market. I found his reply to be quote-worthy. It goes like this:

“ In order to have a loyal customer base we have to make our brands relevant to our consumers in their life. Where, when, how, with whom they drink – all these aspects matter. We communicate our brands in the right way and make our products available at an arms reach. We aim at creating desire in the consumers' mind”.

Was he revealing the branding secrets of world's top beverages company? May be. But that's what most brands try to do.

To communicate about the product in the right way and to be on consumers mind whenever they need it. This is a tough task to achieve. Really tough when we realize the fact that a consumer's mind – a human mind – is dynamic and complex in nature. Exploring, segmenting and understanding human behavior is critical to any advertising and publicity strategy. In other words, understanding and acting upon the data on consumer behavior is key element of a good branding strategy.

This is where consumer psychology steps in. Who are the consumers? What are they buying? When do they buy? Where do they buy? Why did they bought the things they buy? And how exactly do they buy? These are the basic questions that this branch of psychology deals with. The market research firms practically apply this to collect various consumer specific data.

Now the question is who uses this data. Practically all those who are trying to selling something – it could be a product, a service or an idea – need this. Selling does not necessarily mean an involvement of money. It could also be just making people aware of something, making it acceptable and more readily appreciable than anything else. And that is the job of a marketing personnel.

Next comes the question how they use it. Typically, marketing involves the use of various tools like brand identity, advertisements and promotional materials, channeling them through various media and exposing it to the most appropriate public. In all these stages the market research data is extensively used. But the most important stage is when the intended message is drafted.

Precisely, the people who create the brand identity, advertisements and promotional materials require this data to be fed into their brains before embarking upon any creative mission. And these are your good old visualizers, copywriters, artists and designers. While in a big ad agency you can see people carrying out these roles separately, but in small agencies and among freelancers these roles are often played by a single person.

So finally,whenever you hire a creative service whether it be an agency or a freelancer, make sure that proper research is done and discussed before the mock ups of the design is shown to you.

(You can read the full interview of Venkatesh Kini at 'Brandspeak', exchange4media.com )

Do graphic designers need to be flashy?

noreply@blogger.com (grafic7) — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 10:26:00 +0000

This post has nothing to do with Adobe Flash, but something which I found more serious and interesting. The question came in my mind as a reaction to a reply that I got from a blogging community ‘Bloggers @ Orkut’. It is a community, as the name says for itself, for those Bloggers who are a member of the social networking site Orkut.

The community in question has a forum where one can display their blog links, do link exchange and rate others’ blogs. For the past couple of weeks I’d been posting links to my blog in this forum under the thread “Blogger game”. This is a place where one can rate the blog mentioned in the last posted message. It is another great way to visit new blogs, rate them on the basis of look and content (on a scale of ten), making people aware of your blog and to get your blog rated too by others (visiting the same thread). It’s a fair chance for every body! I’m getting quite a good traffic from here and also some fair rating for my blog (7/10 is not that bad!). I also got my first comment on this blog via “Bloggers @ Orkut” community. Thank you Priti, Vinodh and Matty for posting a topic-relevant comment here!

Now let me come to the point. A few days ago when I posted my link there it was Chintan (a member of ‘Bloggers @ Orkut’) who rated it. His rating accompanied a brief remark along with the usual link to his blog. Now, there are actually very few members who post a remark or a critical note besides the rating (and that includes me!). So, naturally it generated some interest in his blog and him. The remark I got was:

“7/10 Good content. The feel of the blog isn’t very positive”.

The first part of the comment would make anybody happy but the second part was a bit intriguing. What did he meant by the feel of the blog being not very positive? I thought it was better to ask Chintan himself for a clearer view. So, I posted another message asking for the same without expecting to be answered. In my experience the members in such communities rate a blog, post their links and disappear only to resurface after a long time. But surprisingly I got an answer, and I got it fast! And I must say it was not just an answer. I felt like being shot. I felt like being questioned about my professional abilities. I felt like being put in a life threatening situation. His reply was:

“ u r a graphics designer ... it has to show on your blog ... the template is too plain... I wouldn’t mind an investment banker or a school teacher having such a template ... just an opinion ... u might be a modest guy who doesn’t like flashy things but try making it a bit crafty.. ”.

It made me think. Is being flashy a mark of a graphic designer? Is being plain or less flashy a discredit for designers? Did he think that graphic designers are people who need to be sporting graphics all around???

