magazine by kavya bagga

Animation Textile Illustration Product Photography Fashion Vis Comm Other

FOCUS Invisible Design 28

Take a close look at your mundane daily routine and discover the immense role design plays in your life

FEATURED Studio Lila We explore the studios work, in its attempt to marry architechture and textile design

His journey through Leh and Ladakh Ritwik Sauntra shares his photography, the likes of which you have never seen before

TALK BOX Nachiappan Ramanathan 14

Take the path less trodden with Nachi, a young offbeat artist and designer

Studio Eksaat 58

ARTICLES Minimalism is not for the lazy Is minimalism so popular, because its looks easy?

Advertising today Pandarang Row gives you a 360 degree view of advertising today

Comic Con India Explore the good and bad of comic con India

42 64

Join us as we talk to the couple behind Studio Eksaat, a graphic design studio based in Delhi

SNEAK PEAK Ajay Koli

Photography

Athreya Zerfas

Product Design

Abhishek Chaudhary

Illustration

50 54

Svabhu Kohli Illustration

Asavari Kumar Animation

DESIGNERS V/S THE WORLD Why placements will help you (and us) We are rooting for placemnets, are you? Here are all the reasons to love them

You always almost know one of these

Every client type you can think of,all in one place

How to price your work A young freelancers guide to pricing - that thorn in your side

A perfect day at work Peek into the life of Kumkum Nadig a proffessional graphic designer, and Karthik Ilango a design student

COMMAND + A tale of two museums Alison brynes contrasts two radically different museums in Bangalore and weighs their pros and cons

Vintage obsession 56 62

Smrithi Rao gives us her two cents about currenttrends in fashion today

Spirit of Ink Join us as she takes us through her tattoo art

Shreiyaa Maediratta

Kavya Bagga

Deval Maniar

Koyal Cheng

gappa

TEAM NOTE Why put another magazine out on them stands? Because we said so. Just joking. The point of this entire endeavor was so that Srishti could finally have a magazine that was a student effort from start to end. We wanted to bust common misconceptions surrounding the role designers play and throw light on how design is everywhere and not something alien and elite. We have therefore tried to integrate as many fields of design as we could and have our cover story intensively cover how design seeps into the everyday objects you use from the humble toothbrush to your favourite chair or brand at the local supermarket. Being quite young ourselves, we automatically gravitated towards young and upcoming artists and designers who were just starting out. We had even the established ones in this magazine introspect on their journey from college to present day. So hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s to you, our reader, whether you may be a design student, a design professional or just someone who picked this up on a whim, we hope there is not a single dull moment while reading this magazine which has been put together after many servings of cup noodles and ideating in a pink house in the middle of nowhere. Need we go on?

Ruchika Nambiar

Kavya Singh Barathwal

Harshvardhan Gantha

ARTICLE

“But there’s so much blank space,” says the innocent. “Oh darling, don’t you know? That’s minimalism.” When a new designer opens his eyes to the big bad world, he is immediately swept up by the irresistibilty of fancy downloadable fonts, the intricacy of embellishments and the daintiness of those blasted floral borders. Little does he know that after his first few years of trudging through all that pretty rubble, he will be struggling to come up for air. Good, clean, minimalist air. Almost every 21st century designer goes through a minimalist phase. A fair number of them choose to stay there for good. But does its appeal also lie in the fact that it’s always easier to do less than more? The Oxford Dictionary defines minimalism as “a deliberate lack of decoration or adornment in style or design”. Quite like editing, don’t you think? And anyone at all who has done even the slightest amount of editing knows exactly how hard it is to chop his beloved work up into pieces and get rid of ninety per cent of it. But many designers would face the grave danger of turning minimalism into an easy excuse rather than a style. After all, it is just so irresistibly easy to do the bare minimum and call yourself a minimalist. Minimalism is your safety net – you can’t go wrong when you’re doing so little. Slap a title right in the centre of a beautiful white page, use a classic like Helvetica and hey, you’re a minimalist! But in truth, being simple, as they always say, is the hardest thing to do. If you find minimalism easy, you’re probably doing it wrong. Simplicity requires a knack of simply understanding spaces, but also an understanding of negative spaces. It demands keen perception to know exactly what arrangement of elements will produce the most impact. It’s not about how wrong or right a Helvetica title might look in the centre of a white

page – it is about being able to analyse whether there is a more impactful way of doing it. Would it look better if the page was a rectangle instead of a square? Would the text look better in a corner instead of the centre? The honesty of minimalism lies, not in the concluding design, but in the amount of time and thought one has invested in eliminating every other option before arriving at the final one. Well, either that or you have to be born a minimalist prodigy who just “knows” how to do it cleverly on his first attempt. Perhaps minimalism has a higher success rate when it comes to fields like product design where one is working with tangible objects and all you need to do is chop off all the extras until you are left with a purely functional object. Or maybe it is easier with space design where too much empty space becomes glaringly obvious and it isn’t difficult to know when you need to put a rug in the room or a painting on the wall. Working with tangible quantities like area, cost effectiveness and optimum material usage might make it easier to go about minimalism the right way. But no matter what the field, can we ever really draw a line between how much is too much and how little is too little? Minimalism, however, provides a great way of separating great design from ‘Meh-it’ll-do-for-now’ design. And it creates such an obvious distinction that even a layman could tell really clever design from mediocre design. It brings every element out into the spotlight for scrutiny and every single aspect needs to be perfect right down to its last pixel (or atom, for all you product designers). At the end of it all, minimalism is quite like life itself – you can get away with it easily enough, but the rewards are far greater when you don’t cheat.

