Thank You 2011

Dear 2011,
You have been the bestest year so far. Thank you for being there for me. I loved each and every bit of your presence! I will miss you and always remember you! Do come back soon!
Thank you!
Love you always
Me.

Colour for this chappal: Fuschia pink!

Lets Make It Personal

Ulti Chappal is my first and my  pet blog! After making it and a few more of friends and family, I decided I wanted my own 'personal, blog to be able to write down my feelings and experiences, sans any hesitations.

I decided to keep the name as 'Looking at it my way' since it is a reflection of what I feel and what I think. I painted the header with watercolours and wrote the title with a calligraphy pen. I didnt refine the imagine nor the text too much as I wanted to keep it rustic. I enjoyed the whole process, it felt really good to paint after a long time, and for myself! The painting initially had a tricolour in the other hand but I had to let go of it, since anatomy wise it looked not so correct. The painting also shows my love for the colours green and pink and my plants.  What I want to say is that, its almost like I bend to look at things, my way.

This is the initial watercolour painting that I did, with the flag in the hand.

This is  how the blog header now looks and is available on http://frowninglory.blogspot.com/

Colour for this chappal: Green and Pink!

The Communication Survival Project

As part of my course curriculum at NID, we are to do a 6 week long project in the second semester. To keep documenting the entire experience of the project (and to motivate myself ) I decided to start a blog on it. I hope that my project turns out to be a good learning experience, and the blog an additional thing to look forward to.


The blog is now available on http://thecommunicationsurvivalproject.blogspot.com/ Do take a look.



Colour for this chappal: Grey (so serious)

Typography Day 2012 Poster Entries

Typography Day is an event all graphic designer students look forward to. For the year 2012 its being held at the IDC, Mumbai and every year there is a poster competition for the event. The brief for this year's competition was to design a poster or a composition expressing your favourite word in your mother script. Each participant is allowed submit three entries.

What I gauged from the brief was that we could express a word in our mother tongue and/or in any other language. I submitted three entries, two of them being Bengali words and one Sanskrit.

The point was to participate and be able to come up with something, which I think I did manage. The results shall be announced end of January, and I couldnt wait that long to put them up!

Bengali Word: Porebeshon, meaning,' to serve'

Bengali Word: Kantha,  the term is used for 'stitched quilts for babies'

Sanskrit Word: Suprabhatam, meaning, 'Auspicious Dawn'

Colour for this Chappal: Multicoloured, according to Posters!

Mummy Ki Tummy

Honestly, I never knew my family would be oh-so-cool and they would ask me to design their  blogs! My Dee, has now started blogging. And yes, I got the job to design it for her. It was again one of those opportunities to do something I wanted to but never would manage otherwise. The name itself is fun and cute so I decided it better look cute, Dee also loves cute things!

I froze upon the idea of a paper craft composition with layers. With help from another animator friend, I managed to get it done. The entire execution took less that 2 days and at no extra cost. I used all papers that I found lying here and there and glue I arranged from some leftovers of an official function.

The end result was something that made my Dee smile and I do hope that smile remains!

Here's what it looked like:

Such a fun project! The blog is now available on mummykitummy.blogspot.com

Thank you Animator R, such a pleasure.

Colour for this chappal: Pink (Baby A's colour) 

Evenings at NID

The National Institute of Design is home to a large number of flora and fauna found in the city of Ahmedabad. The campus is green, clean and naturally beautiful. A lot is done to keep it that way.

Every winter evening at NID is wonderful, the Eames Plaza livens up with the presence of the birds all around. . One can sit and keep looking at the sky and the birds. There are possibly a thousand birds that fly, in different formations, at different heights and at different speeds. Everyone cranes their necks to see what they do next, where they go and how they come. There's a lot of excitement. People come, sketch, shoot pictures and videos and smile to themselves. Its wonderful!

Here are a few clicks of the view(s), which is breathtaking, to say the least.

Colour for this chappal: The colour of dusk!

Happy Feet Makeover

When I started to redesign my blog, couple of months back, little did I know that I would have so much fun doing other people's blogs as well. This one was special. Something I had been wanting to do for a while and do it well. So I gave myself the longest time to think over it, until I was pestered to get down to doing it with a full sentimental twist to it.

Quilling is a paper craft form, that I have always wanted to try and this was my chance. A close friend (and classmate) of mine, Roshini and I took it up as a project and decided to go ahead with it. We came up with rough compositions and decided to go ahead with all guns blazing. It was oh-so-much fun! We took exactly one and a half days to complete this. The investment we made were of initial paper prints, paper and glue. Apart from that, we did give our body mind and soul into it!

Here's what we came up with finally, and needless to say, it was loved by the blog owner, who happens to be my mother dear! The blog is now available on http://happyfeetrails.blogspot.com/




Thank you Roshini, for making this possible!