While I believe how your blog looks is a matter of personal choice (which Chintan did point out) this remark has brought to fore (in my opinion) a false impression about the graphic design profession itself. So in my forthcoming posts I’d like to shed some light on various aspects of graphic design. What it is actually about, the processes involved in, the principles behind it and what prominent design bloggers, whose blogs I’ve subscribed, have said about this topic in their blogs. Stay on!

Your take: If you are a graphic designer do you think your blog/website need to be essentially flashy?

Do share your thoughts in the comment box.

AIDA: Advertising simplified

noreply@blogger.com (grafic7) — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 11:13:00 +0000

“…Action".

There are no lights and no camera yet there is plenty of action. Not on the film sets but in our very own lives. And there are people who are very eager to make you do things. This is not a plot of a movie but the story of our own lives. Right from waking in the morning to finally getting to bed all our actions are dominated by something which we are not very conscious. And guess who dominates you? The Advertisers.

They decide which tooth paste I should use, which noodles I eat, which browser is safer, what should be the best shampoo for my hair etc. How many times do you really think before buying an item? You would be surprised to know that most of our purchases are done on impulse.

Take this. Your friend has a multimedia phone. You liked some features. It might be out of your budget but you desired it. Now if you are really desirous of the multimedia phone your friend has, the chances are that you might buy one shortly. And when you have the required resources you grab it with both your hands. What happened here is the result of a dormant need of yours. Your need to be ‘in-style’ and modern.

Need. That’s what the advertisers crave to exploit. And how do they do it? Simple! They design advertisements which interest you. But do you look at each and every ad that flashes in front of you. Not really! It requires a lot of brainstorming and creativity to come up a design which could be used as an attention getting device in an advertisement. Headlines which make you think visuals which are eye-popping and the company logo to help you identify and differentiate them from the crowd. And finally placing them in places where you are most likely to be paying attention. That’s how they creep into your mind with their products and services.

This is the essence of the advertising world; captured best in the acronym – AIDA. Attention, Interest, Desire and Action.

And believe me there are a whole lot of people involved in making you do things!

Thomas Taylor where are you?

noreply@blogger.com (grafic7) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:20:00 +0000

The ‘fresher vs. experienced’ debate

Anybody heard about Thomas Taylor? No way! Because, even I didn’t knew about him until one day I discovered him inside the covers of a favorite book of mine. For those who still haven’t got an idea Thomas Taylor is an illustrator.

You must be thinking why I’m so concerned about this unknown person. Well I’m nobody to have concerns for him but I simply wonder where he has disappeared? I have already told you that I discovered him inside the covers of a favorite book of mine. And that book is none other than the first book written by J.K.Rowling. Yes! You guessed it right -- Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

Thomas Taylor was the person who did the cover illustration for the U.K. edition of this book. A book, which brought fortunes for J.K.Rowling and heralded a new era in children’s book publishing. An interesting piece of fact is that this illustration which he did for Bloomsbury was his first ever commissioned work too. A first time writer Rowling and a first time illustrator Thomas, both worked on a book which became famous later. What happened next? While J.K.Rowling became a celebrity writer with her book, what happened to Thomas Taylor? Why didn’t Bloomsbury commission him to illustrate for their next Potter books?

In order to find out some facts I searched on the web. Surprisingly, I couldn’t find much about him but I did found info about other illustrators who worked on the later books in the Harry Potter series. I was really intrigued by this I searched again. All I could gather was a short bio of him on www.pfd.co.uk (Update 17/dec/07: This link used to automatically lead to Thomas's Bio which now asks you to download a file with python extention. Strange!!). One day I stumbled upon an article in Wikipedia about Cliff Wright, the illustrator who did the illustration for the second and third book of the series. Here I found the reason why Thomas Taylor was not offered the work for other books. Bloomsbury wanted an experienced illustrator instead of a fresher just coming out of an Art School.(update 17/dec/07: I recently found an old article which appeared on books.guardian.co.uk. It says,"Thomas Taylor, the young graduate artist who decided what Harry Potter ought to look like, made only two or three hundred pounds for his first drawing of the boy hero in 1997....Taylor's foot-square picture showed the Hogwarts Express bearing down on Harry, but was his only work for the books. He had just graduated from art college and was paid a flat fee for his first publishing commission. Publishers Bloomsbury dropped Taylor after the first book in favour of a more experienced artist, Cliff Wright, who drew the covers for the second novel, The Chamber Of Secrets, and the third, The Prisoner Of Azkaban." )

I’m quite amazed by this reason. If Thomas was inexperienced so was Rowling. Why didn’t they commission a new and experienced writer to write further? And how could one call Thomas fresher when he had already done paid work for them ? Interestingly, the U.S. publishers of this book Scholastic Inc. had made Mary Grand Pre to do the covers all throughout the series. That's commendable though!

