Living City: Exploring communication design-led intervention for change

DIPLOMA PROJECT Living City: Exploring communication design-led intervention for change Sponsor: Codesign Brand Consultants, Gurgaon

STUDENT : FAZAL THANVEER V DISCIPLINE : Graphic Design PROGRAMME : Graduate Diploma Programme in Design

GUIDE : IMMANUEL SURESH

2014 COMMUNICATION DESIGN FACULTY National Institute of Design Ahmedabad

VISUAL COMMUNICATION (GRAPHIC DESIGN)

Diploma of the National Institute of Design

Registrar(Academics)

*Subsequent remarks regarding fulfilling the requirements :

Members :

Chairman

on fulfilling the further requirements by

*

herewith, for the project titled "THE LIVING CITY: Exploring communication design-led intervention for change"

The Evaluation Jury recommends FAZAL THANVEER V for the

ORIGINALITY STATEMENT I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and it contains no full or substantial copy of previously published material, or it does not even contain substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma of any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in this diploma project. Moreover I also declare that none of the concepts are borrowed or copied without due acknowledgment. I further declare that the intellectual content of this Diploma Project is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project’s design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged. This diploma project (or part of it) was not and will not be submitted as assessed work in any other academic course.

Student Name in Full: Signature: Date:

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT I hereby grant the National Institute of Design the right to archive and to make available my diploma project/ thesis/ dissertation in whole or in part in the Institute’s Knowledge Management Centre in all forms of media, now or hereafter known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act. I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material in my document or I have obtained permission to use copyright material.

Student Name in Full: Signature: Date:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Thanks to the team at Codesign for all the guidance, support, contributions and the belief in me.

Thanks to Mr. Suresh Immanuel, my project guide, and the graphic design faculty and staff at the National Institute of Design for course-correction and preparing me to face up to the challenges that come my way.

Thanks to friends and batch-mates at NID Thanks and respect to the staff at NID academic office for their assistance and support all along.

Thanks to the members of the extended family for all the love.

ABOUT NID

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On April 7, 1958, the Eamese's presented the India Report to the Government of India. The Eames Report defined the underlying spirit that would lead to the founding of NID and beginning of design education in India. The Report recommended a problemsolving design consciousness that linked learning with actual experience and suggested that the designer could be a bridge between tradition and modernity. The Report called upon future designers to re-examine the alternatives of growth available to the country at that time.

The mandate for NID is to offer world-class design education and to promote design awareness and application towards raising the quality of life by and through. Education to create design professionals of excellence to help meet India's diverse design needs. To train design trainers for other design and designrelated institutions and positions in the 21st century as global leaders in Design Education and Research by recognizing the changes in economic and business environment nationally and globally. Providing design inputs from the point of view of using design as an integrating force in varied areas like science, technology, management etc. to raise quality of life through well designed products, services, processes, systems, etc. To provide design intervention for craft, handloom, rural technology, small, medium and large scale enterprises, and outreach programmes for capability and institution building and sustainable livelihood, employment opportunities and economic growth.

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CONTENTS

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SECTION 1: SYNOPSIS (Page 1–12) • About Codesign • About Rising • Why Do Rising • Project Process In Brief • Timeline SECTION 2: THE BRIEF (Page 13–22) • Initial Brief • Redefining Rising: Research & Discussions • Case Studies • Gurgaon Context SECTION 3: RISING IDEAS (Page 23–42) • Missing Poster Series • Proposing Ideas • Unsung Heroines • Manifesto For An Ideal Citizen SECTION 4: PROCESS (Page 43–126) • The City Illustration • Content • Format And Size • Developing Skill Set • Research For Drawing • Drawing • Treatment • Textual Content • Final Illustration Section 5: REFLECTION (Page127-130) • In Retrospect Section 6: BIBLIOGRAPHY (Page131-134) • Resources • Colophon

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SYNOPSIS

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ABOUT CODESIGN

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Codesign is a brand identity and communication design practice, based in Gurgaon, India. With a decade of work with Indian and international brands, organizations across sectors, Codesign brings equal parts of experience and imaginativeness, to create meaningful brand and communication design.

As a creative collective, Codesign also initiates independent projects, exploring the role of design and its unfolding transformation in India. The independent body of work contributes to keener insights into both the process and practice of design. Codesign and its people have been featured extensively in Indian and international media, for their work, awards and lectures.

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ABOUT RISING Rising began as a reaction to the world around us and issues that affect us, through the lens of Codesign’s core competency as visual communication designers.

While a large percentage of projects were being commissioned by for-profit clients, the occasional project in the development sector, gave room to think about leveraging the same skills of communicating and change-making to address social issues.

Rising exhibition at Unbox 2012 in New Delhi

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Few posters by the 'Great Indian Clearance Sale'.

In the second edition of the multidisciplinary festival UnBox in 2012, co-founded by Codesign, the studio curated a thought provoking series of lectures by creative and media professionals who were using their skills to address issues and initiate change. The speakers included Sonali Khan (Breakthrough), Stalin (Video Volunteers) and Richard van der Laken & Pepijn Zurburg (The Daily Gorilla). Each of these speakers, through their work, had demonstrated the power of communication design as a catalyst for change. In parallel Codesign curated a public exhibition of powerful work from Break-through, The Daily Gorilla and The Great Indian Clearance Sale. Open to the public, the exhibition triggered several conversations and a great deal of optimism in the ability of the designer to influence and affect change. In the following year, the second edition of the exhibition showcased a disturbing photo-journalistic account of the 1884 Sikh riots, presented by activistlawyer HS Phoolka—in an attempt to keep alive the delayed process of justice.

Somewhere, between these two years, there was also an internal short-lived attempt within the studio to create powerful

A poster by 'The Daily Gorilla'.

visual commentary on local news through a dedicated Facebook page.

After a hiatus of about six months, the studio sat down again to look at the learnings from the past Rising efforts, to understand the best possible manner in which the urge to do something could be channelized. One key outcome of this, was the decision to not formulate a particular format of execution or address a laundry list of issues. The studio decided to scale back the vision, to a more personal and immediate environment, and addressing issues that affected them as individuals. This decision made the intent more localized, but also brought it closer to personal experience, the idea being— let’s start by making a difference, here and now—with the hope that this could serve as inspiration and proof-of-concept that as a small group of individuals you can make a difference. The other outcome, was the decision to not run Rising as a side project, but a dedicated effort with dedicated designers, time and resources. Two projects, including Living City, are the first two initiatives to both understand and prove the efficacy of the model. In the future, subject to support and funding, these two projects will serve as a launch pad for larger dialogue and platform around design-led activism.

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WHY RISING ?

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Rising pamphlets distributed through the channel of newspapers in Guragon on 15 August 2013.

When I had interned at Codesign, I was told about the studio’s plan to build on Rising, my understanding was that under Rising, studio did posters, very graphic in style, on current social and political issues.

I finishing my last classroom project when I got a call from the studio regarding the opportunity to work on Rising. I hadn’t really started looking for diploma projects then. I knew Codesign was a great place to work and learn. Being a self initiated project of the studio, without a ‘client’, I knew it would be a rare opportunity to work on a project of this scale, with the infrastructure and resources the studio could provide. While many final year students opted for diploma projects in IT companies, I thought this opportunity belonged to a different domain which required a varied range of interests and skills. I could

work with a team of visual designers and content creators, starting from a very elemental idea, on subjects which are normally not dealt with, in design studios.

The essence of Rising, being to explore how designers could contribute to a better society, using the powers a team of designers held, interested me. In my one year stay at the engineering college at Trivandrum, I had seen active student involvement in the political affairs of the state, even though manipulated to suit the interests of political parties, they unified the students. NID was an isolated environment in that sense. I was interested in knowing what would be the kind of engagement with people that the project would offer.

