Universal Design and Accessibility Conclave @ IIMA

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Chindōgu - Invention, the Japanese Way

According to Ripley's, Chindogu is the Japanese art of inventing silly & useless gadgets to solve an everyday problem. Translated literally, 'Chindogu' means a valuable or priceless tool. Yes, these inventions are genius, but you would probably look pretty silly using them out in public.

Today, when I woke up to a rainy morning and was listening to my favourite songs on Youtube, I came across the following video made by Top Most Rare, and it made my morning! These products are surely meant to pep up life. Are you lacking rainbows? You have struck jackpot. Welcome honey. 

1. Breast Feeder for males

When parents decide to be pregnant together and feed the child together. What is wrong with normal milk bottles eh? Well, the advantage is that you can make the kid have a variety of liquids. How about milk in one and chocolate shake in the other? 

The Humanure Project : My Experiments with Human Excreta

This post will sum up My Experiments with Human Excreta (so I did this yesterday afternoon). Many people scrunch their noses or tell me that they still have a meal or two left in the day when I tell them about what I am upto. Sure, it smells bad and sure, it looks unappealing. It is gooey to touch. However, it is let out from our body and if we look at the bigger picture, excrement is the end result of a completed food consumption process.

Compost Defined: 
Composting is a process managed by humans involving the cultivation of microorganisms that degrade and transform organic material in the presence of oxygen. When properly managed, the compost becomes so heavily populated with thermophilic microorganisms that it generates heat killing the pathogens that live inside the human body at body temperature. The final product is stable, pathogen and plant seed free and can be beneficially applied to land.

Composting toilets are gaining worldwide popularity as they are not dependent on sewers and also yield a dividend - humus, which allows such a sanitation system to yield a net profit, rather than being a constant financial drain. The composition of human excreta is 65-85% water, Carbohydrates, Proteins that are converted to amino acids, Fat (less than 6%), Fibre and insoluble mineral salts.

Aim: 
To make compost using human excreta.

Public Restrooms and the Politics of Sharing: Book Review

Edited by: Harvey Molotch and Laura Norén 

Published by: New York University Press ©2010

Paperback: 328 pages        Product Dimensions: 2.5 x 15.2 x 22.9 cm        Language: English

Baatein with Prof. Simon Bolton, Birmingham University

So I made this poster for a Baatein Session which are informal yet informative talk sessions with professionals from the Design industry. They are held at NID- National Institute of Design, Paldi, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.

Yesterday, we had with us Prof. Simon Bolton from Birmingham who gave us very useful insights. He is full of energy and passion. He told us that to be 'great' designers, firstly we need to have the will but also the right clients. Also, hard work is ideality. It makes one reach places. Behind every successful person is a hell lot of hard work.

Baatein with Mr. Gerard Eisterhold

Poster by Shridhar Sudhir

Baatein session: An Amalgamation of Gond Art and Chintz

Baatein Session with Prof. Roberto Fraquelli, NID

Product Analysis- Coil Tattoo Machine

As a part of our Product Design Curriculum, we as a group of 5 measured a Coil Tattoo Gun which actually belongs to a group member who is a tattoo artist.

Product Analysis- Jabra Solemate Mini HFS210

As a part of our Product Design Curriculum, we as a group of 5 measured Jabra Solemate Mini.

Well Designed Products

This blog is not there to promote any product.

Its appreciation of good design.
Scientific knowledge expressed with the help of art is design.




1. BLEEP BLEEPS
http://bleepbleeps.com/

Thes products are very innovative and colourful. They are made to make the parenting process easier and much more fun.

Sammy Screamer:
This gadget screams when something moves!
a very good alarm lock.

Happy New Year (Film 2014)

Director: Farah Khan
Running Time: 184 minutes
Producer: Gauri Khan under the banner of Red Chillies Entertainment
Distributed by: Yash Raj Films

Logos, Products and Company Names inspired from Animals

Many companies are named after animals and their logos are inspired from them. This blog post attempts to document as many such logos, products and company names as possible.

