Day 1

After confidently presenting my next thought based on the word play, I am now wondering whether my idea of exploring an infographic poster on the human race being doomed to repeat history and make mistakes, afterall is enough to work with…my mind drifted towards a more sort of ‘this day that year’ direction of thought…that little column in the newspaper…what if there was a little online calendar of sorts with a ‘this day that year’ section that focussed on the follies we as a human race have witnessed in the past and despite all the pain suffering anguish caused by say, war for example, we continue to relive its horrors in different ways, continuously living in a paradox of different realms of realities that we create.

I dont know. Maybe I’ll sleep over it. Wake up and think differently. Pen down my thoughts. Doodle some and post tomorrow.

At the end of the Unit : By the time I went over all the responses to my sketches for the ideas on the word play, I decided that I would stay with the original idea of working with a narration, a play of image and text. I have too many ideas that I penned down on how I could go about it : forms like flashcards/an interactive book or a game. However, the time of completing the next stage within a week leaves me with less time for the final execution and I will have to make a prudent and pragmatic decision on which one of these works best in keeping with the concept and in keeping with the idea of the word play coming together in a cohesive manner to create a design opportunity.

Here’s looking forward to the next Unit.

An outcome of a research on qualitative/empathetic/curiosity based approach to an idea/concept design would be, as per my understanding of the concept, the story of Bunker Roy’s journey from an elitist school/education with amazingly materialistically successful career choices that he had to a remote village in Bihar, where he encountered first hand the people of famine hit Bihar, their suffering, their life and daily struggles. This encounter changed his life. Going ahead on his newfound path, he broke all urban convention of any self respecting affluent, well educated Indian family to go to the village and live there, because he had made up his mind to dig wells. He moved to the village to work with villagers and went on to start the ‘Barefoot Movement’. Years later, the Barefoot College became a reality. It required the teacher to become a learner. It did not require fancy degrees, just an enthusiasm and a skill to work with one’s hands. His approach shows empathy towards society and the individuals living in it. The kind of approach that we as designers are trying to achieve.

Bootleg bootcamp – stanford university’s manual on design thinking methods.

The manual discusses and breaks down systematically different ways to approach a concept, understand, analyse and create something new out of it. Out of all the methods, the ‘Story Telling’ method is an approach that I find I am familiar with and I have used on numerous occasions in my client assignments, even if it is something with as graphic an outcome as say a logo/symbol. I find that the logo/symbol is the story of the service, product, company. And I find that story fascinating as every time it has given me a chance to understand a new industry, product, market etc. Like the logo/symbol that I did for the Archive Department at The Srishti School of Art Design & Technology, Bangalore, India. The symbol is a tortoise. And it signifies the tortoise of the Puranas (ancient Indian text) which, similar to Noah’s ark, carries the world on its back from one age to the next. It also signifies the hare and the tortoise story from Aesop’s fables and finally it connects with the larger than life tortoises that live on the Galapagos Islands – Darwin’s theories on evolution. The tortoise tells many stories, just like the archive department planned it out to be, to archive stories that are being lost with each passing generation.

The ‘Why-How Laddering’ too is another approach that I have used in my work. Especially when trying to solve problems at the ideation stages. To go over mounds of information collected from and provided by the client and then segregate them to get a clearer picture, perhaps discover something that the client has not anticipated a need for. Even the ‘Saturate and Group’ helps in this regard. It helps to sort out the different areas that one is thinking of. It also helps to list out the varied information segregated using different colours.

I do find parallels in what is being discussed in the Unit and generally how I approach my work. The presented research methods have listed out in detail the different ways in which one could approach it. In that sense, the approach is new. However, on closer inspection, more often than not, they are based on a logical approach, one that we as designers may have used in our own practice without really categorising it as such. The presented research methods puts it all in a better, more cohesive perspective.