We all want to make the world a better place.

To create a different, better future, we need to have a vision of the future, some idea of what need to change, what needs to be created.

We’d all have to have our own versions of futures.

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PROJECT PROCESS IN BRIEF Reuben and I started our diploma project under the same umbrella of Rising. We began our research on case studies where projects had similar intent to that of Rising.

We studied and categorized the case studies in terms of their scale, nature of involvement with the audience, the medium etc. Then we focused on case studies in which graphic design was the main tool being used. After long hours of browsing and reading, we documented about 100 case studies and populated them on the soft board for comments and discussions with other people in the studio.

From the earlier brief, case studies and discussions within the studio team and interviewing people who took social initiatives in Gurgaon, several constrains were identified on what we could do as graphic designers under Rising. Few things we thought we should be keeping in mind were: Rising is not by social activists who devote a lifetime for social work, its not an NGO with international funding, its not the government to provide better governance which would solve most of the problems. It’s not a political party with strong ideals, neither its a subversive graffiti group. Rising initiatives should address issues which are close to

our living context and affect us directly.

It should trigger some positive action from the audience. The initiatives should be achievable within the resources and infrastructure of the studio.

We began brainstorming for ideas keeping in mind the different constrains we had set up like the nature of communication, encouragement for action from the audience, originality, local nature, possibility of feedback mechanism, skill set of the studio, finances, neutrality in terms of political view etc. After writing, sketching down many ideas, trashing many of them, we listed down a few ideas we thought fulfilled the criterion. Then we refined those ideas and crossed out a few more of them and eventually focused on two of them. The idea which Reuben decided to work on was about encouraging small sustainable actions within a home and family setting and mine was about the issue of women being not given the respect they deserve in their everyday lives, their achievements going unnoticed even in their immediate surroundings like their family or local communities,

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addressing this issue through stories of unsung women heroes, real life inspiring stories which would encourage people to see women with more respect.

Eventually the idea of unsung women heroes stories was dropped owing to the nature of collecting stories.

Taking inspiration from the ideal boy school posters, the brief changed to present a manifesto for the 'ideal' citizen of today. To address the different issues and behavior relevant in different scenarios, the project would look at different situations that citizens encounter in everyday life, e.g. at the workplace, at home, on the road etc.

Once the final brief was ready, I set out to detail out scenarios and concepts to be communicated, exploring different formats for story telling and exploring visual styles appropriate for the format.

After exploring different formats, a publication with a long illustration, accordion folded, navigating through a city landscape with text describing various points was finalized. Drawing the right perspective for the illustration took time and various treatment styles were also explored. Different locations in the city were photographed for reference.

Once the final composition was ready, I started detailing it out. The work on text to be integrated along with the points illustrated was also happening side by side.

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TIMELINE Rising spanned over the course of nine months

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

• Understanding Rising • Case Studies • Context Research

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

Building ideas + Missing Poster Series

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JANUARY

FEBRUARY

• Guide visit • Unsung Heroes • Format explorations inspired from Ideal Boy posters

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MARCH

APRIL

MAY

• Compositions ( Exploring Layouts) + Practicing sketching/ Perspective / Figure Drawing • Image Research + Illustration treatment explorations

JUNE

JULY

• Guide visit • Final Detailed Illustration

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AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

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THE BRIEF

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INITIAL BRIEF Apathy, despite access to information, troubles us. The truth is, that information means nothing, if it does not move you.

Rising is an effort to make you sit up and take a long hard look at the world around you.

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If you look hard enough, chances are that you will ask the right questions and we will find some answers.

Rising explores the power of visual communication to create awareness and encourage positive action. Through its various initiatives, Rising will address different social, environmental and cultural issues and ways to address them, through content and its design.

Rising is created and supported by Codesign.

CONCERNS

POSSIBLE OUTCOMES

• Statistics and data are not compelling in isolation. Until we have a sense of how they affect our immediate lives, they are of little importance.

• People do not understand how several issues/problems in environment, society, economy are connected.

• Many awareness initiatives are a comment on how bad things are. But they do not tell you how you can make it better.

• Small Book(s) / Foldout posters • Small website (web-based resource + with downloadable content) POSSIBLE DISTRIBUTION NETWORK • Schools • Non-profit organizations which work with kids, like Jodo Gyan etc • Cultural & Educational Foundations (like iDiscoveri, British Council Library) • Codesign online store

WHAT CAN WE DO? SCOPE OF WORK We can build impactful representation of issues by: 1. Illustrating how they impact our lives 2. Illustrate the entirety of the problem and relationship bet 3. Articulating simple ways in which an individual can help

• Conceptualizing the project outcomes • Content Creation • Content & Information Design

TARGET GROUP Children were chosen as the target group •Because they will inherit this earth •Because they are open to change •Because they can influence behavior within their family and peer group Teachers & Parents: who can use it as an educational tool for children

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REDEFINING RISING: RESEARCH & DISCUSSIONS As a part of Rising, the studio had started a website showcasing well crafted graphic posters on current socio– political issues, published periodically. After a point of time, a realization happened that beyond somebody seeing the poster, getting the message and appreciating the visual design and quirks, very rarely it initiates any kind of action from the audience

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The context of issues addressed in the posters where very disconnected from the immediate surroundings of the audience. After taking lessons from previous Rising efforts , the studio decided to not formulate a particular format of execution or address a laundry list of issues. The studio decided to scale back the vision, to a more personal and immediate environment.

From the discussions on case studies and brainstorming ideas, we assigned some characters to Rising. The involvement of Rising with the audience has to be more action provoking rather than awareness

building. Rising focuses on issues which are local, addressing concerns we face almost everyday. Rising is not a project of enormous scale, but small things which provoke positive action. Rising is not a charity to give people money or employment for poverty alleviation.

Rising is not a government authority to train people for employment or mass produce cheap water purifying device. The main tool for Rising initiatives is the skill set of the people in the studio as visual communicators. It has the resources and infrastructure of the studio. It is a completely studio owned initiative.

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CASE STUDIES The idea that the project would have children as the sole target audience was discontinued from the beginning, as it would limit the chance of presenting a wider perspective of issues and design interventions. It was interesting to see different design solutions emerge in different parts of the world with changing cultures and lifestyles. Design projects from around the globe were documented.

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Issues such as environmental sustainability, global warming, women rights, minority rights, xenophobia, poverty, education and city/ street redesigning etc. were addressed in multiple case studies. Some projects were of large scale carried out by big organizations like the UN and NGO’s such as Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In India, under the Corporate Social Responsibility law, many projects have been carried out in which designers have played a major role. Many projects involved children—the citizens of tomorrow. Many were aimed at nurturing co-operation and friendship amongst people through design. Many intended to nurture creativity in people. Many used design as a tool for expression of shared feelings, thus bringing communities together.

Many were intended at making people figure out their own solutions for issues, many were platforms for design thinking and solutions emerging out of that.

We cataloged a large display of the case studies on our soft board by the end of the research.

While researching case studies we looked for: • The role of communication design in the project.

• How (geographically) local is the project.

• Innovation, creativity in the design solution.

•Translatability/ Worthy of taking lessons from, to use in our context.

• The nature of interaction with the audience.

• The deliverables of the project and the impact.

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GURGAON CONTEXT Gurgaon was temporarily our home. We were to learn about the city traversing through it in the coldest and the hottest climates. We collected information from newspapers, magazines and the internet, looking for slots for design intervention. Gurgaon is a nascent city and has a booming economy, highest in its league of cities in the urban India. It places Haryana in the map as one of states with the highest per capita income.

