Author: admin

Healthy Planet website: play at work

We are designing a website for The Healthy Planet, a group of schools in Noida and Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. They are a remarkable school, in a world where education is being increasingly commercialised and regimentalised, Healthy Planet stands out. They celebrate the individual in each child and guide their learning using proven pedagogical research methods… Continue reading Healthy Planet website: play at work

Design and the future

Design, as a thinking style, is starting to be recognised for its contribution to tackling today’s most complex problems. Its role maybe even more important in the future, or the Future, that permanently fascinating horizon which occupies our dreams and fantasies. But not just in making the products and services of tomorrow.  Design is practical… Continue reading Design and the future

Kashmir’s Internet Siege

‘Kashmir’s Internet Siege’ is a 6 chapter report by Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society about the impact of internet and telecommunications blackouts in Kashmir since Aug 5, 2019. This report looks at internet disruptions through the lens of international human right norms; right to livelihood, health, and education, access to justice, freedom of press,… Continue reading Kashmir’s Internet Siege

alchemlife website: the power of plants

The human body can heal itself—with a little help from nature. The use of plants in healing the human body is as old as history itself. But, traditional schools of medicine lack consistency and reliability. Phytotherapy is the modern science that brings tested principles of pharmacology to the traditional knowledge of medicine to create phytoceuticals, plant based medicines that are safe and highly effective. We are designing a website for AlchemLife, leaders of the phytotherapy r…

You Don’t Absolutely Love Your Vernacular Newspaper

First, the news. At a recent WPP conference, sponsor Rajasthan Patrika (the group that owns the popular daily of the same name) challenged participants to make ‘Hindi cool’. Storyboard editor Anant Rangaswami judged their efforts, not favourably; but his insightful piece argues that we should invert cause and effect. If Hindi newspapers invested in design, he says, Hindi would look cooler;… Continue reading You Don’t Absolutely Love Your Vernacular Newspaper

Making Sense of Election Symbols

By themselves, symbols mean nothing. It takes prior knowledge to associate, purely by convention, a white-tipped cane with its blind owner. More connotative symbols acquire meaning by social processes. In an English storybook, a cock may announce the break of day, while its Indian cousin, the murga, may identify a certain type of tandoori joint.… Continue reading Making Sense of Election Symbols

We, the Undersigned

“The trouble with you creative fellows,” said VSOP (Very Superior Old Person), “is that you think brand only means advertising, or synthesising emotions to sell your widgets.” I’d sought advice on Brand India for an article, and sat across chutney sandwiches and coffee in the understated lounge of the lushly landscaped International Information Centre. I protested that no,… Continue reading We, the Undersigned

To Clutter, With Reason and Love

“Clutter,” said the Grandiosely Opinionated Deviant, (GOD) “is a master theme of Indian visuality.” He adjusted a pair of futuristic-looking hospital-issue dark glasses, an odd presence in the restaurant we were in. Recovering from eye surgery, he’d asked—summoned, really—my help with making notes and drafting a paper on aesthetics. Clutter, really? I asked, thinking aloud. “Clutter,… Continue reading To Clutter, With Reason and Love