The reason behind naming a company or making a logo after an animal is that it leads to better associations and building a good brand identity. People tend to associate masculinity, power and speed with the big cats, eagles, vultures, bulls, crocodiles etc. therefore cars, shoe companies, biscuits encash on their names. Similarly, beauty products are associated with elegance therefore the company Dove does justice to them. I haven't been able to cover all obviously. :P

1. Jaguar

A) Jaguar Cars

Jaguar Cars, a British multinational car manufacturer is a brand of Jaguar Land Rover. It is owned by Tata Motors since 2008.

credits: www.jaguar.com

B) Jaguar Bathroom Fittings

Jaguar, a manufacturer of sanitaryware, faucets, bathroom enclosures, heating systems etc. was conceived in 1960 by N.L. Mehra. It provides complete bathing solutions.

  

2. Puma
Puma SE, formed in 1924 as Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik is a German MNC based in Herzogenaurach. It produces athletic and casual footwear and sportswear. It has entered a partnership with BMW, Ducati and Ferrari to make Puma- BMW, Puma- Ducati and Puma- Ferrari shoes.

3.Tiger Biscuits
Britannia Industries Limited is an Indian food-products corporation based inKolkata, Indiaand sells biscuits under the name of Brittania and Tiger throughout India. Recently, Elephant Designs revamped the brand identity of Tiger Biscuits.

4. Rhino
Rhinoceros (abbreviated Rhino) is a 3D computer graphics and computer aided design(CAD) software. It is a very user friendly software making it very easy to switch between the orthographic view and the isometric view. It is based on NURBS mathematical model and developed by Robert McNeel & Associates.

5. Grasshopper
Grasshopper is tightly integrated into Rhino 3D and allows the user to interactively drive geometry via a plug and play interface, removing the need for learning the RhinoScript language.Grasshopper works within Rhino and uses standard Rhino geometry but has its own slick interface window. excerpt from - http://aecmag.com/software-mainmenu-32/293-rhino-grasshopper

6. Flamingo
Flamingo is a plugin for the Rhino 3D modelling software which adds raytracing and radiosity functionality. It is developed by the creators of Rhinoceros, Robert McNeel & Associates
and sold both separately (although it requires Rhinoceros to work) and as a bundle with the Rhinoceros software.

excerpt from -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flamingo_(raytracer)

7. Penguin

A) Penguin Software

Penguin Software is a video game publisher from Geneva, Illinois that produced graphics software and games. They are mostly known for their graphics programmes Graphic Magician and Complete Graphic System, graphic adventure games such as the Transylvania series etc.The company was founded in 1978 by Mark Pelczarski but adopted the name of "Penguin Software" only in 1981.

excerpt from - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguin_Software

B) Penguin

 Penguin is a conceptual, sketch and cartoon, non-photometric scan line renderer for Rhino and Autocad.With Penguin one can create stylized images of models with an artistic look for enhanced graphic and visual appeal. It is also developed by the creators of Rhinoceros, Robert McNeel & Associates.

 

8. Mountain Lion
The cougar is also known as a mountain lion. OS X Mountain Lion is Apple Inc.'s desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers.

9. Big Fish Games

Big Fish Games is a provider of Internet media delivery software and game services. Based in Seattle, Washington, the company was founded in 2002 by Paul Thelen.

excerpt from- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Fish_Games

10. Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox as everyone is familiar with (known simply as Firefox) is a free and open source browser. Firefox uses the Gecko Layout Engine to render web pages.

11. Bull

A) Redbull
Red Bull is an energy drink sold by Austrian company Red Bull GmbH and was created in 1987. Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz was inspired by an existing Thai energy drink named Krating Daeng. In Thai, daeng means red, and krating is a reddish-brown muscle-bound bovine called a gaur, an animal slightly larger than a bison.

The “red and gold” logo of Red Bull, containing two red bulls charging against each other in front of a yellowish gold spot, represents sheer speed, power, risk-taking and aggressiveness.The font used in the logo is a slight modification of the Futura typeface.
reference: http://www.famouslogos.us/red-bull-logo/
                 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Bull

B) Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It is a franchise of NBA- National Basketball Association and play in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 26, 1966.

12. New Orleans Pelicans
They are an American professional Basketball team based in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. It is a franchise of NBA- National Basketball Association and play in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference. The team was founded in 1985 as the Charlotte Hornets, renamed as Charlotte Bobcats but over time due to many reasons changed its name to New Orleans Pelicans.

 

13. Atlanta Hawks
They are an American professional Basketball team based in New Atlanta, Georgia, USA. It is a part of NBA- National Basketball Association and play in the Southeast Division of the eastern Conference. The team was founded in 1946 as the Buffalo Bisons, renamed as Tri Cities Hawks but over time due to many reasons changed its name to the Hawks.

