1. Design Thinking
“ How it all started for me ? “
Raindrops and footprints: Reflections on Design, talk by Professor M.P. Ranjan
Professor M.P. Ranjan has been associated with National Institute of Design since the 1970's. The
talk furnished me with the opportunity to reflect on the language of Design.
Design is a system of associated elements; the process is largely dictated by a purpose behind any
form of action. Systems thinking can be taken as a metaphor for Design, its correlation with activity
theory is thought provoking, it asserts comprehensible intentions and actions that create value.
Design Intentions are influenced by beliefs, faith and tacit knowledge.
Activity theory by Yrjo Engestrom is a framework that enables anyone to pursue any activity with a
specific purpose in mind. The three interacting entities, the individual (subject), the object-(purpose)
and the community, work together in order to mediate social action. This school of thought
denounces , the very isolation of the human being as the only component of analysis, instead it
propagates human activity via social interaction. This close interaction with the environment leads to
the manifestation of tools; which transforms and carry out the activity with social context amongst
the social strata (division of labour) in the system. Balance of activities is kept under check through
codes and guidelines of the social behaviour.
Design may not be purely limited to aesthetics; it caters to the macro level of functionality, which
can be devised not just via considering material, form and structure but ethnographical issues,
historical remnants and cultural entities. Design essentially functions in order to contribute in the
area of problem solving.
Application of Principles of Design largely includes humility, attention to details, semiotics, context-
traditions, values and ethics which I look forward to incorporate in my thinking process. I would like
to conclude by a quote by Prof. Ranjan, “Design is conviction driven”.
The question in mind is:
What is a Good or appropriate Design?
Professor Sethu Raman, Product Designer
Discussion held by Professor Sethu Raman was mainly about how does one perceive Design? We
being designers, how do we look at things and perceive the same?
Design comes with baggage of emotions and senses, which enables embodied experience, giving
birth to the experiential self. There is an ongoing battle between ego and desire; ego signifies zest to

2. seek pleasure where as desire fulfilment is a Design consequence illuminating the experiential
phenomena.
Human beings always work towards the fulfilment of the desires, consequently, we rely on the
virtual world, because we tend to satisfy our needs through the virtual reality, in order to fill up the
gaps for the needs which nature fails to gratify. The elements of Design, behind designing any
product are planning- which acts as the core of design, Object-which acts as the universe and the
technology which is the foremost instrument. Amidst the machine world, design enables us to be
liberated from the control of technology, because essentially it is the tool which moulds a product
and not otherwise.
We live in the age of information revolution, where designers have managed to free themselves
from the constraints, with the help of fruits of technology.
Bauhaus school of Design initiated the design movement throughout the world, they aimed at
offering design learning, and they believed design sensitivity can be acquired through the
curriculum. They taught the very grammar of visual language, and to master these principles of
design, design education was essential.
Being part of the creative intelligentsia, it is expected to utilise the right side of the brain, where as
with designers, there should be an effective collaboration between left and right side of the brain,
since right side resorts to experience and left side focuses on the lateral thinking, this collaborative
thinking gives birth to co- creation.
The question in mind is:
What is a Good or appropriate Design?
Professor Gajanan Upadhaya, furniture designer
The session by Professor Gajanan Upadhaya was very enlightening, as it was entirely based on his
personal experience as a designer.
Design is not discipline restricted, it's essentially about problem solving and offering effective
solutions that are conducive to functionality. The understanding of system and the whole process
involved in any product making, though self discretion should be exercised while making certain
decisions involving techniques and materials etc.
Design is cohesive, we tend to go back to our foundations, since change is the only constant, and
there is a constant need to redesign. Design is not free from emotional quotient or passion. Though
every designer should be able to critique his work devoid of any bias, one should be into self
introspection, whether you like your product or not.
Every product has a story to tell, a particular designer's personality traits, his own beliefs, taste and
preferences are evident in every creation.