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Most of the concrete buildings and apartments present in Gurgaon were not there 20 years ago. It developed as a satellite city to Delhi, the national capital, which is just 30 km away. Real estate giants such as DLF built this city, and multinational companies such as General Electric started their service businesses such as call centers here. Other business giants followed suit, creating a booming economy. Now Gurgaon has offices for almost half of the listed Fortune 500 companies. As the cash flowed in, job seekers also followed and the population grew exponentially. Private construction companies built huge residential complexes and market places for the rich that were employed. People moved to Gurgaon from Delhi because of huge sums of rent they have to pay in Delhi.

Large-scale construction demanded inflow of migrant labourers from neighboring states, and the number of slums increased.

The city’s government couldn’t keep up with the pace of development in the private sector. Public infrastructure is increasingly inadequate. There is not enough water supply, shortage of power is a big problem, limited public transport facilities, increasing law and order problems, increasing number of crimes against women and minorities, and immigrant problems—all of these issues have become manifold along with the economic growth. There is exploitation of blue collar workers. Automotive giants such as Maruti Udyog Limited and Toyota

are accused of ruthlessly exploiting daily wage laborers who work in their factories.

New kinds of employments emerged, such as private security agencies and services which cater to the rich apartment dwellers. People, rich and poor, are migrating from all over India, to Gurgaon looking for good prospects.

Gurgaon now is a mixture of cultures.

For example, there are native Haryanvis, business owning Punjabis, rickshaw pulling immigrants, Biharis—the mazdoors and south Indians working in IT companies, or as nurses etc. Forests and agriculture land now are high-rise building complexes, and water levels have been depleted to a frightening figure. It is expected that by 2020 Gurgaon will face an acute water shortage. There are so many issues to be fixed in Gurgaon, many specific to the city. Most of these require policy interventions from the government, a system notorious for its corrupt practices and inefficiency in implementing projects.

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We identified and researched on the works of different bodies working in the context of Gurgaon such as IRRAD (Institute of Rural Research and Development) and the Seghal foundation, and citizen initiatives such as ‘I am Gurgaon’. With only information from second hand experiences and newspaper articles which talk about sensationalist matters, spotting a specific issue and forming a feasible intervention became too difficult.

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RISING IDEAS

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MISSING POSTER SERIES The missing poster series is a side project or a warm up exercise to the main project we worked on. These are a series of posters inspired from ‘missing person posters’ which are seen quite often in public spaces. It’s a quirky, humorous take on the absence of public amenities such as waste bins, street lights and side walks.

The idea is to stick these posters in places where public amenities should be provided. We worked on the design of a fixed format for the posters, keeping in mind that it should be cheap and easily reproducible or photocopied. We designed logos in Latin and Devanagari for the ‘Missing’ logo, based on the ‘Rising’ logo which was designed by the studio earlier.

The inspiration for the poster series was the development of an idea/ object/ thing, which would be universally understood, for e.g. the iconic yellow Smiley. The poster was to force action from the audience.

If it became only a humorous comment about the lack of amenities, there is no

scope for action, facilitated by the poster.

We thought of many systems for which an audience would be able to respond to or initiate action, based on the poster.

We thought of creating a website or a Facebook account where people can put pictures of places where public amenities are missing, suggest solutions for a better civic environment etc., thus creating a platform for discussion on matters of civic responsibility. However, the chances were that it would go unnoticed as the studio is not going to the municipal corporation asking for redressal of people’s grievances nor does the studio have enough time for keeping track of a potential heavily

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active online platform. Also, anonymity in such endeavors are recommended—the activity being pasting/ hanging leaflets on public property. We decided to put the toll free phone number and grievances website address of the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) and the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), who are the actual bodies who are responsible for all such amenities.

Different layouts and tone of language were explored and as a first step, missing posters for dustbin and street lights were finalized. The idea has subversive undertones like that of street graffiti but it provides a viable straight forward redressal mechanism.

During this time was the Banksy’s New York stint happening. His works, commenting against evils of capitalist greed, consumerism and exploitation are inspiring and a call for anyone to take charge of their streets and create art rather than being a slave for big advertisers and the big money who attack your emotional and physical landscape.

Quoting Banksy: “People are taking the piss out of you everyday.

They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you're not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you. You, however, are forbidden to touch them.

Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity. Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It's yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head. You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don't owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don't even start asking for theirs”

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POSTER EXPLORATION FOR FEW TOPICS COVERED DURING THE PHASE

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PROPOSING IDEAS While proposing ideas for the project, we were also understanding and defining the nature of Rising, and evolving terms that could describe it. Of the many ideas proposed, a lot were checked off as they did not fit in the criterion we set.

IN GENERAL, THE CRITERION WERE: 1. Local Context: The context has to be local as the Rising is about bringing positive change in the immediate surroundings.

2. Action oriented: It should initiate some kind of positive action in the community 3. Simplicity: It should be something very simple for the audience to comprehend and get inspired.

ALL THE IDEAS WERE PUT UNDER THE MICROSCOPE TO SEE HOW THEY RELATED TO ASPECTS SUCH AS: 1. Issue/ Domain: What is the larger problem bucket?

2. Target problem: What is the specific cause of the issue that we want to address?

3. Opportunity: What is the intervention point?

4. Solution: How do we help?

5. Medium: What tangible form can the solution?

6. AUDIENCE: Who will this be for/ used by?

7. Desired Action: What do we expect the audience to do in response? Immediate and long term.

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These aided in articulating each idea more clearly, filtering out the unfeasible and refining the feasible.

It was made more clear to me the need of articulation in very simple terms, leaving the communication unknotted. There was a time when the dilemma of whether design can change the world or not persisted in my mind. By going through the ideas, I was reassured that it is the

small changes that contribute to a bigger change. Everything counts. Design and art has the ability to create beautiful mindscapes.

When you are not given a specific issue, you have to find your own problem areas and solutions and validate them with your own criterion.

While defining criteria for Rising, many ideas were automatically filtered out through the thought process itself.

SOME OF THE IDEAS THAT WERE WRITTEN DOWN AND DISCUSSED ARE AS FOLLOWS: 1. Bringing to light unsung female heroes, through their stories of bravery, wit and wisdom. The stories should be such that they may make people change their views by treating everyday women with more respect.

2. Booklets/ pamphlets for kids, enabling them to ask their parents to plan visits to places of environmental importance to learn about issues of ecological sustainability.

Issue/Domain: Women rights and respect for women Target Problem: Ordinary women are still perceived as less capable, being female is a social handicap.

Achievements of women in day to day lives are not appreciated or given due respect, they are taken for granted.

Design Opportunity: Celebrate stories of women who have made positive change in everyday lives.

Solution: Collect and narrate stories with different women characters in different con-texts that have overcome problems through their intelligence and sense of self-worth.

Medium: Comic book/ Graphic novel Audience: 18+, Hindi speaking, live in chawls/ housing colonies

Issue/Domain: Education, environmental sustainability Target Problem: Most children who live in cities don’t get the opportunity to learn about ecological sustainability in their school atmosphere. If we are able to nurture a sensitive attitude towards ecological sustainability and nature, the coming generations could live a more healthy life.

Design Opportunity: Inform kids about interesting and educative field trips Solution: Collect data about nearby places, forests, lakes, ecologically rich/ relevant areas and inspire them to visit and know about them. Also, to help them ask their parents to visit theses places.

Medium: Pamphlets/ Booklets Audience: 6-8 year olds.

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THE EXCEL SHEET LISTING ALL THE IDEAS WHICH WERE SHORTLISTED From among these and few more other shortlisted ideas, Reuben and I, chose two different ideas to work on. I started working on stories about ‘Unsung Heroines‘ and Reuben started to work on ‘12 Small Steps‘.

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UNSUNG HEROINES I have met many women who have commanded a deep respect on my part. The idea behind compiling stories about unsung women heroes was inspired by the extreme contrast between how women are treated everyday and the sensationalized, narrow depiction of women in the media. The common woman uses her strengths in everyday situations. While there are always instances of exceptional stories of bravery and courage, it is also the lack of acknowledging women’s day-to-day achievements that leads to lack of respect.