14. Minnesota Timberwolves
They are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association. Their mascot is Crunch the Wolf and the logo reflects the same.

photo credits: http://www.nba.com/timberwolves/

15. Milwaukee Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks are a professional basketball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They are part of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

photo credits: http://www.nba.com/bucks/

16.Dove
Dove is a company which deals with beauty products for women  and celebrates womanhood. With gentle curves and the selection of Dove as a brand identity, the logo does justice to the company. Also, a dove is symbolic of innocence, purity, love and freedom which is well incorporated in the logo.

photo credits: http://www.dove.in/en/

The logos used here are taken from the official websites of the listed companies.

Bicycle Diaries - Thol Lake, Gujarat

Cycling trip

Total Distance covered: 70 Kilometers

Starting Point: Paldi

Halfway stopping point: Thol Lake

Endpoint: Paldi

Time taken: 14 hours (6:30 am to 8:30 pm)

Boys Over Flowers (Korean Drama)

Start watching this Korean drama and you will be hooked to it. So, my obsession with this started on one random weekend and I stayed up till 5 am to watch it.

Pointillism

I have made the scene of an Indian Circus inspired from George Seurat's painting- The Circus. I changed the clothes of the audience and gave them a suitable Indian attire. Instead of a horse, an elephant has been shown. I went to a circus when I was very small so I tried to put all the elements that I remember in the painting like the acrobats, the man blowing fire, a man walking on stilts and a woman doing tricks with a hoop.

I also saw a movie- 'Dekho Indian Circus' and was highly inspired by it. After seeing the desperation and excitement in the eyes of the children to go to the circus, I could also feel the thrill and tried to bring that in the painting.

STUDYING THE STYLE OF THE ARTIST:

Before making a painting in the style of an artist, one should study it and do proper research. Therefore, I did some research on Pointillism and colour interaction with the use of dots.

If dots of different colours like red and blue are applied in the same area, then that patch looks purple if viewed from a distance.

Pointillism is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of pure color are applied in patterns to form images.Georges Seurat developed the technique in 1886, branching from impressionism and the movement was later known as Neo-impressionism.

INSPIRATION:

I took reference from other paintings of Seurat like A sunday on Le Grande Jette, Le Chahut and boats. For the gestures, I took external reference images of acrobats, an elephant etc. and after practicing it for some time, drew it out.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

1. Round Brushes -6, 4, 2, 0, 00

2. Poster Colour or whatever other medium is suitable to you

3. Cartridge paper

4. Water Bowl

5. Palette

6. Rag

7. Pencil

HANDS ON!

1.Make the basic layout of your painting with reference to the painting of Seurat - The Circus.

2. For the base coat, apply dull colours in appropriate areas. In this painting, mostly earthy colours like yellows, oranges and brown are used.

3. Start pointillism. Take a small quantity of paint in your size 6 brush and put dots on areas which have less detailing. As you gradually move to smaller areas, switch to thinner brushes like 4 and 2. 0 and 00 should be kept aside for adding shading and the final touches.

4. Do not put shaded or highlighted areas in the first layer of pointillism. After your whole sheet has been covered with the basic colours start adding the shades. The shaded areas can also have many layers. Many tints and shades of a particular colour can be used for shading and highlights.

TIPS:

1. Before applying a dot, remove all excessive paint from the brush. The dot shouldn't be watery because after it dries, it isn't very visually pleasing.

2. Do not mix excessive water in the paint.

3. When you open a new bottle of poster paint, drain out the oil from the top and mix the contents of the bottle really well with the back of your brush to get good, thick, consistent paint.

4. Always take paint from a palette. It helps you to mix colour well plus removing excessive paint from the brush becomes very easy.

5. Start painting from the top of the sheet so that your hand doesn't dirty the lower portion of the sheet if it's already painted. For adding layers, ensure that the rest of the coats are dry and while painting, put a piece of OHP sheet on the drawing sheet to prevent it from getting dirty.

MOTIVATION:

Pointillism is very time consuming so don't lose your patience.

Because in the end, the result will amaze you.:D

Paper Towns- John Green

The story is based in Orlando, Florida. The book is divided into three parts- The Strings, The Grass and The Vessel and all these parts carry different meanings. The book begins with Quentin (Q) and Margo discovering a dead body in the community park. Margo is unafraid of approaching the dead body but Quentin is scared.