Intriguing as ever is the ‘fresher vs. experienced’ debate. As a freelancer and a fresher I’m indeed concerned about the way service buyers decide on commissioning designers and artists.

If you were a service buyer what you would choose ‘fresher’ or ‘experienced’ designer? And why?

Do comment.

How do you pick your books?

noreply@blogger.com (grafic7) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 14:53:00 +0000

I have never done a book cover. Yet I often think about them. As a genre they have made me think about my book browsing patterns. And after reading seven books in a row from the same author and publisher I think about it more often.

I was doing some research for this topic and found some interesting article about book cover design. “Publishers think we're all mugs and, by and large, that's exactly what we are. We judge books by their covers. We know what to expect. The bookshop is almost color-coded to make selection easier”, writes Tom Dyckhoff in an article in The Guardian. May be that’s what I did in the library.

But what after that? You don’t just recognize a familiar book’s spine and put it in the bag. You carefully gaze the front cover for some clues, turn it over, read the blurb on the back and if you feel further curious then read the flaps. That’s what I normally do in case of books for casual reading. But when I intend to read book of theoretical value I go a step further and browse the whole Index for the relevant topics and also read the Preface and a bit of content to get a grip of the book before pocketing it in.

So, like Tom Dyckhoff says, most of the times I do act like a ‘mug’ and judge a book by its cover. And how do you pick your books? Do let me know.

The color-coded spine !

noreply@blogger.com (grafic7) — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 08:59:00 +0000

I had been browsing in the library for a favorite book of mine. I knew which section that book of hers belonged to. But there were plenty of shelves to search. I wanted to lay my hands on it before anybody else could. “Would that be possible?” I wondered. And, ah! There it was. The three colored spine book waved at me from between its neighbors. Yes! I had in my hands ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’!!

The idea of a book waving a hand to you might seem a bit odd or magical to you. Right? But the truth is that Book Covers are all meant to do that kind of waving-“Hello…I’m here!!” sort of thing to its potential readers.

I’m really surprised by the way I picked up the book in the library. Well I don’t always go for color-coded spines – it just happened with the potter series.

Now that I have seen, explored and read all the seven books in the series I can safely say that the design strategy adopted by the Bloomsbury was a smart one.

Color: Hues, Shades and Tint

noreply@blogger.com (grafic7) — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 11:37:00 +0000

Continuing with the topic, I’d like to warn you that there are no hard and fast rules in deciding which colors to use. But one thing that you should always bear in mind is – the context. If the context is sad the colors need to be dull. Bright colors go well with happier and joyful themes.

Besides context, the medium is also important. Since the colors that you may use for a brochure for print might not get reproduced the same way on a website. That’s the basic difference. Print colors are based on ink pigments whereas on-screen colors result from light.

While working on color combinations you can choose from a wide array of Hues, Shades and Tints. People generally get confused with these terms and often interchange these in meaning. In any graphic design application colors are identified by a value ranging from 0 to 255.Here 0 stands for black and 255 for white. Add to that channels of different color modes. Basically two color modes are used. RGB (Red, Green, Blue) is used for onscreen production and CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, yellow, Black. K stand for krypton = black) for print. Each channel has different color value which results in a final color. Confusing? Don’t bother. It’s quite easy. Say we want to get yellow color in RGB color mode if you type a value of :

R + G + B = Yellow

255 + 255 + 0 = Yellow

Hue

Hue is nothing but pure form of a color. You remember VIBGYOR? The ray of light which gets refracted shows a rainbow. These are pure color values at maximum chrome. They don’t have any value of gray in it. This basic rainbow is actually the color spectrum ranging from red to violet. It has all the colors that our eyes can detect.

Shade

When black is mixed with a color value it is called as a shade. So maroon is the shade of red + black.

Tint

We get tint by mixing white with a pure color. So sky blue is obtained as a result of blue + white.

Black and white

There are about 8000 colors and their variations inexistence. Most of them are basically based on either black or white. In pure form black and white are not generally included in the list of colors. They are Neutrals. But their use should be done judiciously.

Black expresses depth, secrecy, seriousness, mystery and awe. It’s not a surprise then to see a lot of CG artists using black as a prominent background color. Things like Glassy buttons and white text look fabulous on a black background.

White on the other hand is opposite of it. It exudes purity, richness, vastness, peace and holiness. If you have no idea what to use as background color, stick to white. I’ve been seeing a lot of white backgrounds on the hoardings and billboards these days. The main advantage is its power to grab attention. Any one who stops at a signal can’t stop staring at a vast white board which crops up from within the clutter of buildings and dark green trees. But be sure leave a lot of space around the objects in picture.

