»design«

Spotted this interesting categorisation of clients on freelanceswitch.com. Most of us who have had client interactions on a daily basis know exactly what this article talks about :)

Check it out.
12 Breeds of Clients & How to work with them.

After being impressed with ClearTrip as a web service, I am truly impressed with their blog. Even the fact that a company like that has a blog is awesome. Its great that ClearTrip realizes the need to connect with their customers. Companies that have blogs seem like they have are alive as opposed to companies that are represented only by their logos and the buildings that they operate out of.

What do they talk about in their blog? A variety of things - customer
feedback, business models, inspirational quotes, and many other things;
but the best part about it is that there is loads of emphasis on 'design'.

The fact that there these guys are 'design aware' is exciting. They recognze that its the simple user friendly design of the site, that is the driver of its success. Therefore the blog has a lot of design talk which is very educational. This to me is a great sign of things to come. I feel many companies will slowly realize the potential of design and give it the attention that is required.

Bravo ClearTrip for being one of the first !

With air travel becoming a common mode of transport for the masses air fares becoming cheaper by the day in India. To assist in getting the best fares, there are many sites cropping up online that allow users to compare and access fares across different airlines. One of these is ClearTrip.com



One of the first Indian web services companys' that I am inspired by. Not only do they have a very clean, simple and user friendly approach to the site but is a 'way of thinking' across the company.

As designers, we all are expected to be 'creative' at all times! People assume that accessing the creative person inside us is as simple as using a vending machine - put a design brief into the slot and get a creative idea out of the delivery box. But it isn't that easy. Anyone in the creative industry will tell you that it takes effort, discipline & a well defined process to come out with that 'big idea'.

An interesting article that I found on Steve Pavlinas' blog addresses this issue by listing out a few pointers that help catalyse the creative productivity.

1. Define a clear purpose
2. Identify a compelling motive
3. Architect a worthy challenge
4. Provide a conducive environment
5. Allocate a committed block of time
6. Prevent interruptions and distractions
7. Master your tools

Read the entire article here with explanations and anecdotes for each of these 7 points.

Was just catching up on Karns' blog (friend, colleague and founding member of Exit Design) and I read a really interesting article - the simple things it takes to be a professional in the field of design.

Read it here.

Its not too hard you know. Its all about being prompt.

Currently I am working with a small studio called Exit Design run by a friend of mine, Karn Malhotra. Increasingly I am beginning to believe that the days of big company = capable company are gone. Its all about transparency now.

It doesn't make sense for you to be a 2 member company saying that you have 10 people working in your team just because you think the client will not give you the project otherwise. I think the client sees more value in you telling him at the outset itself that even though you are a 2 member company you have the capacity of putting together a team which can handle the project.

In my opinion, eventually the client is not concernd about the nuts and bolts of your company as long as you can deliver what you have promised. It is YOU who the client is dealing with, YOU are the face of your company and it is YOU who he needs to trust and put his faith in. One of the best ways to gain that trust & respect is through TRANSPARENCY - to be upfront about your assets but confident about your capability. This also takes the client by surprise sometimes but majority of the times, in a positive manner.

This is my belief as of now. I guess I'll know how true it really is only by way of practicing it more and more !

Never ever did I think that I would have to go through 2 all-nighters in a row after the diploma project. What does that say about my time management skills ? Well.. not too much when the it comes down to a group project.

We interns have been working on a project for the past 2 months and as usual time has whizzed past and its already time for us to go back and present the final product in Seoul in front of a bunch of high profile Samsung management. Two of us, Jee Hye & I have been chosen to represent the entire London team in Seoul. Its really encouraging to have that responsibility but it also puts a lot of weight on our shoulders.

Which brings me to the part where I am typing this post whilst continuing my second all-nighter after last night. Why? As I mentioned earlier, when its group work, we need to distribute work amongst everyone. But that also means that it works like a factory manufaturing plant. Only if one part is over can the other take responsibility to take it to the next level. And this is exactly why I am stil here. I play a part somewhere at the end of the manufacturing chain - therefore dependant on the time management of everyone who comes before me.

Is there any other way than to work like a production line? How does one judge the amount of time that will be taken for a certain phase of a project? As a beginner in the professional design world I find myself searching for tools that will help me organize my time or help me prioritize tasks. Does this come with experience and a few more all nighters ?

Is this normal as a part of the journey in becoming a truly professional designer?

www.designmembership.com

An awesome initiative by Samsung in Korea. In short the Design Membership provides selected design candidates (who are studying at various universities around Korea) access to facilities almost equivalent to a design studio for their own projects. The selected students can work on a project that they like and are motivated by. The candidates are also supported by Samsung in a few ways throughout their education.

On my flight back from Seoul, I realised how much the way the air hostesses behave reflects the culture of the country that airline is based in. Other than the behaviour, their uniform also is very reflective of the culture. Although this is not the first time I have noticed this, it definitely sparked off a few ideas.



Korean Air + Lonely Planet = Informed Traveller + Brand Loyalty for the airline

I feel that flights like London-Seoul have a lot more potential in introducing the culture, language, food, places to see, etc. What if Lonely planet sponsored a bit of this experience where travellers would be introduced to Korean culture. This also presents itself as a rich design opportunity where tools could be designed for people to learn more about the culture faster (Culture Intro Kits).

Brand Partnerships seem to be the way in the future since being a lone ranger might just isolate the brand. If the trend is to sell a lifestyle then the strategy should be to sell an entire package of related products and not just one product.

With regard to the post below, it reminds me of the output of my final year Diploma project. The project titled 'Xtend' also revolved around the concept of the power of social networking. As an output of the project, I had designed a mobile application which allowed you to peep into your friends mobile contacts (Friend of a Friend aka FOAF) to check and match profiles with the kind of peope you were looking for. If you found someone who matched your profile you had to ask your friend for to introduce you to that particular person. This way a human filter would (hopefully) prevent people from contacting people they din't know randomly.

I personally find the topic of Social Networking through mobiles extremely interesting. However I am much more interested in the aspect of how people carry around their identity with their mobile devices. Whether we like it or not... most of us have some sort of digital identities. An email address, a credit card transaction account, an Amazon account or membership to a social networking site, etc, etc, etc. With internet becoming more and more mobile how will this affect our interactions with people?

How will technologies like Wimax affect peoples interaction and stumbling upon other people? Will location based profile matching take off? Will blind dates get a new meaning? Will we be able to make more friends or will we start protecting and hiding ourselves more than before as our digital identities will be traceable and trackable?