Boiled Beans on Toast, A Play - Girish Karnad

The name of the play suggests that Girish Karnad loves making or eating boiled beans on toast but it is not so. Obviously. No character in the narrative eats boiled beans on toast either. 

Boiled Beans on Toast is a story based in Bengaluru, Karnataka. On one hand it shows citizens being fed up of the construction and traffic of the city and on the other hand, inquisitive migrants who enjoy observing these things.  This story is also about how people go to metropolitan cities to live their dreams but sometimes their dreams shatter and the reflection cannot be seen, even in a million broken fragments. The play doesn't seek to impart any morals to the readers but is a view of the city without sunglasses.

It portrays the different economic segments of the society and their lives.The upper caste of the society doesn't believe in the caste system. The middle class believes in it. Nowadays, belief in the caste system is looked down upon. The lower caste is the least bothered about all this. But it is clear from the narrative that it is still present in Bengaluru.

The characters in this book are very entertaining.

Starting from the topmost leaf of the family tree, the Grandmother- Anusuya has only one past time. Betting in Horse Races. She studies the pedigree of each horse before placing a bet and gradually ends up pawning her jewellery to get 2.5 lakhs for betting. Anusuya isn't the regular religious Grandma but indeed a very interesting character.

Mr. Padabidri is a business tycoon.

His wife Anjana Padabidri is the rich, idle housewife. To spend her free time, she visits a Karunashraya which means an 'abode of compassion' and is for the care of advanced stage cancer patients. She is very hospitable to guests and loves treating them to a hot cup of chai (tea). In earlier days, Anjana was a veena player and sang  the compositions of a famous saint. She used to spend time with her Bengali neighbour and learnt Rabindra Sangeet from him in her previous home since her husband didn't have much time for her. Anjana tried to kill herself and her son by eating sleeping pills after the neighbour left. Clearly, she was in love with him. Miraculusly, she didn't die.She stopped singing after that and later on, only sang in the Karunashraya.

Kunaal Padabidri, the son of Anjana and Mr. Padabidri is a veena player but plays the guitar as a rebel. He has a girlfriend Nandita and he spends some nights at her house against his parents' wishes. He supports the Grandmother when she pawns her jewellery. He wants to make a career in music.

Dolly, Anjana's friend and Vimala, Anjana's maidservant are the villains in the story.

Dolly spends most of her free time in Anjana's house. Dolly sends Prabhakar, a man who comes to join Mr. Padabidri's office to Singapore by telling him that he would get a job in Wipro. Prabhakar isn't scheduled for a proper interview and even after negotiating, he isn't able to get a job, all because of Dolly. He even lost the job he was doing before going to Singapore. Dolly makes people dream that they are very close to achieving their goals and fulfilling their hopes and aspirations but eventually, shatters them. She also tries to send a dance teacher in a school to the Trinity Laban Dance School in London, but we all know the consequences of this. Dolly messes with other people's lives because her own life is in a mess. Dolly is also beaten up by her husband regularly.

Vimala, a maidservant is accused of stealing jewellery from another house in which she works. She owns a scooter, can con the cops because she is adept at lying and it is very difficult to find out where she lives. The anonymity that the city offers, provides a convenient cover to her. At one point of time in the play, Kunaal considers to have Vimala as his girlfriend. She accuses Muttu who is the second maidservant at the Padabidri household of stealing her job when the Padabidris suspect her behaviour. Vimala blackmails Muttu by telling her that her brother, Shankara is lying wounded in the hospital but doesn't reveal the name of the hospital.

Muttu's family is very tight on money and she and her husband are barely able to call 30 people for their daughter's wedding. The food goes uneaten on the wedding because a family feud breaks out but let's not go into that right now.

To know the characters better and uncover the rest of the things not mentioned, do read the play. The ending of the narrative is very vague though. There are many stories going on in the play simultaneously, but they don't seem to connect in the end. Kunaal's new composition is titled 'Big  Bang Bangalore is a Big Black Hole' after he realizes that all of them are insignificant in a huge city like Bengaluru and the fact that the world would have gone on even if some person say 'xyz' didn't exist in the world.

This play has been enacted as a Marathi adaptation -'Uney Purey Shahar Ek' for a theatre company - 'Aasakta'.