At the end of the Unit : All the methods presented to us and the systematic way in which we have been asked to approach our thesis for this Unit has definitely made me see the ways in which one can not only zero in on a topic but moreover how one can create a valid bank of references, citations, bibliography, go over the thought processes systematically so as to be better able to write the final paper, which becomes a matter of putting together what one already has with them, collected through the process at different stages, but also in this manner, one is left to dwell on stringing the final piece together with a better relevance to the chosen topic.

Here’s looking forward to the next Unit.

As we progress towards writing our thesis for this Semester on a topic of our choice, we have been introduced to ways of approaching this outcome of research through a methodical process. While initially, seemingly tedious, it helps put into perspective our goals, aims and objectives of why we are writing this paper. It also puts into perspective our selected references and citations as we sieve through the gathered links, books, references to assess the validity of the collected information.

Even today, unlike art, design has in comparision lesser research work that has been done. Research has always been viewed as something that is done in the dark recesses of a library where one is pouring over hundreds of books, literature, references etc. There is a  need for grounded resources, those that help back up what is being said in research papers. Most research writing is based on reflective experiences rather than facts or specific data that has been gathered about that particular piece of information. [1]

Tools and systems like Concept Maps, CRAAP Test, Annotated Bibliography, Literary Review leading to the final research paper certainly helps to put the entire extensive process into perspective not only for the researcher/writer but also for the reader/assessor. It is getting to the stage where all these requirements become second nature and what one concentrates on is the research paper itself, is a state towards which all of us who may be new to this system, aspire to.

“Research where the end product is an artefact-where the thinking is, so to speak, embodied in the artefact, where the goal is not primarily communicable knowledge in the sense of verbal communication, but in the sense of visual or iconic or imagistic communication.” – Christopher Frayling, 1993/4 [2]

As I key in my final thoughts at the end of Unit 3, I must say that the process to finally get to a cohesive Concept Map was initially a daunting task as I went through several attempts until finally, with the help of the course facilitator, I reached a semblance of logical approach to the map, being able to put down all possible directions that I could explore in the thesis. Its all been a very systematic approach to writing the final paper, so that when we actually get down to it, we have everything that we need with us, leaving us to concentrate on how best to put together the final thesis paper.

As Albert Einstein said, If we knew what we were doing, it would not be called research, would it? [3]

[1] http://old.nabble.com/Research-Into,-By,-and-For-Design-td19592081.html

[2] http://folksonomy.co/?permalink=687

[3] http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/research.html

I have always known design to bring along with it a great deal of stress. With deadlines, unreasonable clients, annoying marketing executives, irritating suppliers who seem to have their own unreasonable schedule that has nothing to do with yours, deciding design fee, client haggling, chasing payments…. the list of grievances is endless. How, in all this flurry of stressful activity, can one find Happiness in Design ?

Saagmeister seems to have found a way. With the seven year itch. Every seventh year, he shuts down his studio for a year of reflection and introspection. The outcome of this year-long sabbatical then goes on to provide the fodder for future projects. An interesting thought. But how many designers are actually working on a similar module? Almost everyone I know and meet personally seem to be laden with more work and deadlines than they can handle. And that seems to be what is lauded, approved, and looked upon as the way to be, the route to take for success and….happiness (?!) Clients, too busy trying to squeeze designers of work that is worth all the exhorbitant design fee that they charge, are always happy to endorse this route of stress and business…which then is suppposed to lead to economic bliss…happiness.

Do we as designers measure happiness in quantity of hours of sleep lost? In quantity of the number of days we spend like a zombie in front of a desktop pouring over design details? or is it the sheer satisfaction and exhuberance of a job well done that brings us the most happiness? Stefan Saagmeister designed the AIGA poster using his own body as a canvas  for a very painful number of tatoos all over…bringing to light the fact about how painful this business of design can be. However, to execute the painfully unhappy side of design, Saagmeister probably experienced extreme happiness by delving himself into his work wholly and willingly. Is happiness in design a paradox? Where the process of design, while being painful, brings happiness in its final outcome?

