The 2019 economics Nobel Prize for Banerjee, Duflo and Kremer (hereafter, BDK) offers much to celebrate for Indians, Bengalis and Frenchwomen among others. Designers, in their modern role as global problem solvers, should join in. They have much to be inspired by. The practices of economics and design appear to have little in common. But they share common ground when… Continue reading Experiment and Reason
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Kishan Bagh
ICD is currently working on a signage project for Kishan Bagh. Extensive knowledge about the Thar habitat has been developed into a system of interpretation signs. This restored dune habitat in the southern face of the Nahargarh hill, Jaipur is meant to let people see how an undisturbed desert ecology flourishes. Read more about the Kishan… Continue reading Kishan Bagh
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
A Seat At The High Table
For at least half a century, design has been seeking a seat at the high table. Its leaders, a motley bunch of academics, ‘visionaries’ and the odd forward-thinking practitioner, believe that design should have a greater influence in the public sphere. Why not a presence in government or at least on company boards? To get… Continue reading A Seat At The High Table
Everything That Counts
On a scale of emotional temperatures, it doesn’t get any hotter than the 2019 Indian election did. And with the summer comes another TV war, in the shape of the 2019 World Cup. The two offer similar opportunities to reflect, or riff, from a spot in the shade. On how we experience them as emotional or social beings,… Continue reading Everything That Counts
Signal to message ratio
The landscape of urban modernity, or the world that our grandparents grew up in, is defined by the volume and density of verbal and pictorial communication. Entire industries centre on it: news, marketing and advertising, and much of design. Yet a vast amount of communications may well be entirely wasted, or at least measured with… Continue reading Signal to message ratio
How’s the Josh?
Indian campaigns aren’t really designed in the usual sense, unlike in the US: logos, typefaces and imagery, thoughtfully created and effectively orchestrated. But widen the window of design to view communication, and the effectiveness of Indian campaigns pops into focus. Consider the campaign as a totality of impressions: actions, statements, media reports, symbolism, and the… Continue reading How’s the Josh?
Emotion Trumps Reason
There simply isn’t a good reason for the designer to take note of the Indian elections. And even less reason to call it and venture to guess the result. Apart from the obvious risks, the design lens seems too underpowered to bring an election into its focus. If one sees design as a primarily visual… Continue reading Emotion Trumps Reason
Itu talks about ‘a place for design’ at H.Y.Sharada Prasad Memorial 2019
Itu’s lecture at the H.Y. Sharada Prasad Memorial 2019 makes a case for design to be amongst traditional learning disciplines. He takes us through the journey of design, how it might be located on the bookshelf of learning, what are the distinctions that set it apart from other fields of learning. And finally, can design… Continue reading Itu talks about ‘a place for design’ at H.Y.Sharada Prasad Memorial 2019
Now Trending
Every year, in late December, as the solstices approach—winter or summer, depending on your hemisphere—the design-trends-for-the-next-year articles appear, as if to beat the new year deadline. This false urgency exaggerates their significance: these aren’t catastrophic, black-swan events (wholly unpredictable—until they happen!) but slow processes already in motion. These ‘trends’ are tendentious and exist only in… Continue reading Now Trending