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I thought of looking at stories of real people and also developing stories of semi-fictitious characters inspired from real stories and incidents. I began to search for interesting stories about unsung women heroes by talking to friends and people from the studio.

Discovering, creating and filtering compelling stories about the subject, was more difficult than I had imagined.

I was trying, in multiple ways, to find an interesting ‘thread’ for a story. I listed names of experts in the field, gathered information about them, explored the web, read stories from websites like the ‘indianmemoryproject.com’, tried to find quotes about women by authors on, researching, asking people about qualities unique to women and asked feminists groups and the like about such stories.

However, even I was not quite sure about the kind of stories I was looking for. I thought that once I come across the one right story, I would be able to figure out the rest. I also tried working on multiple issues that women face in religion, polygamy, divorce, discrimination, inheritance laws adverse to women, woman reservation bill and female foeticide. Combining different concepts did not lead to a compelling story. Again I tried to filter the different ways disrespect

for women manifest in the society such as eve teasing, violence against women etc. I read all the articles tagged women in Devdutta Patnaik’s blog, which though a great read, did not help me significantly towards finding the kind of story I wanted.

Owing to those difficulties in finding suitable stories, this idea was dropped, I start working on a new brief.

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CASE STUDIES ON UNSUNG HEROES 1. Women are Heroes –The Rio photographers project In order to pay tribute to those who play an essential role in society but who are the primary victims of war, crime, rape and political or religious fanaticism, JR (the photographer)pasted huge photos of the faces and eyes of local women all over the outside of the favela, suddenly giving a female gaze to both the hill and the favela.

“It’s a project made of bric-a-brac, like the favela itself. We had to adapt to this world where the roofs of houses are made of plastic and children’s revolvers are made of steel. We managed to get by in spite of the steep streets, the unsteady houses, the unpredictable electric cables and the exchanges of gunshots where the bullets sometimes go through several houses at once”, says JR.

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2. Vagina monologues “Based on author Eve Ensler’s ‘Vagina Interviews’ conducted with women from all around the world, this hilariously witty and moving collection of tales give voice to a chorus of lusty, outrageous, poignant, brave and thoroughly human stories”.

3. It take ovaries project Having ovaries: unabashed, gutsy, feisty, playful, challenging, full of chutzpah, mettle-some, naughty, victorious, straight from the hip, full-flavored, outrageous, righteous, loving, inspiring, bold as brass, self-assured, self-confident, selfpossessed, daring, heroic, wild, wanton, crazy, optimistic, unflappable, pushy, unstoppable, impressive, rebellious, kickass, carefree, having moxie, having heart, having no fear “That takes balls” are words of praise usually reserved for a man who has done something tough, fearless, and maybe a little crazy—someone who pushes the boundaries or breaks a few rules. But when it comes to hotheaded courage, impassioned activism, quirky wisdom, or bold confrontation, women have got what it takes—and then some! That Takes Ovaries! is a lively, fun, and often touching celebration of women and girls doing their thing their way.

4. The Girl effect “The girl effect is a movement. It's about leveraging the unique potential of adolescent girls to end poverty for themselves, their families, their communities, their countries and the world.

It's about making girls visible and changing their social and economic dynamics by providing them with specific, powerful and relevant resources.

Created by the Nike Foundation in collaboration with the NoVo Foundation, United Nations Foundation and Coalition for Adolescent Girls, the girl effect is fueled by hundreds of thousands of girl champions who recognize the untapped potential of adolescent girls living in poverty.”

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CASE STUDIES ON UNSUNG HEROES 5. Devdutta Patnaik’s Sita's Ramayana This book approaches Ram by speculating on Sita: her childhood with her father, Janaka, who hosted sages mentioned in the Upanishads; her stay in the forest with her husband, who had to be a celibate ascetic while she was in the prime of her youth; her interactions with the women of Lanka, recipes she exchanged, emotions they shared; her connection with the earth, her mother, and with the trees, her sisters; her role as the Goddess, the untamed Kali as well as the demure Gauri, in transforming the stoic prince of Ayodhya into God.

2. Vagina monologues “Based on author Eve Ensler’s ‘Vagina Interviews’ conducted with women from all around the world, this hilariously witty and moving collection of tales give voice to a chorus of lusty, outrageous, poignant, brave and thoroughly human stories”.

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6. Symbolia magazine Symbolia is a digital magazine where authors do journalism through comics in themed issues. In an issue Symbolia features five first-person narratives from women around the world.

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MANIFESTO FOR AN IDEAL CITIZEN The way we live is changing, and in response our roles and responsibilities as citizens are changing as well. The project will attempt to capture a glimpse of this change and communicate our changed responsibilities as citizens of the nation and planet today.

THE IDEA The project will aim to present a realistic picture of life in the sub-urban Indian city—showing both the good and bad—and how as citizens we can navigate through these situations. To address the different issues and behavior relevant in different scenarios, the project will look at different situations that citizens encounter in every-day life, e.g. at the workplace, at home, on the road etc.

The final outcome is inspired by the 'Ideal boy/girl' posters which are an integral part

of Indian popular culture. These posters are a simplified illustration of the model behavior expected of children.( The project builds on this format further, extending it to a visual guide for all citizens young and old, and will use a friendly, tongue-incheek tone to share the message.) Instead of a moral high-ground, our attempt draws in the viewer with its detailed familiarity.

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NEXT STEPS • Could it have a tabloid newspaper format with a story board/ comic kind of narration?

• Could it have same iconic characters who comes in different stories, so that audience • Could connect with them more easily?

The essence of the ideal boy posters is • What could be the issues the communication of the right manner we are addressing? of doing things for a healthy personal • Since it is election time, could it be about and social life. It could be telling you, for voting or finding information about the e.g. how to be an ideal driver or an ideal candidates?, teacher etc. When you create a story around and thinking about details such as the the message, the work involves with the characters could have features which audience more. The format could have identifies them as people from more longevity. In the future also, more characters and stories could be included in a local context. different versions. The publication would be Listing down different scenarios and successful if in 5 minutes time, people could concepts which could be illustrated: go through it and have a smile, at the same – Environmental issues, citizen time think about what they could do to live responsibilities, personal health and community living, ideas such as love and more responsibly. compassion, good behavior, influence of Brainstorming and discussions on the media, the internet culture, the virtual nature of content happened, addressing life, multiple cultures inside a city etc. questions such as; is it a list of do’s and don’ts for the people? Different content and Instance from personal experiences, how things connect to other things. format options were explored 1) Detail out scenarios and concepts to be communicated 2) Explore formats for storytelling 3) Explore visual styles that can be apt for the format/medium

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FORMAT EXPLORATION While exploring formats, points such as the user and the nature of content were kept in mind. A general way to fix a format would be: Intention—> Content —> Format Different methodes of inquiry were used to list different points that were to be illustrated. The most common elements in the mental picture of a city, of an average city dweller were thought of. We divided the city and tried to plot them in different sections according to different kind of economic activities. We thought of different things, from different view points. Once in a while the search for content felt like its turning out to be a lifestyle or health magazine for e.g. i began to think of 10 sustainable things you can do at home, things to do for a healthy spiritual life etc. I was at times getting carried away thinking of specific things, instead of addressing general/ universal issues, which would be of relevance to most number of people. We decided that there would be good things as well as bad things shown, as this is not an ideal or Utopian city, but a real life with both good and evil. Some format options were: Format 1: Accordion fold in which a protagonist travels through a city, encountering different scenarios

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Format 2: A tabloid sized poster which shows interconnectedness of things, how one deed triggers the other

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Format 3: A series of booklets in which consecutive spreads will have illustrations of be-fore and after scenes of some positive action, showing how positively that action changed the whole scene.

