Kanhika Nikam Hello! I’m a fourth year product design student from MIT ID, Pune, India and I’m looking forward to doing my 6 month internship/diploma project, starting around September with you!
Kanhika Nikam Sustainable products, experience design, furniture and design for kids interests me a lot. I enjoy working with material/processes and love hand made things. I absolutely adore when form follows function, just like it does in nature. I like reading about design, surfing the net, attending seminars, watching TED Talks and having these ‘intense’ discussions on design! Movies, music, puzzle solving, photography, shopping and a lot of traveling take up my spare time. I also like modularity and mismatched things. Well, hope you enjoy my portfolio :)
Green Design The future is for the next generation. Thus it’s becoming very important for children of today to be aware of a sustainable living. This project aims at spreading awareness in school environments by subtle and metaphorical products. Turning the ‘green’ concept into tangible learning.
Paper mache dust bin lid which adds on to the existing bin. Direct metaphor acting as a reminder of :
‘Throwing recyclable garbage gives rise to landfills thus pollutes the earth.’
Green Design
Stackable module for storing recyclable paper. 5 ply corrugated, Easy to assemble, No adhesive, Collapsible, Stackable, Portable and Weight bearing.
Every child or a group of children are given a module to take home. The task being to fill it up with left over paper from used notebooks lying at home, from neighbors, friends etc.
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Tree grows taller!
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More paper saved
As the children fill the boxes and get it back to class the boxes get stacked on top of each other.
Green Design
The tree top, made of corrugated is the used to give
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stars *** to the most contributing student.
Repurposing A challenge to take an everyday object (which has turned redundant) and repurpose it to create an entirely new funtion while using as little additional material as possible. Delonix regia plant seed > Rattle When dry, the seeds inside make a rattle like sound.
Local bus tickets + Bamboo > Quirky collage bangles.
Crown caps > Floating candles.
Interaction Design Design Brief: An engaging device to enhance the short term memory of kids aged 8-11, which generates curiosity and tingles the imagination in a fun way and the ownership of which is a great source of pride to the child.
It helps enhance the Childs cognitive skills through methods of recalling and recollection. The Mii Badge randomly collects visual and auditory clues from the Childs daily routine. These images and sounds can then be accessed on the Mii Memoir when the Mii Badge is attached. The child gets to recreate entire scenarios by means of drawings, writings and voice recordings. He/she can put together these different media with help of the built in interface and create his/her story. This can then be posted on a micro blogging network to be shared with other Mii-nions over the world. The Nintendo Mii becomes a true reflection of the Childs mind.
Puts on the Badge
Talking to Mom (Records)
Late for bus (Records)
Gets a prize (Records)
Playing with friends (Records)
Excited for the Mii Zone class
Puts the Badge in Mii
Uses Mii to express the day
Sharing experiences with friends
Happy to have Mii
Interaction Design Mii Badge: worn by the Child captures pictures and sounds throughout the day.
Mii Memoir: tablet where the Child puts his experiences together. Mii Friends: will guide them as they express themselves on their dedicated virtual space. Mii Comic:: helps the Child explore his/her creativity in a comic format with his/her handwriting, sketches and the pictures and audio clips recorded by the Mii Badge.
Mii Sleeve: silicone cover gives the Child freedom to carry it around with a handle and acts as protection.
Mii Memoir is such that the curved base doesn’t allow it to be used on a flat surface thus encouraging the Child to hold the device close (hands/on lap) developing an attachment to it.
Studio Table Design Design Brief: To design a table for a design school which will encourage student to share their work.
The base display slides out from the bottom and slides in at the back to become the whiteboard.
Toughened Glass Top >Can be used as a cutting surface >Safe display of work >Can be used for tracing / as a light box >Double Workstation: lower part can be used to put up mood boards, data/stats, things you want to refer to as you work.