Stefan Saagmeister. Happiness By Design. http://www.ted.com/talks/stefan_sagmeister_shares_happy_design.html

As one of his many lists says, and I quote from his TED Talk :

- Thinking about ideas and content freely : with the deadline far away.

- Working without interruption on a single project.

- Using a wide variety of tools and techniques.

- Travelling to new places.

- Working on projects that matter to me.

- Having things come back from the printer done well….

sums up a lot of my happiness that comes from the experience of design and I am sure that there are other designers out there who share the same point of view. Stefan Saagmeister shares experiences in design, both his own and few examples of works by other designers, in many aspects of the field that makes him happy.

For my thesis topic in this semester, I am exploring slow design. And as I delve deeper into it, I feel convinced that in the long run this is the route to Happiness in Design. Perhaps there are other points of view in this regard. However, when I realise that slow design takes into account many aspects that are all for the positive good of the individual, society and environment, I am increasingly thinking that this is the way to go. As in one of my second last posts, I quoted William Henry Davies’ poem ‘Leisure’, it really reflects the way I feel about the state of affairs of how things are moving in today’s world. No one really seems to have the time to stand and stare. At least we have been lead to believe that we dont enjoy that luxury any more, not without a pang of guilt on the effect our leisure is having on the economy, unless of course one is referring to the ever growing economy generated by tourism…in which case, all said and done at least we are keeping the leisure industry happy!

I will end this blog post with a lovely quote by Jonathan Miller from my favourite Alan Fletcher book, ‘The Art of Looking Sideways’. Page 139.

‘Among the many characteristics which have been identified as peculiar to the human species – language, laughter, love, politics and cruelty – the one which is often overlooked is the capacity to be delighted and diverted by the exercise of the senses. Although these systems were evolved to furnish reliable knowledge of the external world, man is unique in exploiting them for sheer enjoyment. In fact a large proportion of his energy and ingenuity is spent on re-arranging the external world for the express purpose of providing more delightful perceptions. Even in communities which live on the margin of subsistence, scarce resources of time and energy are dedicated to the pleasures derived from decoration and ornament, and in the more developed societies, the amount of labour devoted to such provisions is taken to be one of the most significant measures of its civilisation.’

Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller (born 21 July 1934) is a British theatre and opera director, actor, author, television presenter, humorist, sculptor and medical doctor. (Wiki online).

Day 1

As we move into the third Unit, I am intrigued about how the ‘playground’ assignment which has been unfolding in bits and pieces, will shape up. Being so very used to tackling a specific design requirement in a systematic way most often than not, this approach, while intriguing, is also well, leaving me wondering what am I doing with this collection of random words, whose list has been increasing with added additions. This almost directionless approach is unnerving. I am not sure how to react. I feel as if I have no control over the process and outcome. And I guess somewhere here, it would be appropriate to refer to what John Bielenberg says.

“In the creative process, designers are victims of their own synaptic connections; subconsciously we’re following predictable pathways to solve problems [whereas] what you would want at the beginning of a design challenge is as many possibilities as you could imagine. ‘Thinking wrong’ is really about breaking those biases and synaptic pathways to generate a lot of potential solutions before you select and execute one.”
- John Bielenberg on Design Indaba.

I guess I am biased and I have hieuristic biases on how design must be worked through. I am surprised at the level of my mental conditioning over the years. I would like to see how these biases of mine are broken down, not just in words, which I know I can work at and be good at presenting my thoughts with. But in visual interpretation, visual language, how am I going to use my new found way of design approach? Perhaps towards the end of this Unit, I will have more things to add to this post.

Day 2

An exhaustive set of instructions greeted me in the ‘announcements’ section of the course as to what we were supposed to do for the remainder of this Unit with the ‘Play’ Exercise. In order to make sense of the instructions, I immediately organised my folders and files within the earlier parts of this exercise so that I could make sense of what I was supposed to do next. Also, I am worrying about how to co-ordinate time with one of the partners for two parts of this exercise as I am in a different timezone, living in India. However, when doing the next part of this exercise, I can see three different patterns emerging from the family of words that we have been adding. Now with the addition of an image and a colour to each of the three sections, there also seems to be the beginnings of a visual element coming together. I am enjoying the element of uncertainty. However, having organised my collected data in sequence, I feel I am better equipped to work to the uncertainty. Perhaps pragmatism will always be my faithful companion.