SNEAK PEAK

AJAY KOLI Where: IIT Bombay, Maharashtra What: Conceptual Photographer Contact: www.ajaykoli.tumblr.com

I study inside a technical institution. So, as an artist I was always on a lookout for some talented and creative individuals. We were following each other’s work from sometime. So when we created something together, the output was grand. Then, a desire to do something big brought us together to form The Green Hearts. A camera is like a toy for me with which I experiment & exploit it’s usage. At the same time. its adds a feeling of keeping everything real. I am passionate about photography. IIT gave us a very peaceful environment to develop ourselves. I love nature. I am doing a 365 project currently where I create a picture everyday. Most of them are self-portraits. Most of the time, I have something in my mind beforehand. But that doesn’t restrict me from creating. During a 365 project, some of the days I might not have any specific idea in my mind but I choose to get out of my room in the evening and just create. The results are very surprising sometimes. The idea is to get better and develop naturally. Sometimes a location, a mood, a feeling, a song, other artists or nature inspire. I try to create a blend of reality with imagination.

Come paint, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a war

Shine Ajay (Self)

Awake my soul (Self)

Bird Potrait

Blind Threshold

Coming back to me

I went into the lake

A tree like this (Self)

Minimal Exposition

TALK BOX

NACHIAPPAN RAMANATHAN 24, Self Employed Product Designer, Musician, Sculptor

I’M NOT QUALIFIED TO BE A PRODUCT DESIGNER. IF PEOPLE HIRE ME, IT’S FOR MY CREATIVE ABILITY. What have you been upto these days? Chilling. [Laughs.] I’m learning the classical flute in Shantiniketan right now. When did you decide you didn’t want to work under anyone and go off on your own tangent? When I finished college, I met many people during the graduation exhibition. I met some big companies, some of them who wanted me to work for them too. But it didn’t feel right right to me. I wasn’t asking for money; I just wanted to do my own thing. What have you been doing over the last 2 years? I worked with Jackson and Chokka in making some tree houses and other basic structures. I also worked on a few interactive sculptures and some musical instruments. What do you see yourself doing to earn a living? I am earning a living. The tree houses I built paid me quite decently. Recently, I completed a project for Puma where we

had to make an installation using waste material. I actually have lots of projects coming up. The kind of work I’m doing lets me earn as well as do what I please. And I can take a break whenever I want. Like I’m doing right now. I just got back from the Arunachal Pradesh musicfestivals [in a super excited tone]! Is there a project you’re waiting to lay your hands on? I have some family land in Coorg. I want to build a house and studio space for myself there, where I can sculpt, research, make sound sculptures and work with readily available materials. I also want to set up a studio and cottages for people who can come there and work. Of course, it’s a long term plan which will come along when I have the resources. Your biggest inspiration? Theo Jansen. He works with the combination of art and technology . He says “The walls between art and engineering exist only in our minds”

Isai Poochi- A sound installation

What are your greatest learnings? My journey has been a part of my learning process. I have learnt a lot in the last two years. Much more than what I learnt in four years of college! [Laughs.] I guess I was never interested. I consider everything a part of my education. What’s your favourite piece of work? Difficult to say. I work only when I really enjoy it. I only pick work that excites me. If I had to choose, it would be the ‘Isai poochi’ installation – I would like to head in that direction. What’s one work ethic that you religiously follow? Nothing particularly. I like to work with a lot of space. For the puma sculpture with waste material, we worked with a waste cycle. We collected all the materials, met welders, and all the rest, but there just wasn’t enough space in those workshops. So the ideal situation was to find our own space (an uncle’s farm). We bought a welding machine and did it all our selves and seeked technical help when needed. Nobody told us what to do; we did it all at our own pace and learned along the way.

Biggest Inspiration: The wall between art and engineering is only in our minds. -Theo Janson

Can you describe yourself to us? Uhh... I’m still figuring things out. I’m definitely not qualified to be a product designer. I think if someone wants to hire me, it’s for my creative ability. I wouldn’t want to put myself in a bracket. What would you like to say to our future designers? Oh my goodness. I don’t think I’m at any level to give words of wisdom. But I would say do what you enjoy terribly.. Aaah... Can’t think of anything right now, but when I think of something, I’ll definitely let you know. Dream a little in the day is also something I’d ideally like to tell everyone. Mud bench at an international school in Bangalore

installation made by waste bottles at he sunburn festival

Tree house built in collaboration with Vivek Chokhalingam

DESIGNER V/S WORLD

WHY PLACEMENTS WILL HELP YOU AND US 1 WE VALUE YOU

There is nothing new and unusual about unemployment or issues surrounding internships in the creative world. We know work experience plays a key role for most of us, but hey, it’s our first experience in the real world out there and your work insights are hugely valuable!

2 VALUE ADDED SERVICES

We know that you know that the demand for jobs is high and there’s a lot of brilliant work, brilliant layouts and portfolios out there. But until we meet or talk, you’ll Never know what extra values we could add that could take your studio places.

3 KNOWING WHAT YOU NEED

Many a time, there’s a concern about hiring the ‘right’ kind of person who fits the bill. Know that there is a Young, capable and highly talented workforce that is desperate and awaiting an opportunity to hear from established people like you.

4 SELF MARKETING

Further more, we could use some field knowledge to be successful designers some day. We don’t want to end up being those bothersome people who just blow their own horns and give out large doses of self induced irrelevant knowledge and self marketing tips to the world out there.

5 UNPAID LABOUR

We know that a lot of establishments offer unpaid placements with the best interests, which, without a doubt, are beneficial in numerous ways. It’s almost a first step in the industry for many of us and it gives us huge insights. However, there’s a large market that has gripped onto this unpaid labour knowing the desperation of young people to break into the industry but not knowing whereto draw the line between good and bad practice or between exploitation and work experience.