Format 5: A series of posters based on the theme of different values like compassion, honesty and tolerance.

Format 4: Posters on themes such as “the most dangerous biker”

Format 6: A bird’s eye view of a city showing multiple scenarios and happening in different parts of the city.

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THE CITY ILLUSTRATION

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The intention of The City Illustration is to encourage people to do small actions in their day to day lives that would help create a more responsible society. The illustration also familiarizes people to a larger picture of the environment they live in.

The context of the illustration is of an urban, fastgrowing city where various kinds of people live together. The illustration is a single view of the city, detailing all our concerns.

ASPIRATIONS We want to pull readers into the story of the city, to create a seamless experience so that the viewer feels like being there.

The wide angle shot gives a sense of place.

Some challenges like improving figure drawing and perspective drawing can only be met by hard work, observation and study. Through the figures' design have to connect to people on a human level through facial expressions and body language, though there is limitation to

the amount of detail which can be given to character’s facial expressions owing to size of the final product. A world is to be constructed on the page and in readers imagination and the audience should understand the points put down in the illustration and stick around till we are done. The illustration has to be a good work of craft which the audience should want to look at and look at again, discovering something new every time.

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CASE STUDIES 1. Graphic Campaigns by Beehive Collective “Our graphics campaigns are the keystone of our collective. We have based our existence around creating and sharing this work, using cartoons and storytelling to break down big issues from the overwhelming world we live in and present them in accessible, engaging formats. We offer these illustrations as popular education tools, both to plant the seeds of critical thought and resistance, and to support ongoing organizing and movement building.”

The Mesoamérica Resiste Graphics Campaign “The Mesoamérica Resiste graphics campaign is the third and final image in the Beehive’s trilogy about globalization in the Americas, focusing on resistance to mega-infrastructure projects that are literally paving the way for free trade agreements that devastate local economies and communities.”

In 2004 an initial group of Bees traveled from Mexico to Panama over 5 months to meet with people on the frontlines of resistance to a regional development plan then known as Plan Puebla Panama (PPP).

The announcement of the PPP in 2001 had sparked powerful cross-border organizing against its industrial scale mega-projects, like super-highways, dams, and power grids. In the following years our ongoing, intensive grassroots research took a variety of forms, from large international gatherings to local round tables, from interviews to informal conversations.

The stories in the graphic come from

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current struggles, but are also rooted in the legacies of over 500 years of colonialism in the Americas. A banner across the top reads, “Every time history repeats itself, the price goes up” – reminding us that we are in an era of extreme loss of cultural and ecological diversity and rapid climate change. Through the lens of Mesoamerica, the graphic tells the big picture story of what’s at stake across the globe with the neoliberal model of “development,” and what we’ve already lost.

This project reflects our efforts to go beyond illustrating just the bad news, to also sharing stories of collective action and inspiration. The inside of the poster tells stories of grassroots organizing and community resilience. A multitude of characters symbolize strategies and tactics for building and defending autonomy.

We’ve depicted over 400 species of insects, plants, and animals that are native to somewhere between Mexico and Colombia, giving a glimpse into the incredible biodiversity of the region.”

Link: http://beehivecollective.org/ beehive_poster/mesoamerica-resiste/

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2. The great war book by joe Sacco The Great War is a 24-foot black-andwhite drawing printed on heavyweight accordion-fold paper and packaged in a deluxe hardcover slipcase. The set also includes a 16-page booklet featuring an essay about the first day of the Battle of the Somme by Adam Hochschild and original annotations to the drawing by Sacco himself.

3. Bicycle by Nobrow Press Inspired by the 2012 London Olympic Games, young artist Ugo Gattoni intricately illustrates a cycle race through the streets of London. From elite athletes to cycle couriers, commuters, bankers, delivery boys, mums with kids, youths on stolen mountain bikes to fashionistas and hipsters on fixed gear bikes – pretty soon you will realize this is no ordinary road race!

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CONTENT

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Many discussions happened in the studio to figure out an approach for identifying the different points/ activities to be illustrated.

The approach we finally chose was to differentiate parts of the city according to the number of people occupying that space and the nature of their involvement with the space and each other. Different kinds of spaces identified were Home, Community, Road and Public spaces.

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‘Road’ included multiple kinds of roads such as the ones near residential areas with less traffic and highways.

‘Home’ is the place where more intimate interactions happen, and ‘Community’ involves more people who may not know each other so well.

‘Public’ spaces are where interactions are even more limited than Community or Home.

These divisions are not very strict as the spaces merge into each other. They were an aid to identify different activities taking place in a city and to creating a rough map and plotting points to be put across. Detailed description of the scenes were initially used as place holders for the text, meanwhile work on actual text which would go along with the illustration was happening.

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FORMAT AND SIZE The content gave direction to the format.

The illustration had to resemble a city like Gurgaon, which has different kinds of areas such as slums to a modern metro station. A recognizable subtle transition from old to the modern was interesting.

Considering production constrains also, we decided a long format which would be accordion folded.

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From the calculations we made based on the available paper sizes for offset machines, we had to chose between two different sizes for each accordion fold. 190 mm*310 mm and 210*310 mm.

After making a quick mock-up of both options, I chose the 190 mm*310 mm size, as it would provide a greater number of accordion folds, i.e. more faces for the illustration as well as providing an aesthetically pleasing proportion. The publication would have a size of 1900 mm*310 mm when opened. One side will have all textural content in English and the other side will have all text in Hindi.

310 mm

1900 mm

190 mm

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(images) Sketch draft of the illustration

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The Illustration will be divided into different folds, the view point is such that the reader would be able to see what different parts of the scenes are constituted with in every detail. The reader would be focusing on a small area at a time while reading through the illustration, stitching a mental image of the city on the go while going through the different folds of the illustration. The scene is assembled in the readers mind.

Here the reader experiences the world in much the same way that one would in real life, looking around, up down, whatever catches the eye, one piece at a time. This lends an air of first hand experience and bolsters the illusion of wandering through a scene. The spaces with no figures lets your reader free to form a personal relationship with the world.

The illustration is similar to some type of stories, like science fiction, fantasy or historical fiction, which are at least partially about the world they inhabit and they may require that you lavish attention upon the details of those worlds.

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DEVLOPING SKILL SET Figure drawing is an essential skill set required for this illustration, which I tried to improve on by practicing every day. I came across Andrew Loomis’s books, followed Stan Prokopenko on YouTube.Read books on composition techniques and story telling through images, as well as Chris Ware’s graphic novels, and other cartooning and comic books. When I found out about Manga Studio, I tried using it and found that it had a vast library of tones and textures and it is very intuitive for drawing anything and I learned about the perspective grid tools in illustrator.

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Quoting Andrew Loomis “There are four essential properties of tone: Intensity of light in relation to shadow, Relationship of value to all adjacent tones, Identification of the nature and quality of light, Incorporation of the influence of reflected light.

The five ‘P’s of good drawing: proportion, placement, perspective, planes, and pattern. Tone and harmony come first. The study of still life is one of the best ways of learning to draw. Do not interpret me as advising you not to draw from life or nature. Nature is a great storehouse of material. By all means draw from that great source. Do not just copy. “Build” with what you observe for yourself to be true. Try to get the individual quality of each thing you draw. It is that quality that makes the artist interesting.”

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PROKO Stan Prokopenko is an artist and teacher. Proko is a resource for artists to get good art instruction videos.