Pull-out HIPS Slide >For classroom presentations >As a projector screen >As a whiteboard
Design for the Hearing Impaired Hearing impaired children often face speech/language problems. It’s not an illness that can be cured, it needs therapy. Therapy happens only in the clinic, but most of the child’s learning happens at home, with his family. Thus the Design Brief: A game that the child plays with his family and friends, which accelerates the process of grasping language, in the initial years when the hearing is still stronger. It could also be used an aid by speech therapists.
The objectives of the game is to:
use lip reading as a medium to guess words.
It’s used by therapists to teach language (accompanied by touching the mouth/throat, feeling the vibrations, heat coming out of the mouth).
Difficulty/Level of words increases depending how deep in the mouth the sound is produced.
Beginner Level: Lip
Food Water Home Car Tree Star
Beginner Level: Lip
Intermediate Level: Mouth
Expert Level: Throat
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Boy Girl Ball Doll Book Moon
Expert Level: Throat
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Bat Pencil Fan Light Chair Cycle Milk Sky Sun Sleep Dog Cat
Intermediate Level: Mouth
Each triangular piece is stuck together by magnets. The fillet at the corner enables easy picking up.
Design for the Hearing Impaired Team
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>Picks up a card from the deck* with a word on it, >Says the word without making sound** The two teams can have any number of players as long as they are equal.
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Design for the Hearing Impaired
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Team
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>Tries to guess the word by looking at the mouth and at the randomly arranged reference pieces, >Once the word is guessed they point it out, If correct then the piece is won, The pieces are used to build whatever form*
Objective
Team that guesses maximum words in minimum time /gets maximum number of pieces, wins.
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Design for the Hearing Impaired
One can also make sentences using the words (storytelling) and teach the concept of order/sequence. Since the over all form is dynamic and playful it can be used to make different forms to communicate different things, like in the case of tangrams. As the forms are magnetic the game can be played over vertical surfaces* thus it can be used to communicate to larger audiences.
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*Reference Image
Do It Yourself Kit [Internship] Design Brief: A series of ‘do-it-yourself ’ kits for kids highlighting the issue of endangered species.
Animal chosen was the Hawksbill Turtle.
The mouth of the turtle has a very peculiar hawk like shape which makes it easy to distinguish it form other turtles.
Two visible claws on all four flipper.
The carapace / shell is divided in 13 parts. This is particular only to the Hawksbills turtle.
Do It Yourself Kit [Internship]
Form explorations for different body parts. Corrugated model exploring different joiners.
Do It Yourself Kit [Internship] CAD model detailing for joiners. Laser cut MDF puzzle board.
Do It Yourself Kit [Internship]
Laser cut sticker paper with graphics inspired from the Hawksbill. Final model with graphics.
Systems Design: Travelling Street Food Design Brief: To solve the chosen problem through a Systems Approach. By understanding how different things influence one another within a whole. To views problems as parts of an overall system, rather than reacting to specific parts.
The system studied: a chain travelling street food company: ‘Burger Mail’. The information collected was put into Systems Maps*, Information Overlap Charts**, Input-Output tables*** etc. All these helped us formulate our Systems Brief: Bring out the basic idea of meals on wheels by creating a suitable brand strategy, which will: >utilize mobility, >reach different customers, >utilize employees time.
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Suggested Co-Branding Strategy (Burger Mail+Venky’s xprs): >Enhance the existing brand identity of Burger Mail. >Make prominent its idea of reaching out to young audience and of being an informal brand. >Utilizing mobility of the car by reaching out to different types of customers keeping the current route constant. >By utilizing the employees time more effectively and thus increasing profits which in turn would increase his income and job satisfaction. >Increasing the overall hygiene.
Systems Design: Travelling Street Food
The name: Venky’s xprs BITE since it’s a simple word, used in everyday language, thus can be used very flexibly. The final logo with the application of the brand language on the employee uniforms, badges, paper plates, the car etc.
Systems Design: Travelling Street Food Minimum changes/inputs> Maximum outputs. Customer can read the name and see the menu even before he reaches the car.
Locking system which wouldn’t be as visible and latches inside. Window size doubled to 2’, employee doesn’t bend as much to talk to the customer, better interaction. Plus improved ventilation.