FEATURED

COLOUR

CONSTRUCTION

“ARCHITECTURE, MEET TEXILE” - STUDIO LILA

STUDIO LILA Founder: Shruti Narayan Where: Shahpur Jat, New Delhi Contact: your.lila@gmail.com Lila was established in late 2011 by architect Shruti Narayan who specialized in energy, efficiency and sustainability. The studio is her attempt to translate these very same standards into textile and fashion design. It was set up as a design lab based in New Delhi with a vision to be experimental, using the simplest of ingredients with a desire to create a series of designs that are both minimalistic in appearance as well rich in craftsmanship. Drawing inspiration from contemporary Indian design aesthetics, the brand is an effort to tame and simplify Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rich visual culture.

The studio uses only pure and natural materials that are locally sourced and fabricated. The intention behind this is not only to be local but also to understand that local fabrics have evolved over the years in a place with an understanding of its climate â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and using such fabrics to make clothes will automatically make them climatesensitive designs. In addition, Lila uses yarn-dyed fabrics that donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t bleed while washing and are thereby easy to maintain, allowing an extension of the lifecycle of the product. The underlying intent is to reduce the carbon footprint of the clothes.

“The bold colours and bold silhouettes give not only a laid back vibe, but a sense of quiet sophistication.”

Lila is housed in a restored old haveli in Delhi’s fashion hub urban village Shahpurjat, deliberately using an old structure to create an ambience that celebrates our built environment. A walk through the studio will instantly connect you to Lila and its ideology of connecting to the context. The understanding is that an ideology needs to sieve through all physical and ephemeral manifestations of design. Lila is a design ideology that is embedded in context, celebrates cultural diversity and brings together various creative fields. It is an exploration into the making of things.

As a design philosophy, Lila celebrates solid colors and develops textures and patterns through a play of these colours, resulting in vibrant tones draped in bold silhouettes, giving not only a laid back vibe but a sense of quiet sophistication. The designs heavily draw inspiration from Narayan’s background in architecture. This influence is evident in her manipulation of folds, collars and pleats in order to create straight, simple and bold structures. Consciously using pure Indian fabrics to connect to our rich cultural heritage, the studio also uses them in an attempt to create a link to the seasons.

I LIKE THE LOGO. BUT, MY DAUGHTER DOESN’T!

THIS TIME DO IT FOR FREE, NEXT TIME I’ll GET YOU MORE WORK.

2 MONTHS LATER...

CLIENT NOWHERE TO BE FOUND!

WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER FONTS YOU SHOWED ME?

GIVE ME TWO MORE COLOUR OPTIONS!

‘Stereotyping our very beloved clients’

LAST NIGHT I THOUGHT OF ONE MORE IDEA!

THE ‘IDEAS’ CLIENT

ACTUALLY, I DON’T THINK I NEED A VISITING CARD.

BUT KEEP THE BUDGET IN MIND!

YOU CAN GO CRAZY WITH THE DESIGN !

SNEAK PEAK

ATHREYA ZERFAS Where: Srishti, Bangalore What: Product Designer Contact: athreyazerfas@gmail.com Whenever i have an idea I write it down, even if itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not a very good idea. Sometimes the bad ideas will lead to better ones.

Goliath for Tupperware

Nutcracker for Tupperware

Wooden Marathon

Haptics

Minimalist Reception Table

Bed and bed side table and bed side lamp fused into one

FOCUS

Behind every single seemingly ordinary step you take everyday, there are designers who have worked tirelessly to make your choices, a little simpler. Artists and designers around the globe constantly attempt to define where art ends and design begins. To the layman, art and design is a very separate elitist field that does not even remotely intersect with his everyday life - which is where we step in. So let this be an ode to all the unsung designers who have designed everything from your soap dispenser to your favourite chair. Have you ever thought about why you prefer some stores to others? Why you picked up a certain print? Behind every single seemingly ordinary step you take everyday, there are designers who have worked tirelessly to make your choices a little simpler.

From the day we started hunting food to the day we launched our story into the cosmos, we have constantly designed the world around us. We have helped design clothes to conquer impossible terrains, we have designed automobiles, houses and buildings, the education and monetary system, to make our world a little better. A little better than we found it. The story of design, is the story of the human race. So where do you start with a term that embodies so many different things around us? Lets get back down to the basics and discuss items you wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t normally spend so much time thinking too much about.

Design may sound like a cool word today, but mankind has been designing for years.

A MATTRESS HAS BETWEEN 250-1000 SPRINGS, WHICH REQUIRES NEARLY 2000 FEET OF STEEL WIRE

What is the key to a good day? SLEEP. If you’re lucky and not overworked design students like us, then you would ideally spend half your day on your mattress. Design may sound like a cool word today, but mankind has been designing for donkey’s years. He simply had no choice. Life wasn’t always this comfortable; people designed it to be that way. Take your mattress for example, something that’s been evolving for eons. It is said that the expression “sleep tight” dates back to the 16th and 17th century when mattresses were placed over ropes that required regular tightening. A typical mattress today consists of anywhere between 250-1000 springs, which when put together, require nearly 2000 feet of steel wire. With the existence of air bed and water beds today catering to a variety of needs, the mattress has definitely undergone a serious revamp.

Design is nothing but resourcefulness. When you stick a piece of folded paper under the leg of your wobbly table, you’re designing too. The modern toothbrush was also invented in a similar way. In 1780 in England, William Addis invented the modern toothbrush in prison. It is said that he was simply bored and quite tired of the unsanitary amenities available in prison. Saving an animal bone left over after mealtime, he drilled tiny holes into it and passed tufts of bristles through them. (The bristles, he obtained from a prison guard.) Funnily enough, after he was released, he got enormously rich by mass-producing these very same toothbrushes. Tooth brushes today come with various added features like a tongue cleaner or even ones with criss -cross bristles than increase efficiency. If it hadn’t been for designers who made the humble toothbrush what it is today, you would’ve pretty much had to wear dentures at 20. Hallelujah.

in 1780, William Addis invented the modern toothbrush in prison with animal bone from the left over daily meals.