Proko tutorials tires to make lessons entertaining while keeping them educational. Proko feels that if you’re having fun and enjoying the learning process, you learn better. You retain more information, you pay more attention, you’re much more likely to continue learning and more likely to go back and rewatch tutorials. And it will leave you more inspired and motivated to go practice.

http://www.proko.com

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SCOTT MCCLOUD On perspective: “To make these worlds of yours visually credible, you’ll need to tackle the subject of drawing scenes in perspective, a subject many artists find intimidating. The word perspective is most often associated with the horizon lines and vanishing points of western perspective, but it can refer to any attempt to represent a 3-d world or a 2d surface like this page. There are plenty of graphic devices that can indicate depth. Closer objects can overlap more distant ones, or they may appear larger, have darker or thicker borders, or simply be lower on the page in views from above. But if your approach is consistent, and contents of your story are interesting enough, your audience will probably accept whatever type of perspective you use. If you want your world to look as real as possible in the conventional sense, western perspective is the way to do it.

Some basics: • Objects on a plane converge with distance.

• Horizon crosses figures at the same height as your eye level regardless of distance.

• Circles compress to ovals when vied from the side.

About rules like the rule of thirds and golden ratio: they might help, but if it doesn’t look good to you, it doesn’t matter how many theories say it looks good, draw with your eyes, not ears”.

Further quoting Scott McCloud: “The world is a big place. Capturing all of its sights and sensations can be a daunting challenge, but with knowledge, effort and a willingness to go beyond the adequate, your worlds can seem as powerful and vivid as any others, real or imagined. Sweating such details can make the difference between drawing a page in six hours or drawing it in twenty, but for your readers it can make the difference between where your story is taking place and being there.” To make the reader understand what is drawn, some choices has to be made such as choice of moment, choice of frame, choice of image and choice of flow.

The moment chosen has to be the most direct, efficient route to communicate the point.

The information we try to convey is realistic, maybe not the rendering. The perspective and proportions are exactly what human eye perceives, which enables the audience to reflect on their lives, discovering new things each time one looks at the illustration.

The text content works like introduction and extension to the points illustrated.

The viewpoint pulls back the reader to let him know where the action is taking place, gives a sense of being there in the process.

Compositional factors such as cropping, balance and tilt affect your readers impressions of the world, and their sense of position within that world. The top angle view gives a sense of seeing and analyzing, reflecting on one’s own community life. The wider view and getting above a scene can give readers access to a wealth of information about a setting and a “sense of rising above it all” emotion-ally as well. From a distance when the viewer is looking at the illustration pinned on a soft board, it is a big establishing shot. As the viewer gets closer, he gets to see through the middle grounds and characters and things happening, all these details create a strong sense of place in the imagination of the readers. Each fold works also as panels, each having their elements of interest, guiding the viewer’s eye point to point through different compositional ideas such as using center of point towards less tangible ideas such as distance to be crossed, mysterious absences,

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distance already crossed, the unseen object of characters attention etc.

The image chosen to visualize a point has to communicate quickly, clearly and compellingly with the reader. The images should be not just generic, but specific - objects, expressions, characters emotions and attitudes. Drawing skills like anatomy and perspective can help render the forms in your world convincingly. An abstract, expressionist or symbolic image can strengthen the recounting of an intensely felt emotion and an extreme stylistic choice can invest every moment of a story with an overriding mood.

The choice of flow is partially about cleaning readers paths of obstacles to a smooth reading experience. The sights along that path draw the readers eyes. Not all pictures are created equal.

Readers focus on areas of change and relevance to the story, while back-ground details and related elements just fade from view and are ignored.”

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RESEARCH– FOR DRAWING If you want a strong sense of realism, you need to do research. Good research may make the difference between a generic market scene and one that connects with your readers memories and experiences.

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If you take some time to lose yourself in the environments you draw, your readers will too. The secret of drawing great backgrounds is to don’t think of them as backgrounds, but as environments. The places your characters exists within, not just backgrounds to throw behind them as an afterthought. You need to let your readers step into your world, make that world unique, and give them a reason to come back again and again.

Options for reference taking: • Go to the source and draw it • Go to the source and make sketches you can refer to when drawing it later • Go to the source and take a photo to use for detailed reference •Find a photo on the web and use it as reference for an original drawing

BOOKS These books were used for referencing anatomy and architectural drawings.

“Frank Lloyd Wright's THE LIVING CITY – Frank Lloyd Wrigh(1867-1959) is acknowledged as America's greatest architect. Near the end of his life, in 1958, Wright published The Living City, the final version of his vision of an ideal social order.

Indeed, all of his buildings and projects can be seen, retrospectively, as prototypes and proposals, models for the new, decentralized pattern of living that he offered as a blueprint for the future and from which we have much to learn today.”

“Human Dimension and Interior Space is the first major anthropometrically based reference book of design standards for use by all those involved with the physical planning and detailing of interiors, including interior designers, architects, furniture designers, builders, industrial designers, and students of design. The use of anthropometric data, although no substitute for good design or sound professional judgment should be viewed as one of the many tools required in the design process.”

“The Architects' Handbook provides a comprehensive range of visual and technical information covering the great majority of building types likely to be encountered by architects, designers, building surveyors and others involved in the construction industry. It is organized by building type and concentrates very much on practical examples.”

“Lynch's The Image Of The City published in 1960, is the result of a five-year study on how observers take in information of the city. Using three disparate cities as examples (Boston, Jersey City, and Los Angeles), Lynch reported that users understood their surroundings in consistent and predictable ways, forming mental maps with five elements: • paths, the streets, sidewalks, trails, and other channels in which people travel; • edges, perceived boundaries such as walls, buildings, and shorelines; • districts, relatively large sections of the city distinguished by some identity or character; • nodes, focal points, intersections or loci; • landmarks, readily identifiable objects which serve as external reference points.”

Extensive photographic research was carried. as shown in the following pages The city, in the present case Gurgaon was studied

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SCHOOLS

ROADS

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UNDERCONSTRUCION HOUSES

PLOTTED HOUSES

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OFFICE COMPLEXES

SKYLINES

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SHOPPING MALLS

METRO STATIONS

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LOCAL MARKET

APARTMENTS

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VEHICLES

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DRAWING

Once the rough idea for the composition was ready, I started putting it down on paper in a smaller scale. We had decided to stick to the rules of perspective to make it more realistic, rather than an isometric view or other distorted perspectives.

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A viewpoint from a second or third floor of a building was chosen so that we would be able to see more building facades, rather than viewing more rooftops and people’s heads which would happen if a higher viewpoint was chosen. The composition should give readers a license to wander.

It should create a sense of entering a setting with people in it, rather than meeting a person with a setting behind them. By not “blocking us at the door,” an off-center figure, facing away from the reader, can invite us to follow it more fully into the scene. Once the reader dives deep into the illustration, an increased sense of depth, can increase the perceived size of a setting- regardless of its size on the page, and with it the readers sense of being surrounded by the city.

Each fold would have places/ buildings which along with other visual elements which will guide the viewer seamlessly through the landscape. The composition of buildings in the illustration had to make sense in a real world scenario, it should contain all the elements which will make a real peri-urban Indian city such as Gurgaon. A lot of erasing and redrawing was done. The scale of an area would be guided by the number of scenarios illustrated in that area. Small, rough and dirty sketches helped to figure out the final composition. Different angles were tried out for different buildings for better accommodation of the points. The smaller scaled down rough compositions were the most helpful as they were quick to make, see and re-iterate. I had tried drawing in 1:2 scale but it was unnecessary and tedious at that point of process to define a composition.

The Figures All of the figures were roughly sketched out in the beginning, then they were deatiled out refering to photographs from the collection I had made by Clicking from shop tops of Gurgaon or some from the internet.

The Character and Environment The lines you use to draw a character are different from the lines you use to draw the environment they live in. They serve different purposes and readers read them in different ways. When readers see the lines that make up a character’s eyes, for example, they are looking beyond those eyes to the thoughts and emotions revealed in them; they might even feel a sense of participation in that characters inner life and investment in his or her fate. When they see a line that make up a brick wall, on the other hand, they’re more likely to wonder how the wall feels to the touch or how shadows fall on it. The wall belongs to the realms of senses- sight, sound, taste, smell, touch - but not to the realms of emotion or identity.