Day 3

This was spent in mostly in trying to co-ordinate meeting times on Skype across different time zones. I am far away in India and in a completely different time zone. There was also some initial confusion about who is supposed to do what. However, that was sorted out. That done, I finally connected with Melissa on Skype this morning (my time, Thursday, Melissa’s time Wednesday night). First of all it was wonderful to actually have a face to face verbal conversation rather than the online discussion forums that we have been communicating on. Having said that, what we both got out of the interaction were additional words and new directions to look at in each of the three sections of word bank that we have been working on. We went over both our individual lists so far in detail. We looked at how both of us had worked on our words in direct, biased approaches and then on receiving other words from our respective partners in the exercise, we were pointed towards different directions. To look for words that are not necessarily directly connected. Make newer connections. Both Melissa and I wondered what was expected of us and then spoke of how tuned our minds are to these expectations and final outcome. How unsettling it is, I felt, to work without an expected outcome.

We decided to perhaps work on developing images+ colour swatches based on these newer directions and meet again on Skype to discuss further, where this goes.

I have yet to connect with Kasey, who tried to get in touch on Skype around the time I was chatting with Melissa. Perhaps later today for me and early morning Thursday for her, we connect to discuss.

I am now looking forward to putting together a bank of images and colour swatches to co-relate with the words in each section. Play with them and see what happens next!!

Day 4

Still working on finding connections. I have a tendency to generally travel a convoluted route…so I am making connections with images and colours first. Then I will work on the mind map to make connections between the three initial words. I have finished with adding images and colour to the first part of my ‘discover’ exercise and I already see some kind of a vague pattern emerging. My mind raced forward to the outcome. I was thinking of envelopes within envelopes…that tell a story. Or rather reveal a story just like how this exercise was revealed to us. So the idea of the process becomes the idea for the outcome. I’m not sure where this will move. Another thought was to create a game with word or image clues. I’m still working on gathering images for the last of the three initial words, having done the second one too.

Day 5

Another chat with Melissa yeilded some new thoughts. She had already moved into her mindmap bit whereas I was still drawing connections with images and colour. While a tedious exercise that I took upon myself, I found that for a lot of words, if I chose an image, I was limiting it to my hieuristic biases, even with my choice of colour. For example if for enemy, I chose an image with a menacing looking character, it didnt quite sum up what enemy could mean…moreover, what colour do I add to it?? It was a bit challenging at times. Now having done that, I am going to move into the mind-map to draw further visual connections between the three words.

The difference in the time zones of where I live (India) and where most of the others in the batch live (US) its been difficult to co-ordinate the time to ‘meet’ on Skype. However, it has been good to connect with Melissa.

Day 6

After making connections with the images, colour swatches and words, I now moved into working on the actual mind map. I listed out all the three sections with the original words along with the words that we came up with in the process of our online Skype discussions, and the connections I made were interesting. More subjective in nature. I made connections with War/Life/Birth/Human. I was connecting larger concepts with the words in front of me. And soon I was thinking about war and how we are doomed to never learn from our past mistakes. How we are doomed to let history repeat itself. It lead me to think of the paradoxes of victory and defeat. Of humiliation and valour. Peace and war. Our human nature to make mistakes. Of Napoleon, Genghis Khan, Timur the Lame and others. Of prisoners and freedom.

I am veering towards perhaps an infographic of historical facts that prove our human nature that dooms us to repeat our mistakes. Or perhaps a series of illustrated books for children (ones that can become interactive books) on the same concept. Or a series of flash cards perhaps.

I will end this post with a quote from my favourite Alan Fletcher book, The Art of Looking Sideways. Page 78.