3. Design is about making the world a better, safer, happier place. It keeps you from cutting yourself – quite literally, in the case of the shaving razor. Men have been shaving since time immemorial. In fact, in ancient Egypt, it was considered unsophisticated to have facial hair. But right up until the late 1800s, men owned straight razors that looked quite like foldable pocket-knives. Needless to say, it required a certain amount of skill to use such a device without injuring oneself. In the latter half of the 19th century, the razor evolved such that the blade was now perpendicular to the handle, making it much easier and safer to use. This model soon gave root to the disposable razors we know of today. With women jumping on the shaving bandwagon, it has become even more important for razors to be safe instruments to maintain our majestical, feminine selves. Fact.

STEP 1

STEP 2

STEP 3

DIY EAR BUD KIT

THE EAR BUD

The ear bud was invented in 1923, by a father who was scared for his child.

IN ANCIENT EGYPT, IT WAS CONSIDERED UNSOPHISTICATED TO HAVE FACIAL HAIR

The design process is organic and in constant motion – we observe and learn, we improvise and solve common everyday problems in the constant attempt to make everyday life simpler and more convenient. In 1923, Leo Gerstenzang noticed his wife sticking a wad of cotton to the end of a toothpick and stuffing them in their baby’s ears to clean them. Mildly horrified at the proximity of that poorly concealed sharp toothpick to his baby’s eardrums, Gerstenzang decided to invent what we know today as cotton swabs or Q-tips. But back then, he’d called them ‘Baby Gays’.

You may believe design makes no difference to you – especially graphic design. (And why do graphic designers make so much money, you wonder). But think again. You may have more of an attachment towards things you’ve never given a second thought too. Like the GAP logo. In 2010, Gap decided to redesign their logo. Little did they know that the new one would barely last a week. When the company got rid of its classic blue box logo to make way for the new Helvetica logo (with a little blue box), public outcry over Facebook and Twitter was so shockingly loud that the company was forced to switch back to the old logo.

6. Design is invention. It isn’t a choice, it’s a necessity. Especially if you’re living in the prehistoric times. When prehistoric man saw a boulder rolling down a hill, it gave him the idea of the wheel. While it might seem like we have everything we need today and the only purpose of design is to make things look pretty, there are still a wealth of ideas that remain unexplored. And there always will be. Speaking of boulders and rolling, it’s not too far-fetched to wonder whether the ballpoint pen too was thought of in a similar manner. While it went through many design failures in the beginning, the first patent on was issued in 1988 to a leather tanner who was looking for a way besides fountain pens to write on leather. The pen he created had a small steel ball that rotated, held in place by a socket. Ball pens today are quite similar, with a tiny rotating ball controlling the flow of ink through the internal chamber.

ATTACH ATTACH

DIP D IP

write WRITE

WEBSITES MAGAZINES BUILDINGS

NEED TO BE DESIGNED! Websites, magazines and spaces need to be designed. There are entire professions dedicated to them. You already know all of that. But do you really know how much really goes into the process and the design itself?

DESIGN ISN’T JUST MAKING THINGS LOOK GOOD! Many people get away with calling themselves designers simply by making things looks good. Take a website or magazine for example- there’s a great deal of thought that goes into exactly how you navigate through a page, what you read first and what catches your eye the most.

PSYCHOLOGY AND DESIGN GO HAND IN HAND Buildings and rooms are designed such that you can navigate through them comfortably. All design is practiced keeping human behaviour and psychology in mind so that one can deliver the best, most comfortable experience. So comfortable, that you don’t even need to think about it.

the power

of design

Everyone one of us makes design choices through almost every moment of our lives. Who then are these designers? Are they the master race that carved the path for humanity? No. Everyone one of us makes design choices through almost every moment of our lives. It is this collective desire that is interpreted by a few and turned into newer more accessible and elegant solutions. We hope you will see and interpret the world around you and if not appreciate, be aware of the hidden persuasive power of the designer and the designed.

DESIGN MYTHS

People study design because they’re not smart enough for anything else

Fashion design is the only type of design on the planet

Designers don’t need to be paid bucket loads of money for the tiniest of things! Anyone who knows Photoshop is a designer.

Design is a “new” profession.

DESIGNER V/S WORLD

SEVEN STEPS TO PRICING FREELANCERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE! The maddening business of pricing has always been the bane of our existence for us newbie freelancers. If only a guide to pricing were to fall from the heavens, life would be a lot easier. But until fate decides to smile upon us and make that possible, we have taken it upon ourselves to gather a few pointers from different freelancers to make things go just a little bit smoother for you.

BE TRUE TO YOURSELF Don’t let guilt get the better of you while quoting a price. If you know you’re good at designing logos, don’t hesitate to quote as much as a professional would. Keep building a strong network of other established freelancers, so that you can stay up to date with the going market prices for different kinds of services.

DONT GET OVERCONFIDENT

Don’t get overconfident about skills you don’t have! If you know you aren’t great at web design, quote a cheaper price for it. Always maintain full disclosure with your client so that he knows if his designer is lacking in a certain area. At this age, your client is really giving you room to make mistakes.

F for FREELANCER

“As a student, I did many jobs for free (out of good will) or even on a barter system. I branded my friends salon, and instead she gave me free haircuts and the like. My gynac and I also reached the same understanding.” - Kruti Sariaya is a Graphic Designer who started freelancing as a student.

IʼM AWESOME

RAISE YOUR PRICES As a student freelancer, while it’s alright to quote low at first, don’t let that go on too long. Once you’ve built up a decent client list, it’s alright to raise your prices up a notch. You don’t want to get stuck quoting lower than you deserve even five years later. It might be a good idea to raise your prices after you’ve made significant leaps in your career and education. If an old client comes back to you asking why he has to pay 10K for a logo he got for 5K before, you should be able to show what progress you’ve made that justifies the rise in prices. This could be justified through either a longer client list, or an updated portfolio, or an internship that you recently completed.