You can view more of Roshini's work on http://poshmakes.blogspot.com/


Colour for this chappal: Green

Redoing Sushie's Blog

Recently a close friend of mine (Sushie) moved to the US to pursue her film making dreams at NYU (wow!) She decided to write a blog about both the countries and wanted me to re-design her blog (yay!, lucky me).

Sush was pretty clear with what she wanted, something to show both the countries, colourful and funky too. I decided to make the header and the background of the blog. Here's what I did. Loved the job , Sushie. Thank you!

Sushie's blog is now available on http://twocountriestogether.blogspot.com

Prima Donna

When we were in college, a friend and I had a favourite word, Prima Donna, meaning Drama Queen. We have moved on and now she has her own freelance event management company by the same name! I pounced upon the opportunity to create an identity for it and this was the result. Again, a whole lot of fun!

Colour for this chappal: Fuchsia!

The Family Tree

It wouldnt be incorrect to say that my mother's mother's side is HUGE and often leads to a lot of confusion amongst the members! So I decided to make a nice family tree for the entire gang. I must admit, it was a whole lotta fun! The attached jpeg is going to be highly pixelated but do have a look!

Colour for this chappal:Blue!

Self Promotion Poster

As part of an assignment for a course in Design Overview, we had to come up with a Self Promotion Poster. This was what I came up with.

The copy reads, ' Why is black, black, and why do we not write it in green? How does blue affect our environment and what attracts us towards red? Doesn't society play an important role in how we think and function?

I think. I question. I create.'

Aanya's Annaprashan

My lil niece turned 7 months in late October and it was time for the best baby Bengali ceremony ever! The 'Annaprashan' which is a baby's first rice eating ceremony, is done with great pomp and show where the baby is dressed up and fed all sorts of things. Its usually done by the Mother's brother / father. For Aanya, her dear grandfather (my father) did it. It was held at Noida amongst with friends and relatives.

For the invite, my sister wanted me to make a fun one and came up with a poem. Here's what was finally sent as an emailer inviting people all across the country!

The event went off pretty well and Aanya can now officially begin eating solids!

Colour for this Chappal: Red

The Basics of Printing

A course that we did in this semester (1st) was called 'Introduction to Printing' which was a course that began with a whole lot of theory and it ended with a whole week of practicals (More on that later). While we were learning printing and its basics, we had to document the entire course and our learnings. When I was almost done with my document, I realised that I had no cover for it because I had some initial ideas but I scrapped them because I felt they weren't working too well. Since the basics of offset printing lie in the inking processes, I was very sure I wanted the CMYK to be shown somewhere, Here's what came out at the end of it. What Im not very happy with is that the Y comes at the end, unlike the printing ink order ie CMYK (Cyan Magenta Yellow and Black). A little more thinking into this will probably solve the problem. Food for though. Hmmn.

Its just coincidental that this post and the post two places before this (The Entropic Project) are similar. Probably my mind just thinks at the basic levels.

Colour for this chappal: CMYK!

Shooting Relationships

The last course this semester is Photography and we one of the assignments was to shoot with a film camera, shots on the topic 'Relationships'. The constraints were to keep the human element in mind and not shoot within a two km radius of the institute. It was one of a kind experience and I was happy with some of the pictures I took. After all the grueling walks throughout the city, the pictures are satisfying, especially when you are so under confident with a film camera! Here are a few of them.

Colour for this chappal: Earthy brown. I believe relationships are as strong as the earth.

The Entropic Project

When I joined NID, the first course we attended was a course called 'Introduction to Communication Studies' taken by a very learned and brilliant faculty, Mr Madhusudan Mukerjee. As our first assignment we had to work in groups and had to come up with something (anything) that would be very high in its redundant value but at the same time have a high entropic value as well. Basically we had to come up with something that was a very usual regular day thing but have a shocking value to it.

Here's what we came up with. I wouldnt like to disclose what the entropy is, but I do hope you can figure it out. Even though it was a group project, I would like to put it up as an entry on my blog because it was the first at NID, and probably one of the smarter things we (I) did.

I would like to thank my group mates, Roshini, Bhumika, Shirin and Poornima for all the hardwork and support ;)

Colour for this Chappal: Blue, I think.

Macs and Hearts

So I got a new Macbook Pro and what a beauty it is.

It took my heart away. The first thing that struck me when I saw it was the Apple logo and then how it got me all 'aah ooh' . So this entry is a metaphorical one. On a impulse and a five minute job, this is also my first design 'thing' from the Mac'.

The joy in a Macbook.

Colour for this Chappal: Red!

D & A

Ever since my sister (Dee) got married and moved into her own house(s), she always wanted me to design a 'nice' nameplate for her. 5 years and one cute lil baby later, my slow brain worked and today I made this for them. Simple and very them, I hope they like it. It corresponds to their names, Diya meaning 'lamp' and Arunav meaning 'the rising sun'. The challenge now is to develop an idea that incorporates the name of the lil one too. Another 5 years maybe??