‘Since Alex Osborn of the advertising agency Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn came up with the idea of ‘brainstorming’ in the late 1930s, business has been busy trying to wed creativity to commerce. Unfortunately the very nature of business tends to stifle creativity as the very competition it fosters establishes one of the biggest blocks : The Fear of Making a Mistake.‘

I am looking forward to the next phase of this exercise in exploration.

As I look at Slow Movement and Slow Design and discover ways of looking at it, I find that there are aspects to it which has brought about this cyclical return to a need to slow down. The extensive deadline culture which is essentially present to drive forward at an accelerated pace, the wheels of commerce and economy, seeped into design as it did into other professions. With the stressful deadline culture came sleepless nights, dedication to work proved by a killing 24×7 schedule where client-centric work and the need to rush jobs through crazy deadlines were the heady concoctions of the times. How much of this is an assumed need and how much of this is reality is an interesting perspective to look into.

I am sharing below my discussion on this topic in the discussion forum from the course.

I do feel sometimes that this whole culture of urgent deadlines is sometimes over-rated. There have been times when we have stayed up nights to finish a client’s project, based on the assumption of urgency. And after dispatching it on time the client has often reverted almost a fortnight later with additions/changes when all the time we were thinking that its being processes to the next level. However, when the work comes back after a fortnight, the client again specifies how urgently its needed after the changes. I dont understand it and in time began informing clients that just like how they needed time to mull over the ‘finished designs’ we now needed adequate time to implement those changes…lol!…yes, I do find this so-called stress rather unnecessary and if I may add, over-rated.

I am at a personal crossroad in my life where I am running a studio, which is on the starting blocks and is demanding of my time and energy. I am unsure what all the rush with the client jobs is all about and I find myself intrigued with the concept of slow design, where I feel it will allow me to do the kind of work I have always wanted to do but however came under the pressure of the economic gains of doing high pressured client work with severe deadlines which has often made me wonder, why the hurry?

The work culture that encouraged this concept would have to be one that has been concentrating on economic productivity and increasing commercial value and sales of products, services and their offshoots thereof. Encouraging concepts like deadlines is a means to increase productivity and consequently sales. This is an important aspect of most business models. The questions that this culture consequently gave rise to were about the quality vs quantity of products, services, outcome of tight deadlines.  

When multi-national companies have gone through the process of setting up business in India where the use of time has a multitude of interpretations, it has been a frustrating journey for these companies which tried to implement their work culture in a place where their approach, goals and ideals were alien. Devdutt Pattanaik’s TED Talk illustrates these differences and the reasons for this frustration in the following link with analogies of mythological references to illustrate his points and the reasons for the frustrations of the clash of civilisations. Because as we know ‘not all cultures live with the sense of urgency that others do.’ as Prof Mendia mentions. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7QwxbImhZI 

Its, how he says, the difference between the objective and subjective worlds.

I would say that deadlines give many designers a false sense of the quantity of work that they project to others and themselves and make them feel that they are on top of things. In that sense, it does give some perhaps a false sense of respect. However, meeting these impossible deadlines time and time again has given clients the feeling that design is something that can be pushed to the last few weeks or days and that it can be done, since there are so many designers out there who are willing to take up the job and finish it…perhaps even compromising on the design fee in order to get the job. However, clients fail then to realise that it is just a matter of time when they are dissatisfied with the work and will have to re-assign the job.

http://veerle-v2.duoh.com/blog/comments/deadlines_kill_inspiration/ 

is an article that sums up what most of us designers go through when handling client jobs and deadlines along with thoughts of how we would like to handle a job. I agree with everything that is being said in this article. I have said ‘no’ to a job, however lucrative, if I have felt it will compromise on the quality of the work due to the impossible deadline and take on what I can give my 300 per cent to.  

http://www.andyrutledge.com/the-tao-of-deadlines.php 

is an article written in response or as an overall reaction to the earlier link. It presents a more positive outlook to the element of deadline and the reasons why it exists and why designers need to adhere to deadlines – how clients are never responsible for missing a deadline – how professionalism requires a designer to never miss a deadline. 