RAISE THE ROOF

DONT DO IT FOR PEANUTS Always make sure you get something in return, even if it is free haircuts or referrals to other clients. Don’t settle for a price so low that your work loses its value. And don’t be afraid to tell your client that! “Design is not bargainable. When you complete a job for a price that’s less than you deserve, you undermine the importance of your own work. What’s more, you’ll get stamped as being a low-cost designer when you get referrals.” - Kavya Singh, Student Freelancer

DESIGNER

CURRENCY

EXPLAIN THE PROCESS Be considerate towards your client’s background while quoting. Start-up companies and the like can’t afford a very expensive logo, but they’re usually the ones that give you most freedom and are looking for quality work. “People who want good design can’t afford it, and the ones who can afford it, never want good design!” - Kruti Sariaya, Graphic Designer who started freelancing as a student

STEP 1S

TEP 2S

Be considerate towards your client’s background while quoting. Start-up companies and the like can’t afford a very expensive logo, but they’re usually the ones that give you most freedom and are looking for quality work. “When you quote lower to smaller companies out of goodwill, if you do a really good job for them, they’ll keep coming back to you. And you never know, they’ll even start paying you more when they become rich and famous.” – Kavya Bagga, Student Freelancer

BE CONSIDERATE

TEP 3

WE HOPE THIS HELPED!

BE SAFE THAN BE SORRY While the hope is that most clients are nice and well-meaning, it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Have all your discussions and price negotiations down in writing. Even if it’s in the form of an email, it is good enough, so don’t delete those emails until after you’re paid. Better still, have all the details down on a signed agreement form. “I usually break my payment up into three instalments – 30% advance, 30% after the iteration stage, and the remaining at the completion of the assignment. It ensures that my client doesn’t run away with my ideas. I also get my clients to sign a proposal which outlines my design process and payment details. Moreover, it feels really cool to have your own agreement forms.” – Ruchika Nambiar, Student Freelancer

FEATURED

A JO

OURNEY THROUGH LEH AND LADAKH

Ritwik Sauntra 21, Photographer â&#x20AC;&#x153;Get what you like before you are forced to like what you get.â&#x20AC;?

Born in Jammu, India. At present pursuing a design program at Srishti School of Art, Design and technology. Passionate about photography and has varied interests which reflect in his photographs.Loves to shoot interesting subjecs, from street to portraits and outdoors to studio. Apart from photography, he has experience in event documentation, filmmaking, copywriting, illustration and advertising.

ARTICLE

ADDING IT ALL UP Pandrang Row- Facilatator, Adman

Every generation of advertising guys thinks the next generation is all rubbish.This is axiomatic. However, advertising, like everything else is subject to Sturgeon’s Law, which declares, “90% of everything is crap.”I was sitting in front of my television yesterday, watching a Hindi program and here’s a list of the TV commercials I saw. And what I thought they showed about the future of Indian advertising. Samsung Champ Deluxe – predictable to the last microsecond. Boy lures a bunch of his ‘pals’ under an arch for a photograph and his real pals drench them and he takes a photograph. Wow! Totally original, a real creative idea. Sorry guys. Just sarcasm. It was not even a decent demo. Just an ordinary ho-hum snooze of a TV commercial. And if Samsung was bad, next came horrid. A commercial for a Limca Contest. And now comes the oh-so-verypredictable idea. The first resort of every hack copywriter in the country. Wow! I’ve nailed it boss! Let’s use a Celebrity (yes, with a capital ‘C’). Let’s use Kareena Kapoor! Let’s go boys and girls, I’ve always wanted to meet that hot broad. This was followed by Nerolac and . . . ta-daaah! Yet another brilliant idea! What are we going to do? Let’s use . . . hushed breath...drum roll...a...yes...let’s do it...use...a...celebrity. But just to change thingsa bit, let’s make it a hot guy instead of a hot broad. So...here comes...Shahrukh Khan. The next was a predictable, scare-‘em-silly and get sales advertisement. Saffola – Predictable and unlikely to convince anybody. The next showed a man riding a scooter and looking into his rear-view mirror and seeing a Scorpio, then another Mahindra SUV and yet another. Each time, he turns around to see nothing behind him. The ad was for Mahindra Scooters and suggested that Mahindra is behind all its products. Good stuff. Interesting, unlikely and intriguing. Gillette was the usual predictable P&G rubbish. Then came Aliva and . . . sorry boss, I’ve got an idea . . . not just a Celebrity! One celebrity in a Double Role (whooo!) and to make it really sexy let’s put her into her only really sexy role. Let me lay on you...the sexy, the talented, the amazing Vidya Balan! Oh boy! And if that wasn’t enough, we had Garnier Light Fairness Moisturizer starring Priyanka Chopra on an off-day. Evidently, the film’s director was overly impressed by her star power and didn’t tell her, “Priyanka darling, they’re paying you money, try to behave like you mean it – not as if you came in for two hours, faked the whole thing and ran away.”And another predictable and boring ad for Colgate Sensitive Pro-relief – man in a white coat, whom we are expected to believe is a doctor (way too perfect and way too pretty and way too fake). Okay, let me stop there. Yomil was an interesting advertisement in comparison to all that. Then we’re back to all those practical demonstrations of how