Color: What is it?

noreply@blogger.com (grafic7) — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 11:00:00 +0000

ALIVE! That’s what best describes the word color. And you won’t deny it either that life would be so boring, dull and ‘life less’ without colors. One of the first things we encounter through our eyes is ‘color’ and it impacts our mind in many ways.

Color is one of the most important elements of design. Lots of people studied it in depth. There are color theories, models, classifications and characteristics. But what would be most important to any body dealing with colors in their work of art is – How best to use them? To know that we must have an idea about things that colors do in a design.

Color is a key ingredient that makes design (for matter of fact - all objects) very appealing, attractive and a pleasurable experience.
Colors create moods. They generate some kind of feeling in the viewer.
Colors make the presentation realistic or ‘alive’.

Theories of course help us a lot to analyze colors in different ways. So here, I try to research info about colors and put forth things which are worthwhile to know so that you can apply them in your work whenever needed.

Design: Eye candy or utility?

noreply@blogger.com (grafic7) — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 12:04:00 +0000

So, should design be for mere visual pleasure or should it have some utility? It’s a question that has been debated for ages.

I had been browsing through the net a couple of weeks ago .I was looking for some movie reviews on ‘Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix’ also about book reviews of ‘Deathly hallows’. During that I happened to visit the official website of Ms. J.K.Rowling.It’s a really innovative site designed by ‘light maker’. Nice one!!

What I particularly likedabout the site was that it had an air of mystery in it. That’s socharacteristic of Rowling’s epic series ‘Harry potter’. Just like her writing style her site too has quite a few surprises for the visitor. It was like exploring a different world – a magical world of J.K.Rowling.

Yes! It was magical indeed to stumble upon the navigational links which were hidden and strewn all over the site. One has to literally move the cursor over every other item on the page in search for rollover links. But inspite of being tedious it was thoroughly enjoyable and curious activity.

Done in flash, this site is highly interactive. One important thing – it has no scroll bar on the sides as well on the bottom! So you don’t have to scroll on and on (like mine!J) to read the content.It is very appealing visually too.

Actually …ummm… it illustrates the top view of Rowling’swriting table. It has a diary where she puts notes about her views and happenings. There is a calendar, a newspaper informing her forthcoming activities, there are toffee wrappers, eraser, sharpener, pencil, pen, a comb and I-Card, etc. (That’s quite innovative – reflects truly about a writer like her).Each of these is a link to different sections of the site. Intelligent designing!

So, what I wanted to demonstrate was that any work of design need not be conventionally perfect. It has to gel well with the theme. If it deals with mystery the design needs to have an element of mystery in presentation. I firmly believe that there should be a fine balance between appeal and usefulness. A design should serve some purpose besides being attractive and neat. Otherwise it would be just … another great blunder as I mentioned earlier.

Blogged with Flock

Graphic Design: Attention getting device

noreply@blogger.com (grafic7) — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 08:13:00 +0000

Have you ever wondered why some things get your attention than others? When you see an advertisement, brochure or any other such material what grabs your eyeballs? Surely the answer is ‘Design’. When a design has the more or less a perfect blend of all the ‘Laws of Design’ it becomes noticeable. So what I’m trying to say is that Design is nothing but an attention getting device.

‘Design’ whatever it be about, has deep psychological roots. It has to do something with the way we perceive things. Perception in psychological terms means finding meaning between different things that comes within our sphere of interaction. Literally speaking it means - ‘to assess’ or ‘to experience’. It is really interesting to find out how different people interact with each other. In other words, ‘How people communicate’? We all know that people communicate in different languages. Not just verbally but Non-verbally too. And ‘Design’, as I said earlier, is visual communication (which falls under the category of non verbal communication).

When we draw a layout for an advertisement or any such thing we are actually creating a pattern. We arrange different visual elements:

Color
Drawings
Images
Text
And most importantly space

If the arrangement has proper balance, symmetry, proportion, rhythm, emphasis and unity the design becomes visually pleasing and conveys some meaning.

But for a design to be really successful it needs something more! And that is ‘Appropriate’ content. Content of the layout is equally important as the design is. If the content is about baby foods and you have placed an image of a man using a hair styling gel which perfectly suits the background color and font style…pure blunder what else! It would be better to say this other way round. That content needs an ‘appropriate’ design.

A successful design is thus one which basically serves the purpose of ‘drawing attention’. Not just for visual pleasure but to pull the target audience towards the contents.