3. Product viability cannot be ignored; structural logic is quintessential for product to be functional.
Perseverance as a characteristic is important for any designer, since there can be failure, trial and
errors before reaching the desired consequence.
The question in mind is:
What is a Good or appropriate Design?
Date: June 2010
Objectified, film by Gary Hustwit
Every Object has a narrative, it speaks about itself, the moment we see an object, a montage of
visuals runs through our minds and we end up making certain assumptions.
The movie talks about the complex relationship between simple objects to complex gadgets, and
how designers re- evaluate, re- design and re- establish new products into our lives. The grave
question I derive from the film is how these products have a lot of relevance in our lives though
taken for granted at the same time?
As part of the appreciation, it's important for every consumer to understand how a particular
product has been crafted and utilised effectively, to exploit its functionality fully.
Every object is tangible, with multiple intangible features, abstract expression is visualised into a
concrete form, and it is an act of transforming a creative thought into a physical form. Hence
Objectified.
The question in mind is:
What is a Good or appropriate Design?
Helvetica, film by Gary Hustwit
A film with reference to typography, graphic design and visual culture. Helvetica is one typeface, has
been enormously popular for about 50 years since its inception in 1957 by Max Miedinger with
Eduard Hoffmann in Münchenstein, Switzerland.The visuals of the film, begins with the markets,
billboards, typographical relevance and how it has managed to be an important part of our lives. The
very association with a particular colour and font is the mode of communication through which they
leave a firm impact on our minds and dictate our lives around them. Introduced amidst popularity,
Helvetica quickly absorbed into the word of communication through signage, corporate logos etc.
Post sixties, a major revolution in the field of graphics took place, there was a transformation from
stereotype face of Helvetica- font with aesthetic relevance to font with social responsibility, as the
need for more democratic signage system was felt. Typography became all about creating order,

4. ambiguity was avoided and more emphasis was laid on the content of the text other than just on the
appearance. Attention to details, such as inter relationship of figure and space was kept into
account.
Post Vietnam War, Helvetica was associated as the staunch and frozen typeface, attention was
diverted to more free spirited type face which experimented with palette and expressed subjectivity
and context through typography for example Grunge type face, neutral type face etc.
At the dawn of the nineties, the simplicity in typography was being missed, and the popularity of
Helvetica was re-established.
Fonts may be the most under-appreciated facet of design, at least with the universal community.
Few people give much thought to fonts or the role of fonts in good design, but a good font is key to
making any design work (if it contains text). Fonts are critical to just about any design (except,
perhaps, for designs that don't use words and letters at all). I understand Typography is about
message as much as form: a letter's density, its arcs and points, even its placement can convey tone,
spirit or mood.
The question in mind is:
What is a Good or appropriate Design?
Rivers and Tides, a film by Thomas Riedelsheimar
The film is on the British Land artist, sculptor, photographer, Andy Goldsworthy, who creates and
accessorizes the surroundings with the elements of nature, mostly organic forms that can be
moulded into art forms such as leaves, rocks, icicles, wood, flowers, and depict magnificence of the
nature. They can be temporary or permanent forms, deriving the inspiration from its surroundings
and blending perfectly within.
His concept mostly revolves around the organic forms representing concentricity, structure, idea of
fluidity and form in nature. The most interesting aspect of his work is that it transforms with time,
for instance art form with flowers or leaves will interpret into different state in due course of time. It
reflects the very sense of wonder and an nearly humming force of nature permeates his work and is
part of its draw. since the materials used are so ordinary, the transformations, taken to extremes,
become greatly extraordinary.
Can art be empowering?. The Idea of an art piece that cannot be confined to the walls of a museum,
purchased by wealthy collectors, or displayed in a corporate foyer or boardroom – for the reason
that it disintegrates in less than a day, perhaps even within 20 seconds and gets personified into
tactile layers of the environment, be it water or soil.

5. While fascinated by his symbiosis with the landscape, it also leaves me exasperated that today few
landscape architects work around the same ideology, but find it necessary to function perpetually
towards creation of projects aimed to outlast time, and fight against the gestures of nature.
His characteristic of perseverance is commendable.
The question in mind is: What is a Good or appropriate Design?
What is considered a 'good design'? Tracing relations of conceptual design to anti-design, rather
than prescribing a practice on the basis of theoretical considerations, these critical practices seem to
build an intellectual basis for design on the basis of its own modes of operation.
Good Design would be that identifies the needs of the people, which is 'for the people, by the
people', that combines empathy, creativity with rationality to meet the needs of the end user.
The overall experience of these discussions and the documentaries was enlightening in terms of
principles of design, sustainable design practises; I would like to incorporate this thought into my
design process.
Discontent is prime for any object to be redesigned, hence re-evaluation is continuous.
I was moved by the thought of 'Design little', application of minimalistic approach in my practice
considering the context, ethnographical issues would be the first step towards responsible design
practice. 'Designers can work as anthropologists or should rather'.