43 Indian advertising has basically latched on to Japanese ideas, which are, “Demonstration! Celebrity! Image!” and we have Choc On – with (Surprise! Surprise!) yet another celebrity, the fair and lovely but oh-so-very-bland Katrina Kaif. And yet another P&G classic for Head and Shoulders. Yes sir! A person in a white coat throwing off technicalsounding balderdash to convince you. But this time, just to make things different let’s make the doctor a pretty blonde. Now came the ancient American art-form; slice-oflife. It began with an advertisement for Badshah – very fake looking family, incredibly badly acted. There’s a nice word to describe that: obnoxious.Then, to my horror, came Castrol Activ – ditto. Okay, so what’s the point? The point is that nothing much has changed in the last thirty years. For every ten commercials, there will be one good one. (Sturgeon’s Law Rules!) And that’s going to be true of the future as well. Not that there aren’t any good commercials – the Ultrabook commercials, the Airtel commercials (some of them – the ones with the woodenfaced Teutonic drivers are pitiful enough to make you cry) are examples, but there are a plethora of truly pathetic commercials out there. As there always were and always will be.You may ask, what about other media? And my answer is, well, what about it? I don’t remember the last time I saw a decent press advertisement. Or a decent hoarding. Or a decent poster. Every copywriter and art director is concentrating on only one thing. TV commercials. Which is cool. That’s where fame (and a Cannes Award) lies. What about the future? I think the proliferation of media will continue. We will see more and more specialist channels and there will be a requirement for specialist agencies and specialist creative people. There will also be the need for longer commercials, because the cost of media on specialist channels will be lower.

Press is not going to be left behind, but I think agencies are going to have to get back to understanding and using press effectively. I also believe that good writing and good design are going to get more and more important – the net is fundamentally based on words and design. The moving picture actually has a very small role to play here – especially when it comes to advertising. Of course, the internet will play a bigger role, but I don’t think that will affect the quality (or lack of it) of commercials and advertising. In short, to quote the French, “Plus ça change, plus c’est la meme chose.” As a business, advertising will have to change the way it works from concentrating on media to concentrating on ideas. But that’s something all the truly great agencies have always done, so again, “Plus ça change, plus c’est la meme chose.”As the great Bill Bernbach said, “All of us who professionally use the mass media are the shapers of society. We can vulgarize that society. Wecan brutalize it. Or we can help lift it onto a higher level.” True yesterday. True today. True tomorrow.

YES BOSS

A run off the mill advertising client Brief: Jewellery Store “Client wants to show gifting!” “Yes boss!”

“Client wants to show a wedding!” “Yes boss!”

“And offcourse, client wants to show a lot of diamonds!” “Yes boss!”

“Client wants to show relationship between father and daughter.” “Yes boss!”

SNEAK PEAK

ABHISHEK CHAUDHARY Where: 4:Design, Delhi What: Illustrator Contact: linesmancreation.blogspot.com The basic intent of the project was to use Indian art and traditional styles for today’s youth. I tried making it youthful with the use of myriad colors. I personally believe that India is a nation embodied with glorious colors. (Bollywood posters, Mughal Miniatures, Indian Comic superheros etc). My attempt was to create a fusion of the traditional with touch of contemporary styles. I feel it’s unfair to blatantly following popular western comic book & Pop Art when India has such a rich cultural heritage and highly evolved art forms. My illustrations are a medium to bring out their personalities of the characters. My effort is to help the viewer understand the context and the era looking at each character. Also amuse the audience with the details of the character’s personality and emotions.

COMMAND +

A tale of two museums Not all art was created for the purpose of being contemplated upon.

Alison Brynes- Facilitator, Illustrator, Artist The Visvesvaraya Science and Industrial Museum is always abuzz. If judging from the number of visitors (and, in current modes of thinking about museums, number of visitors IS the rubric for success), it is the most successful museum in Bangalore. Not only are the visitors numerous, but they are also varied. One could not simply characterize them as “school children,” or “families,” or “roving packs of young men.” They are all of the above, and more, as well as encompassing a range of socio-economic circumstances. The average Bangalorean appears to be comfortable in the Visvesvaraya – not only the upper and upper-middle classes. Further, visitors are at ease in the space, and feel comfortable engaging in behaviors not always associated with museums – running, shouting, laughing.

Not far away is the relatively new, beautifully situated National Gallery of Modern Art. It is empty, or at least, close enough. The handful that is present shuffles about, hushed and sedate. Its buildings are lovely, its grounds serene, and its exhibits are professionally presented. Why is there such a huge difference in appeal? Temple tops, political hoardings, vegetable carts, pujas, footpath hawkers, chaotic-yet-orderly traffic, seas of brightly patterned salwar suits, flower markets, rangoli decorations, wrought-iron gates – these are the elements that make up the visual landscape of South Asia. It is an area of the world well known for its visual exuberance. Any given visual field just tends to have a lot of “stuff” in it. The “rules of good design,” however, were developed in places with very different visual landscapes (such as glassand-concrete structures covered in snow). Modernism promised to clear away all of the visual clutter and crusaded on a decidedly anti-ornament platform. And, Modernism is still the gold standard of international “good design.”

Education is a form of indoctrination. Design education, obtainable by an elite demographic, trains designers to adopt and favor the “clean,” minimal aesthetic of Modernism. And, elite visitors, accustomed to the visual aesthetic preferred by elite institutions appreciate a Modernist visual landscape. Most museums do things the way they do them because other museums do things that way. This is how most decisions in life are made – we simply don’t have time to test, or innovate, for every decision. Somewhere far away in the 20 th century, art museums came up with this concept of the “white cube” wherein art could be viewed in an atmosphere with minimal visual distractions so that the art itself could be contemplated upon (possibly to achieve a sort of transcendence).

Nevermind that most art has been created for ritual use or for a place where it can be lived with, such as in a home or institution, where it could never expect to have a wall and unobstructed view all to itself. Even in museums, in times past paintings were hung “salon style” with pieces displayed from floor to ceiling. Not all art was created for the purpose of being contemplated upon. Naturally, the people who espoused the ideal of the white cube were not ordinary members of the public, but elite thinkers in the arts.