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INITIAL COMPOSITION This perspective was not chosen because in this perspective, mostly viewed will be rooftops which will limit the illustration in showing more people and activities. It helped us to understand that the view point should come down a height of second or third floor of a building, so to get a better perspective for the illustration which needs to show people and actions

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COMPOSITION EXPLORATION In this exploration, all building facades were plotted along a road because many of the activities were happening on the road and to understand amount of space each building, area would occupy.

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LAYOUT EXPLORATION Thumbnail explorations of the composition to quickly figure out different layouts.

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CONTENT MAPPING Descriptions of all the activities pasted on the sketch to understand the density of activities to be illustrated in each fold and the tentative amount of text which would go in each fold.

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DETAILING THE COMPOSITION

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MORE DETAILED SKETCH

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TREATMENT

The effect of treatment or technique is of attracting or exciting, its a balancing game between clarity and intensity. The illustration should resemble a Indian urban city, with all its chaos and imperfections.

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I had started collecting visual references and treatment references.Different styles wre studied; masters of illustration such as Moebius and Chris Ware, manga artists illustrations, backgrounds for animation movies and works by Indian artists such as Pulak Biswas and Orijith Sen were some of them. I built a collection of photographs to get textures from. Textures with ink, enamel paint, charcoal and spray paint etc. were also made. Various treatment explorations were done and one style, which was fresh was finalised for the illustration. Adding realistic detail and textures, if done well, can help trigger memories, not only of the appearance of subjects, but also the way they feel, or smell, or sound, and help bolster a sense of recognition on the part of the reader.

Adding wall to wall environmental detail wherever possible can create a strong sense of place, if you don’t mind the long hours and sore hands.

The Character and Environment The lines you use to draw a character are different from the lines you use to draw the environment they live in. They serve different purposes and readers read them in different ways. When readers see the lines that make up a character’s eyes, for example, they are looking beyond those eyes to the thoughts and emotions revealed in them; they might even feel a sense of participation in that characters inner life and investment in his or her fate. When they see a line that make up a brick wall, on the other hand, they’re more likely to wonder how the wall feels to the touch or how shadows fall on it. The wall belongs to the realms of senses- sight, sound, taste, smell, touch - but not to the realms of emotion or identity.

On style and genre from ‘Making Comics’: Style: “Style is not something you can choose off the shelf like a scarf or a pair of shoes. Its roots go deeper than that. You don’t always choose your style, sometimes it chooses you. Styles usually describes details like line quality, a way of drawing faces or one’s use of dialogue. But mannerisms like that are by-products of artists attempt to present the world as they see it and capture the aspects of comics that may have captivated them as readers. Behind the struggle lies their fundamental outlook on life and art a statement of their passion and priorities and echo of the times and places they’ve come from and a signpost to where they want their chosen art to take them. In short, discovering your own style is a deeply personal process which can take years and it can’t be taught in a book”.

Genre: “As in any medium, when a personal style, format or type of story catches on in comics, its likely to be imitated. Get enough people making comics of that kind and you have a genre. Any creative market has a handful of popular genres and assorted sub-genres. Some, like the broad genres of comedy and tragedy, have been with us for thousands of years, while other, far more specific sub-genres may come and go in the wink of an eye. Genres are built around audience expectations. When the genre is broad, the list of expectations is short. Comedies make us laugh, tragedies make us cry. When the genre is more specific the list of expectations can get longer. Genres have life cycles, as they age, such lists can grow so long that the genre starts to sag under the weight of too many formula driven expectations. At that point, its audience might start to dwindle or a new breed of creators might throw away that list and give life to the new genre by rediscovering its basic appeal”.

Words can be a powerful ally in the struggle to communicate. They bring with them an unparalleled level of specificity. There’s no image so vague that words can’t lock into a desired meaning.

Some specific concepts and names can only be clearly expressed through words.

The text is short and there are no word balloons, to let the visual tell the story.

Words alone have been telling stories clearly for millennium. They've done just fine without pictures, in the illustration, the two have to work together seamlessly enough that the reader barely notices

when switching from one to another.

Silence has the effect of removing a panel/ illustration from any particular span of time. Word balloons have a perceived duration, so the panels/ instances they’re in do too. Without that implicit time stamp which words provide, a silent panel doesn’t end as crisply and the effect of it can linger through out the page. Silence also allows readers to step off the twin conveyor belts of plot and dialogue long enough to let their eyes wander and explore the world, instead of viewing it as nothing more than a passing backdrop.

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TREATMENT REFERENCES Moebius Mix of dot work and line work to create depth, use of variety of colors and gradients. Transluscent quality of shading and characteristic composition.

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Winsor McCoy Grand background settings with pen.

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TREATMENT REFERENCES Pulak Biswas Stylized characters and interesting use of color.

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Orijith Sen Playing with perspective.

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TREATMENT REFERENCES Koji Morimoto Coloring in limited palette, using pen and pencil tones to show textures of decay.

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Craig Thompson Subtle prominence of the tool and medium to support the subject told.

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TREATMENT REFERENCES Seki Masumi (Background art from the manga) Mood setting in black and white.

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Tekkon Kinkreet (Background art from the anime movie) chaos!

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TREATMENT REFERENCES Chris Ware Traditional medium to draw, usage of computer to colour strips in flat colours.

(Images from his graphic novel 'Building Stories')

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Charles Burns Iconic shading technique.

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TREATMENT EXPLORATION : PRELIMINARY SKETCHES

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TREATMENT EXPLORATION 1: MICRO-TIP PEN

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TREATMENT EXPLORATION 1: MICRO-TIP PEN

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TREATMENT EXPLORATION 2: MANGA STUDIO TONES

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TREATMENT EXPLORATION 3: MANGA STUDIO TEXTURES

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TREATMENT EXPLORATION 4: ROTRING INK BRUSH

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TREATMENT EXPLORATION 5: BRUSH INK

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TREATMENT EXPLORATION 6: SPRAY PAINT TEXTURES

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FINAL ILLUSTRATION

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The first two folds of the illustration was detailed out and finished with the intended look and feel which provided a guide for the rest of the illustration. Details for each and every area were photographed to make sure we don’t lose on the characteristic look and feel, for e.g. The electric poles and billboards. A lot of back and forths were done to figure out a suitable work flow for the treatment.

TWO PAGES TREATMENT EXPLORATIONS •In the initial stages different photographic elements from the city environment were used to create texture and noise.

• Figures were primarily drawn as a free hand vector and were left to be detailed out with brush pen at a later stage.

• Photographs of trees was used as reference and the detailed sketch was built upon it.

DETAILING • The skeleton of the drawing was detailed out in Adobe Illustrator, perspective grid makes it easier to map out objects in 3d space, also the softeware making it easier to transform different objects to correct the scale and proportions. A large part of this detailing was based on initial sketches, references from photographs either shot by me or from the Internet. It was a time consuming task to find out the best reference, the unique view point makes it hard and challenging

• For taking accurate reference of vehicles, an interesting exercise was carried out, in which the vehicles where shot as if they were part of a scaled down model of a city, from the same view point. Apart from this, Sketchup software was used for taking reference angles for vehicles.

• The entire composition drawn in in Illustrator as vector was printed and redrawn with a brush pen. The printout was scaled by 300 percent so as to be able to draw details which won't be possible to achieve in a smaller size. The drawings thus produced were then resized to the actual size of the composition. The attempt at this stage was to use the medium effectively to bring out depth in the drawings with variation of line thickness and texture.

• Washes were created using black ink on different kinds of paper. The puprose of this excercise was to create varying textures which would be used in the composition for light and shade, adding to the overall depth in the illustrtaion. The washes created were treated in photoshop and merged with the final brush pen drawing.

