»travel«

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.

Being Abroad : The Sketchbook Challenge

How many of us (who have stayed in Europe) have owned a Moleskine book? In my short stays in Milan and London over the last 2 years I have seen Moleskine books on almost 5 out of 10 people.

I have always wondered- what is the secret behind the success of these little black books? They dont have any gloss, or have any printed artwork on the cover, nor do they have any print inside that focuses the user to use it in a certain way.

I think there are 3 factors to its success.

1. People want to move away from over-branded products. This also drives the success of Muji (along with its simplistic style).

2. People hate scribbling within printed boxes as they feel constrained. Since Moleskine books are meant for personal note-taking, it accomodates randomness with its empty layout. It fills in the space of not having any print on the sheets by using very good quality paper.

3. This I feel is one of the most powerful reasons: Moleskine targetted its books to a certain type of user which I would call an Evangelist User Group (EUG). The books are sold with a strong focus on Travellers /People on the Move.

Here, the Traveller being the EUG is interesting as note-taking might seem like a daily mundane activity but as soon as you put it in context of a traveller, it becomes more exciting - journals, travelogs, maps, jotting down experiences of people you meet, places you see. A lot get associated with note-taking than just thoughts, ideas and appointments.

The EUG has to be a group that will start using the product or service and eventually explore/experiment their own ways of using it. This will open up more possibilities and open other peoples outlook and help people see its use in their own lives.

Here I am, typing this post sitting in a service apartment (apartment hotel as some might know it). As I mentioned in my previous post.. that we designers most of the time have the urge to make things look pretty before starting.

But I personally have another hurdle to cross before I get this blog started - starting on a blank slate. Now that I am in Seoul, Korea what better way to start off than narrating observations from a completely new & exciting experience of being in a new place.

I am hoping that this trip will give me a lot to write about. This is the first other country in Asia that I am visiting other than my own - India.

Just to give you a background of why I am here. Currently I am interning at Samsung Design Europe which is based out of London. Every year Samsung organizes a workshop called the Global Membership Workshop. They invite students from partnering institutions & interns who are interning at that time in their overseas design studios in 5 different locations. Most of the participants have previously doing some background work on a particular brief and present their initial ideas to the entire community. The workshop is a platform for each of these groups from different locations to build upon their own ideas with the help of experts and mentors from Samsung Headquarters.

So thats a small introduction of why I am in Seoul. Stay tuned to see and hear more about my experience here.

Friend back home in India keep saying that I've been travelling way too much... but I guess not :) There is a lot more out there !

This map calculates the number of countries you have been to and displays a percentage in relation to the entire world. So as of today, I have treaded over 5% of the entire world :)



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