Now all art museums seem to be stuck with this legacy of the minimalist, Modernist way of exhibiting art, though it may have no resonance with it audience. The bare, unornamented Modernist mode is in direct conflict with the visuality that characterizes South Asia. However, in order to be in a position to make decisions about museums, one is de facto a member of the elite who have been indoctrinated that Modernism is the superior mode for displaying art, creating an infinite feedback loop of museum professionals disconnected from their public.

The Visvesvaraya is characterized by its visually exuberant displays, which are colorful and busy. The NGMA uses the spare approach to its visuals typical of museums of its genre. Of course, the visual mode of the Visvesvaraya and NGMA is only one difference of many between the two. The former is also more interactive, and the subject matter and missions of the two diverge greatly. The architectural styles of the two institutions undoubtedly have a great bearing on their relative approachability as well. At the same time, there is a place for quiet, contemplative public spaces, so rambunctious behaviour is not the only indicator that a museum is successful. Cultural relevance is what’s at hand here. A museum, funded by the public as an offering to the public, has a fiduciary duty to serve the public, and “public” means as many different kinds of people as possible. One factor, of many variables that attract or repel a public, is the visual landscape proffered by a museum with respect to the cultural preferences of its public.

SNEAK PEAK

SVABHU KOHLI Where: Srishti College, Bangalore What: Illustrator, Film Maker Contact: http://svabhu.blogspot.in/ This is me, For now. I breathe food, See the world in exaggerated frames and love to bag pack to new places.

SNEAK PEAK

ASAVARI KUMAR Where: California College of the Arts What: Illustrator, Animator Contact: http://cargocollective.com/sugarcoated An animation film maker, chronic day dreamer and a lover of strange things.She loves creating characters and she sees them as an extension of herself.

COMMAND +

VINTAGE OBSESSION SMRITHI RAO

“Dressing for me is neither an art nor is it a skill. It is a sense and an expression, albeit an expensive one. ” Living in a different era has always fascinated me – call it the golden age fallacy or term it nostalgia. So it was only normal that this extended to my style as well. Dressing for me is neither an art nor is it a skill. It is a sense and an expression, albeit an expensive one. This fueled my love affair for vintage. Enter college and almost every one of us can agree we go through a clothing crisis. It’s synonymous with limited cash influx. This, however, does not limit our expansive ideas of who we want to be and the personality we want to portray. Standing out as an individual was the sole emphasis. I turned to vintage clothing for support as it is mostly one of its kind. Vintage clothing in India is mostly defined as hand-medowns; it is inexpensive and this was my only attraction back then. Not all of them were in mint condition. This called for some improvisation, as beggar-chic was not my favorite kind of chicness. Daunting as it was, it taught me a whole lot about styling. Bringing out character in an outfit was part of it. Styling vintage clothing is therapeutic. It is as if modernism has met the glorious past. Stories from different eras can be weaved. You can channel a different tale every time. Every

time I stumble upon a keeper, it is followed by a mandatory swooning session. It is as if the outfit is shrouded in mystery. The 90’s happens to be my favorite fashion period. The padded shoulders which are now called power shoulders. Crazy colors juxtaposed with geometric prints. High waist jeans, that taper around the ankles. Round framed glasses. Balloon skirts, cropped tops. Jeans, overalls, printed and plaid trousers. Big roomy pockets placed haphazardly. Suspenders and brogues when it comes to accessories. These are some of my favorite styles from the era. The trick while styling vintage clothing is not to overdo it. The idea is to embrace the era and not make it look like we are stuck in one. Wear one piece of vintage, mix it with some contemporary pieces and you’re good to make a statement. Local flea markets are the best places to find one. Though wearing seconds or hand-me-downs need not be the alpha and omega when it comes to wearing vintage. If you love vintage but for the love of them don’t know where to buy or go looking for it, then the easy way out would be to incorporate cuts, styles and looks from the past and your trusted local tailor will be your best bet.

TALK BOX

STUDIO EKSAAT SAMIRA GUPTA & DHRITIMAN DEB PILLAI GRAPHICS AND ENVIRONMENT STUDIO

THIS IS HOW WE GET OUR IDEAS. AND THAT’S WHY WE KEEP OUR HAIR SHORT! What brought about the idea of Studio Eksaat? We both are from different fields - interiors and graphics. The problem in the design sector according to the both of us is that there are very few designs that add and integrate value and functionality. I personally feel that a lot of design is forced onto the client even if its not needed. Ethically and morally this was a huge problem the both us faced. So we decided to start our own studio which was in line with our ideas and thoughts.

What are your biggest learnings in terms of managing a self run studio? The managerial part of running a studio is not something which creative people are good at. We are a two member team and we look after everything from the design to the finances and accounts. Managing all of these side by side is the biggest challenge which we are still working on. I personally feel that no one can reach ‘perfection’, but we tend to manage fine.

So what are your work principles? We don’t believe in making money on grand ideas, especially if the work can be done in half the budget. If it’s not needed, we don’t do it. There is no point of wasting our time and the clients money. It’s almost like we bring the team to you for what you need and not what we think you need.

Do you plan to expand in the future? In terms of space, we are very happy with our little studio. It gives us the positive energy we need. But in terms of working with people, we already collaborate with people on the basis of projects. And maybe as a 5 year plan we might want to give expanding a thought.

What brought about the name? There are two ways of looking at it. One is our studio address is 17, which is ek saat in hindi. And the second is because we work in collaboration with each other.