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DETAILED PENCIL SKETCH

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DETAILED PENCIL SKETCH

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DETAILED PENCIL SKETCH WITH ANNOTATIONS

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SKELETEON FOR THE DRAWING IN ILLUSTRATOR

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FINAL VISUAL TREATMENT

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VISUAL TREATMENT DEVELOPMENT FOR FIRST TWO FOLDS

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VISUAL TREATMENT DEVELOPMENT FOR FIRST TWO FOLDS

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REFINED LINE DRAWING

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REFINED LINE DRAWING

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PHOTOGRAPHING TOY CAR MODELS FOR REFERENCE

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REFINED LINE DRAWING

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REFINED LINE DRAWING: EXPLORRATIONS

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REFINED LINE DRAWING: EXPLORRATIONS

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REFINED LINE DRAWING USING BRUSH PEN

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REFINED LINE DRAWING USING BRUSH PEN

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CREATING TEXTURES WASHES FOR SHADOWS AND HIGHLIGHTS

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REFLECTION

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IN RETROSPECT

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It was a long journey from start to finish!

I feel that my understanding of projects and capability to execute them have grown over the course of my Diploma project.

A valuable insight was learning to manage project timelines. Instead of never ending research I found that it was important to pick up a pen and a pencil and just start creating something. The rest, with hard work, seems to fall into place, under the right guidance and knowledge.

There is a greater satisfaction in the process of learning by creating as opposed to learning through secondary research, even though research insights are important.

When I started the project, the end deliverable was an ambiguous form, and defining the communication and message therefore enabled me to find the best medium to express it. Both Reuben and I studied the context of Rising and its potential future directions and began to churn numerous ideas for it. As this project was self-initiated by the studio and given to me to envision, I was given a lot of freedom, from ideation to execution, which also allowed me to question my own way of work and entrusted me with a far greater responsibility. I spent my all-nighters that honed my ability to sit down and get the job done and avoid distractions as much as possible.

Because I was in a studio environment, in spite of the freedom, every time I found myself stuck, I had people to guide me or inspire me to find new solutions. Being a combined group effort, we were able to ensure that no stone was left unturned in terms of generating ideas or scenarios for the project.

Apart from a visible skill set like drawing, my ability to articulate ideas became stronger. I understood that to simplify any given issue, problem or statement, by framing it in a language and style that is easily understood by everyone. It helped me define and understand multiple stages of my project—from what the final form would be to the scenarios and the text copy for it. It geared me to understand and decode a new city, its people and their multiple concerns of city life.

The project enabled me to question my own behavior about living responsibly and questioning my day-to-day life as part of a bigger ecosystem. This line of thought is in parallel to the design process, where we have a tendency to think through everything and strive for creativity.

Life at Codesign for the past 10 months has been a good experience, without the usual constraints of a commercial projects, but also presenting a challenging new set of consequences. Even if a single person is motivated to change a behavior or question his/her behavior for social good, that would be a satisfying result.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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RESOURCES BOOKS

WEBSITES/ BLOGS

• Figure Drawing For All It's Worth by Andrew Loomis • Drawing The Head & Hands by Andrew Loomis • Figure Study Made Easy by Aditya Chari • Understanding Comics by Scott Mccloud • Making Comics by Scott Mccloud • Human Dimeension and Interior Space

by Julius Panero and Martin Zelnik • The Architect's Handbook by Quentic Pickard Riba • Sita's Ramayana by Devdutt Pattanaik • The Image of the City by Kevin Lynch • The Living City by Frank Lloyd Wright • Symbolia Magazine`

• proko.com by Stan Prokopenko • quickposes.com • grizandnorm.tumblr.com • 3dwarehouse.sketchup.com • helpx.adobe.com • digitalartsonline.co.uk • issuu.com • scribd.com • devdutta.com • hindustantimes.com • goodreads.com • flickr.com • google images • tumblr.com • youtube.com • vimeo.com • stumbleupon.com • wikipedia.com

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CASE STUDIES • SanParks - Educational Toolkit on Behance • Educational Toolkit/Workbook on Behance • The Travelers’ Game on Behance • Mission C+ . Educational Board Game on Behance • Revolt on Behance • DOKAEBEE : Korean monster identity, character design on Behance • Kumon // 2000 + 12 Calendar (DESIGN) on Behance • Creative Creatures on Behance • ABC iPad App on Behance • Legasee: Berlin Airlift on Behance • What We Learn When We Learn by Doing • Global Warning on Behance • rainforestheroes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/ TeamTikiPacket_PDF_March2011.pdf • Greendex: Calculator - National Geographic • Toys from Trash, Arvind Gupta • Habitat patch on Vimeo • CUP: Projects • Graphic Advocacy: posters as a vehicle of change • Robbie Conal's Art Attack + • Art - Barbara Kruger - Photograph Collage, Advertising, Slogans, Art • The Design in the Construction of Cultural Identity - Socially Conscious • Graphic Design - Blog - DESIGN 21: Social Design Network • Visual Storytelling to Communicate Sustainability • The Water Project | Background Story Inspiration • Water Journey | Background Story Inspiration • Comunication for children - Socially Conscious Graphic Design - Blog - DESIGN • 21: Social Design Network • Density Design | Research • Density Design | Brain houses: three ‘intérieurs’ stories • Density Design | Net@Work • Helsinki Design Lab Posters 2013 on Behance • RIF (Reading Is Fundamental) on Behance • Information graphics in context on Behance • Comparative Cartography Assists War on Drugs & Crime - Socially Conscious • • Graphic Design Blog - DESIGN 21: Social Design Network • Social-consciousness Meets Style-consciousness - Socially Conscious Graphic • • Design - Blog DESIGN 21: Social Design Network • GetH2O Challenge on Vimeo • Good aid: the video | Oxfam International • Design Can Change :: issue • How Can Design Save Democracy - Socially Conscious Graphic Design - Blog

• DESIGN 21: Social Design Network • I Am Here, by Alex Ostrowski—Socially Conscious • Graphic Design - Blog - DESIGN 21: Social Design Network • CN Studio • The Girl Effect, n. - Socially Conscious Graphic Design - Blog - DESIGN 21: Social Design Network • Get Out the Vote • Buy Nothing Day + Buy Nothing Christmas #OCCUPYXMAS | Adbusters Culturejammer Headquarters • Massive Change by BruceMauDesign • Design Education —Thousands of Design Resources • dropping knowledge :: Table of Free Voices • Global warning: dropping knowledge • StopWaste.Org | Underground • Earthjustice | Underground • Water Saving Heroes | Underground • Official Home of the Free Hugs Campaign— Inspired by Juan Mann - Home • Chris Clarke | FTPBTP | i/o • Can Cute Cardboard Animals Teach Us About Responsible Energy Use? | Goodlifer • Citizen governance, no leaders • crocodile in water, tiger on land.

• A is for Activist! by Innosanto Nagara — Kickstarter • socialdesignsite.com —Genderpoo • Election Design Field Guides | AIGA • The Miniature Earth Project : Official Version • Goodwill Social Work Centre, Madurai, India | a professional social work organisation deeply committed to the development of children, youth and women • Prompt. on Vimeo • Global Oneness Project • Click to climate change | www.reset.org • Mine is Yours - Share makes you happy! — Www.reset.org • 10 tactics for turning information into action | www.reset.org • Simulation Gaming-2012 • Osocio: Home | The best of non-profit advertising and marketing for social causes • Hot Potato Hack - Project M - Thinking Wrong since 2003 • NADA Bike - Future 425.

• Speak Up Archive: Project M — Vol. 1 • Kiran Sethi | What Design Can Do

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COLOPHON Greta Text Std. designed in 2007 by Peter Bi直ak Stag Sans designed in 2008 by Christian Schwartz

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