Love you Dee and Dada. You are my all time favourite couple!

Colour for this chappal: Brown!

Kyoorius Legs

Earlier this month, I got an opportunity to attend a Design Conference in Goa. The event was great with some wonderful speakers and some very good sharing of work experiences. It was just brilliant.

There was a large student community who attended this and to me, it ended up more like a fashion show. People were so dressed up! From frilly frocks to almost not there pants. It was quite a sight! This entry is how I perceived my Kyoorius experience! Its also one of my first attempts of drawing human legs in such a large quantity. It was fun!

Black

Black I believe rules design.

Even when I worked, I somehow found that black saved my designs and me, a lot of times.

This compostion struck me while I was getting assessed for a course called 'Colour'. Ironic.

I miss black and all the glee it brought me. I love colours but yes, black is one of my favourites too.

Colour for this chappal: Black! Haha!

Aamra Shobai Raja

My Baba (father) has always been very fond of Bengali culture, inspite of staying most of his life outside Bengal and that has somehow been passed on to us. As kids, I vividly remember him saying the line from a Bengali song, "Amra Shobai Raja" translating to "We are all Kings", and yes, he made us feel like true Kings.

However hard I tried, I couldn't be a true Bengali, in the cultural aspect atleast. Either my voice was too shrill or my feet refused to dance! This blog post is a dedication to my Baba and a true attempt at a Bengali art form (Patua Scroll Paintings), that represents him at the centre as the Raja!

Happy Birthday Baba!

Thank you Rahul for your wonderful Wacom. It made this possible!

India House Menu Card

While I was at bOunce (http://www.bounceontheweb.com/), this was one of the last projects I worked on, a menu card for a Gurgaon based restaurant called India House.

The brief was clear, bring out the 'Indianess' in India House. I came up with this concept based menu card and it got approved, along with every single image I chose for each page. Most of the images were bought from Dinodia (http://www.dinodia.com/), one was from my boss's collection and a special mention to a friend, Rohit Nair, who was very nice and humble to contribute an image for this. Thank you so much! You can see more of Rohit's work here http://www.flickr.com/photos/rohitnair/.

It went into print only after I left and my boss was very kind to send me a copy. The paper and print quality of menu card is what made it look even better. It was one of the best and most enjoyed projects I have ever done.

Here are a few pages of the printed menu card.

Cover Page

A few pages of the inside

Photography courtesy: Anuj Gadre

Model: Roshini Pochont

Thank you for your valuable time and effort!

Colour for this chappal: Green!

Roomie Hunt

A friend of mine pinged me on chat asking me to help her find a roomie for her Chennai apartment. Apart from putting my gmail chat in honour of the same, I thought a poster might add some value to the whole thing. This is what I came up with. Its random and its a twenty minute job. She liked it and now I hope she finds a roomie soon!

Colour for this Chappal: Red!

Shoeruaat

Here's to the beginning of NID! A rather late one, but a beginning is a beginning till the end comes! Its my shoeruaat, finally, at the place I have always wanted to be.

Fingers crossed for a happy and a fun filled time here!

As my first ATC ( http://atc-nid.blogspot.com) here is my contribution.
I hope it makes it there.

Cheers!

The New Found Comfort

Welcome to the city of hope.

Thats how I see Ahmedabad.

Four days into the place and Im almost in love with it.

I have done quite a bit of travelling and walking, observing and enjoying.

Apart from the heat, you will love the city if you love food, colour and chaos, and friendship as well.

My first friend, the automan has taken me for a ride around wherever I have wanted! And I have enjoyed it thoroughly. The people here are friendly,warm and kind. This I can vouch for, because the Printer whom I went to for some emergency prints has almost adopted me. I almost feel like a localite because mosthere talk to me in Gujarati! Its been so much fun all along.

I have also experimented with the ever-famous Gujarati Thali and it left me licking my fingers. I also managed to pay a visit to a few local markets and eating places and a temple too. A good start should be with faith.

I wish to stay back here and make myself some more friends and a lot more memories.

Fingers crossed.

Colour for this glaze: Multi coloured. Its Ahmedabad.

'Teen Tigada' vs Third Time Lucky

For me this is the scariest time. I'm generally not a believer of superstitions and sayings but this has suddenly scared me. In English, its said, third time lucky and in hindi it is 'teen tigada, kaam bigada' implying that the third time its over.

Essentially a positive vs negative attitude question, I have to admit I'm falling prey to the negative one. Damn. Its scary. More than being negative, I would justify myself by saying that Im being realistic. Then again, a third attempt will speak of my determination (I guess) and my interest completely.

Its reached the 'beyond the dreams' phase, more like a It Better Did Happen This Time.

I sound so confused now. Oh crap.

Maybe its the nervousness talking now.

Shall update soon on this.

Colour for this chappal: Yellow. Hopeful Yellow.