The term ‘deadline’ came from the American reference to the line around a military prison beyond which escaping soldiers would be shot. http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20000420 

A kind of frightening reference when one analyses the ‘dead’ of the word deadline. However, today its still considered a necessary part of the vocabulary and requirement of any job, although there is an increasing awareness of the negative effects of the stress-filled, time bound, tight deadline jobs. An interesting example of the obtuse way in which work cultures are undergoing change would be that of Saagmeister. After every seven years of work, he takes a year off for a sabbatical, shutting his studio to reflect, imagine, play. He goes on to say that sometimes, the outcome of this year long break becomes the focus of their following projects. http://blog.ted.com/2009/10/02/the_power_of_ti/

At the end of Unit 2, an interesting suggestion posted by Bonnie was about whether I would look at actually trying out analysing aspects of slow and fast design by doing some examples of the same. Though I am unsure at this point how I would go about this, I think it is an interesting direction to look at in order to add logical substance to my thoughts on slow design.

The number of articles, excerpts, documentaries, films, discussions, feedback from both faculty and students, being in the learning space at a Masters Level brings to the fore a wealth of information that is shared, perceived, assessed and learnt from. It is a fairly large amount of information to absorb and relfect upon in each semester.

However, all this information, diaglogue, reading etc brings about a considerable change in the way one interacts, converses, discusses about aspects of art and design. It sets about changing one’s perception, viewpoint, approach, outlook. These are necessary changes in order to move ahead into the realm of leadership, or rather a place where one can possibly carve new areas to explore and learn from.

The reflections on the discussions, readings, reference materials enforces a need for viewpoints which in turn tunes one to think analytically where one is assessing, referencing, arguing, defending different points of view. All essential skills towards developing a voice of one’s own that will be part of a larger movement in design.

Sir Christopher Frayling’s ‘Research in Art & Design’ reflected some of my own thoughts on research. Especially when he mentions Picasso and how he said that he is a maker and not a researcher – he doesnt feel comfortable about verbalising about his work. This is what I would think too. When Sir Christopher Frayling however quotes E.M.Forster’s aunt saying ‘How can I tell that I think till I see what I day?’ and goes on to alter it to ‘How can I tell what I think till I see what I make and do?’ further modifying it to , ‘ How can I tell what I am till I see what I make and do?’ certainly puts the need to not be scared of research and instead delve into it by making and doing in order to discover who we are. The fact that we are what we do could not have been put across better than how Sir Chirstopher Frayling’s paper illustrates.

And this is essentially what expanding of our knowledge base does. It changes in time the way in which we perceive, approach, understand concepts thereby changing our approach and attitude to our design work. Leadership, afterall requires us to set new trends, standards, attitudes, new ways of looking, designing.

Bias is a factor that one must consider when dealing with areas of research. It is invariably inevitable that we bring into our research and its outcome, be it design, film, documentary etc, a biased view whether positive or negative. We, as creators of a by-product of a medium, through our biases tend to pre-determine the direction towards which we steer our readers and audience. When Michael Moore is presenting facts in his documentary ‘Sicko’ has he already pre-determined the expose of the insurance industry? therefore has he already pre-determined his audience’s bias? When we delve into areas of leadership, do we steer audiences towards pre-determined reactions? Or do we make statements, present facts and leave it to the audience to determine the direction of their bias? However, is it enough to merely make statements and present facts, especially if we are looking at establishing the elements of leadership in the design industry?