Menu with a whiteboard marker. Customer interacts, leave comments, while waiting for his burger. Thus, completes the feedback loop.
Systems Design: Travelling Street Food New grill added and cutting board placed stratergically on top of the dustbin.
Concealed dust bin placed bellow cutting board. Rod on money drawer to hang rag so the employee lands up cleaning his hands before and after exchanging money. Filleted corners to follow brand/form language. So do the buns crate, stool & ice box.
The shelve is red and back lit. Makes the space more attractive and follow the language used at Venky’s xprs.
Other Projects 1. Form Semantics 2. Display and Control Design
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‘Dieter Rams DIY shoe by Addidas’ The shoe just like Rams designs has: Minimum components, use of an unusual material (Croclite) and the colour scheme limited to greys and white. DIY is fun since you get to mix-match and build your own shoe. This also makes it long lasting since every component can be replaced when it fails instead of throwing the entire shoe. Over time you’ll have a totally new shoe as you’d have replaced most of its components.
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The physical and interface design of an information kiosk for travellers in Pune city.
Form Studies Understanding of the nuances of form integration, radii manipulation and the relationships of forms and space through techniques of 1: Form transition, 2: Form transformation and 3: Form integration. Materials used 1: MDF + Acrylic 2: Perforated cement 3: MDF
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Form Studies 1. A moment to give away to the 2009 Graduating batch of MIT ID. 2. Forms explorations for structural strengthening of plastic forks.
The college logo box opens out to say ‘09’ - the year of the graduating batch. It also contains a congratulatory letter. `
Sketch Book Using sketches to communicates ideas / concepts, understand form and technical details of products.
Sketch Book
Using various medium like Wacom, Photoshop, poster colours and dry pastels.
Sketch Book
Sketching is a cruital tool for all projects in generating concepts and detailing them out.
I Did: The Design Store Founder member of MIT Institute of Design’s very own design store. I Did gives MIT ID’s students a platform to take their work/ideas to the next level: to the masses. It helps them from production and finance to finding the right market for their ideas.
I Did is the brain child of a group of enthusiastic students. Managing it’s growth right from building the structure of I Did to launching it as a brand and getting students to participate. It tough me a lot about handling logistics, publicity, finance etc. Organizing and participating in exhibitions, festivals, workshops to display and retail the work of students.
I Did: The Design Store
Merchandise* for the colleges annual design festival Quasar. Some of the products designed for I did: 1. Table lamp 2. Diaries made from waste laminate samples 3. Bangles made from scrap fabric.
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Personal Details Name
Contact
Kanhika Jaywant Nikam
kanhika@gmail.com, kanhika@hotmail.com
21 years
+91 8080 611611
Course
Product Design, Undergraduate (4th year) MAHEER’s MIT Institute of Design, Pune, India.
705, Makani Centre, 35th Road, Off Linking Road, Bandra (W), Mumbai-400050, India.
College School
Sophia College for Women, Mumbai, India. Bai Avabai Framji Petit Girls High School, Mumbai, India.
Click to join me on >
Design Directions, Pune, India. http://www.designdirections.net/
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kanhika-nikam/13/42/748
Age
Industrial Experience
Earthwave, Bangalore, India. http://earthwave.in/ Flip Design, Bangalore, India. http://www.flipdesign.in/ Founder member of MIT ID’s ‘I Did’. http://www.facebook.com/pages/I-Did/120322731357415 Software Skills
Other Skills
Languages
Fluent: Rhinoceros, V-ray, Sketchbook Pro, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Office Suit. Basic: Alias, Google Sketchup, Adobe Illustrator. Research and Analysis, Mood boarding, rapid/detailed Sketching, Model making, making and giving Presentations. English, French(written), Hindi, Marathi.
http://twitter.com/#!/kanhika Click to view my online portfolio >
http://issuu.com/kanhika/docs/kanhika_nikam_product_design_portfolio_2011
Thank you.
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