Your first experience with a client. It was not very different from working through a studio. We both handled separate departments in our previous studios. But yes, the difference is in terms of the decision making

Branding for Kitty Su, The Lalit, New Delhi

and choices. You can decide how to deal with the client and where you draw the line. You can lay your cards out on the table and have a one on one interaction. The final call is taken by us, and not the boss. The hierarchy gets cut off and you’re in direct contact with the client. In short, you’re the boss! As a college student where did you see yourself in the future? I was freelancing all throughout I was in college. And even then I faced the same issues with my clients and with the ideologies of the design professionals. I always knew I wanted to run my own business and have a place of my own. Why make things quirky? Do you feel your work reflects the both of you in it? Pretty much yes. We all want to own beautiful things. So why not make them functional and quirky at the same time. What sets you apart from other upcoming or existing studios? I feel that the indian market is selling a western concept of India to us. And it’s everywhere! A lot of times we need things that somebody would make looking at our culture and country in mind. What works for the West necessarily doesn’t work for our country. We figured that most of the beautiful products in the market are not very functional and too expensive. And the other was the functional products that aren’t very appealing. So we try to bridge this gap and make cost effective, useful and good looking products that you would like to own. Tell us some more about things! Useful, fun , quirky , functional and most importantly easy on the pocket. So who is the boss among the two of you? We divide the work quite equally, and we our own little system figured out. I’m slightly better at something and he’s better at the rest. Any new upcoming projects? Or something you’re really looking forward to work on. We’ve been thinking of coming up with The Upcycling Project. It’s something the both of us are really interested in. More people should start reusing things that we already own instead of mindlessly buying new ones. One quote I read somewhere really made me think about the way we use the things we own. It says- “If people grow their own food, make their own furnitures and get their own water; they would think twice before throwing the things they own”. Our project will require people to send their old stuff to us and we revamp it and give it back to you at an affordable cost. It almost amounts to one-tenth of how much you would spend on buying a new piece of furniture.

COMMAND +

SPIRIT

OF INK

NUPUR PANEMANGALOR

“These picturesque tattooed women, along with their piercings and traditional attire, are what sparked my interest in this particular traditional tattoo culture.”

When Marco Polo journeyed to India in the mid 1200â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, he recorded having observed various plant and animal motifs dotted on the skin of the native Indian women. These traditional tattoos, having spanned over many centuries, can be found even today in urbanized areas, usually on migrants from semi-urban and rural areas. But the largest indigenous tattoo cultures exist in the tribal communities that occupy regions such as Kutch, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Nagaland and Mizoram etc. Known by different names in different parts of India; these markings also usually differ in terms of the imagery, arrangement and semiotics from one region to another. However, there exists a common underlying theme of religious, cultural and environmental values in these various tattoo cultures. One particularly striking tattoo culture of India can be seen in the Kutch district of Northwest Gujarat. Kutch is essentially a dry desert region, which extends into the vast salt marsh of the Rann of Kutch that meets the Arabian Sea in the West. The pastoral Rabari community makes up a large part of the Kutchi population. The women of this nomadic tribe have vast

tattoos all over their bodies, starting from their face and neck to their arms, hands, legs and feet.These tattoos, known locally as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;trajuvaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, are normally comprised of a number of small, symbolic motifs that are arranged in rows to create larger body markings. These picturesque tattooed women, along with their piercings and traditional attire, are what sparked my interest in this particular traditional tattoo culture. As I went deeper into the project, I found that there is minimal information about the Rabari tattoos on the Internet and in public libraries; the only real existing research can be found in obscure government texts and restricted university papers. I found this both alarming as well as exciting, realizing that here in front of me lay an opportunity to explore, study and document a primitive art practice that will inevitably fade away into the urban phenomenon. Through my project, I aim to illuminate and document this beautiful art form through a series of portraits of Rabari women I encountered during my visit to Kutch, along with a small visual book containing a compilation of my research,

ARTICLE

COMIC CON EXPRESS

There were people milling around and the smell of new comic books combined with the sweat and excited confusion of a couple hundred Bangaloreans assailed one’s nostrils. A closer look revealed some feeble attempts at trying to dress like a character with some interesting homemade statement pieces. Comic Con Bangalore was an event that impressed a lot of the city dwellers with most people’s statuses reading something along the lines of ‘Comic Con Bangalore was EPIC’. The stalls were all decked up with vibrant visuals just fighting for your attention and at first glance there seemed to be a plethora of styles. Closer inspection revealed an interesting smattering of comics, but that was again balanced with pieces that weren’t very strong. Some classic illustrators were placed alongside extremely overdone stereotypes and music posters. The order of the stalls was a little random but that could have easily been the whole intention. From the times of Jataka Tales and Amar Chitra Katha, mythology has always been an intrinsically Indian muse, which seems to have spilled over into graphic novels too. While some people scrunched up their nose at this, the couple of comics on display that had such influences didn’t seem so bad. The main Comic Con stall had very clichéd contemporary Indian illustrated products that seemed to be selling like hotcakes. The only extremely memorable character, which happened to become the unofficial mascot with his face comically stamped on all the entry bands, was Wolver-Anna.

The intent of Comic Con India is highly debatable because while it is great that India has jumped on the Comic Con bandwagon and created a forum for the true scattered fans of these niche interests to interact, the question of cashing in on the general publicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s need to belong to a hip subculture also arises. The idea of the event not having an entry fee was an interesting move because it opened up its doors to people from all walks of life, which resulted in an intriguing mixed lot. It was interesting to see Bangaloreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interpretation of an event that up until recently, we had all only heard mentioned with avid enthusiasm on The Big Bang Theory. After an initial look at the stalls, the energy of the entire event starts to grow on you, unless you are met with a sight that is as strange as the one I encountered. Walking towards me, waving, happened to be two characters that I would never have associated with an event like Comic Con. We 90â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kids love to hate on one of them while the other has been recently ripped apart in popular memes. Ladies and gentlemen, presenting - Dora the Explorer and Ninja-trust me only the first part of the name oozes cool-Hattori. Enough said? Enough said.