I am utterly intrigued at what is coming next in the Exploration and where perhaps is it leading to. The journey however has been extremely random and interesting. From choosing words to then listing more words connected to the initial words chosen, I am enjoying the mystery in the process. The whole approach of ‘playing’ without a specified outcome is interesting and frustrating at the same time. As even in a game, you know what is expected of you, even if you dont know the final outcome. Here, I know whats expected of me in layers revealed to me at every stage. However I dont have the faintest idea about what it is leading towards…is it a word maze? are we going to play with image and text? or am I just being my unimaginative best by guessing the outcome and I should just sit back, play and have fun. It makes me think that this is how excavating an archaeological site must feel like. One keeps on at it, without sometimes the faintest idea of what one might find.

Perhaps this is a reminder of how we can just ‘play’. Perhaps in getting caught up in the maze of the hundreds of jobs we are chasing, doing, finishing, we have forgotten how to play. Its almost the same as our lives. We begin by playing in our childhood. As we grow up and play becomes work, duty, something that we must do, we lose our ability to play, have fun, be spontaneous, innovative. Perhaps that’s what we are trying to do here.

I’m eagerly awaiting the next set of instructions.

When Hugh Dubberly talks in his article ‘Design in The Age of Biology’ about the biological connections with technology about how we have shifted from the mechanical, technical mindset to a more organic one when we describe computer networks with biological terms like bugs, viruses, attacks, communities, social capital, trust, identity, I am reminded of an article by Jessica Helfand and John Maeda titled ‘Dematerialisation of Screen Space’ which I did as part of the SCAD course, Research Methods for Graphic Design. In this article the questions raised are why do we refer to the opening of a website as a ‘Home Page’ as after all what is so ‘homely’ about this page? John Maeda questions the absence of the Avant Garde in new media. He questions the convention of connecting technology with organic terms which is in complete antithesis to Hugh Dubberly’s suggestion of a shift in the technical mindset of the people when referring to technical terms with organic references. John Maeda suggests that these organic references stub our directional progress towards innovative pathways. And Hugh Dubberly suggests that organic references signify a cultural shift. However when we look at perhaps at a simplistic level, an infographic as a reference to illustrate Hugh Dubberly’s point, we can see that infographic visuals use a more biological method of projecting information with the manner in which the progression of information branches out almost like the blood cells in our body. Infographic posters bring to the fore certain flow and aspects of a collective information which we may not have taken into account before. With visual, organic representation of information, it gives a more human perspective as compared to mounds of textual data alone. Artists like Vik Muniz question the nature and traditions of the perceived way of representing visuals using alternate materials in his ‘drawings’ like when he worked in his series titled ‘sugar children’ whose parents and grandparents worked on the sugar plantation on the island of Saint Kitts. A paradox of the sweet innocence of childhood in contrast with the life of labour of their family. ^[1]

When referring to the next article ‘Defining the Designer of 2015’ in the AIGA site, the title has a certain finality to it. I mean, why must we define the characteristics of the Designer of 2015? It seems to me that we are putting a lid on the evolution of design by looking for a specific definition. It also projects a certain egoistic space within which the future designer must vibe, which defeats the purpose of taking design to the next level, and looking at newer ways of approaching design. On the other hand, there also seems to be an urgency to define the designer of 2015…but then one could also look at it from the positive point of view and perceive this as the beginning of a new era in design. As it says in the last paragraph, ‘The findings are not conclusive, for each designer will have his/her own sense as to what will be needed in the future given the nature of her work and assignments. Yet these findings shape the direction for design.’ Thereby also reflecting changes taking place in the current and evolving economy.

Sharon Poggenpohl shares her ideas of the need for vision in design education, approach, focus and goals. She also propagates the idea of collaborative design, an idea I personally feel is more productive. An idea/concept reaches its maximum potential when the process is collaborative, taking into account different points of view, different ideas. One could possibly counter this point with the adage of many cooks spoiling the broth. However I believe that this happens only when each and every cook, filled with egoistic tendencies, tries to take credit for every aspect of the design. As Sharon Poggenpohl says, ’A vision for design education can be tailored to a faculty, its student intake and the larger vision.’ Like she says that vision provides a synergy that helps students to work keeping in mind the larger ideals of community of practice and approaching this with values, skills and knowledge.