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Inaugural

Issue

CLOSE-UP with Sheetal Barge

What feeds your work?

SB: My work largely eeds on my doodling. Even photography,which is undergoing a shit o sorts. Ater coming to IDC I beganshooting pictures which are mostly environment/ city-scapesdevoid o humans. Currently they are pretty random. I am working

towards developing a voice o my own, I am not there yet- but Iam just about beginning to articulate through my photographs.In Films I am not loyal to a particular kind yet and watch all kindso lms. Biographies are especially relished due to the constraintsinvolved. In terms o content you cant tamper much with whatsexisting, compressing lie span o a person to the duration o lm,picking up highlights- pruning the unnecessary- all makes or goodlearning. So does environment creation through cues. My currentavourites are My blueberry nights, The Bridges o Madison County,Cold Mountain. Incase o animation, beore IDC I was a Disneybu, but ater coming here I have seen rench as well as Japaneseanimation lms and its amazing the variety o themes and stylesexplored.I relish work of Sameer Kulavoor, Ulhas Moses and Ravi Paranjpe .

DF: What are you personal work tastes?

SB: I like at coloured simplied illustrations, shapes comingtogether to create new orms. I like all aspects o motion graphics.

DF: What was it like working for two years?

SB: I worked at two places and they were extreme contrasts oeach other. In terms o the size, culture, philosophy and obviouslythe lessons learnt. My rst job was at a small studio catering toanimation pre-production. I was mainly involved with story-boarding and character designing. Though the place was very smallI was given a lot o reedom to experiment and everything was

learnt rom scratch, handling dierent kinds o projects. The nextjob was at a relatively bigger e-learning rm and I made show reelsor clients, in ash. Though the work was not as creative as the rstjob- I learnt in terms o certain tips and tricks that enable you tochurn out quality output to meet tight deadlines.

DF: Future plans?

SB: Near uture- Motion graphics, someday- Paintings.

DF: Parting words

SB: Over three semesters, I have realised that i you dont plan yourtime well and dont gauge your own capabilities things can goreally haywire. Its critical to have a realistic estimate o both howmuch time certain work would take and ones own capacity odoing justice to it. O course one should push onesel, but taking onunrealistic goals can be really rustrating.

SheetalBargeis a visualcommunicationseniorat IDC

Sheetals work largely eeds on her doodling, photography and lms. She is interested in multiple aspects o motion graphics. She mostly works in clean, 2D, at

colours illustration style as ar as her motion graphics work goes. She values the le arnings that came out o two years o work in contrasting atmospheres.

Work o Ulhas Moses uses Indian motis in an unconventional way. Imagestaken rom http://www.umsdesign.com

I like by Shilpa Bisht

My avourite Indian designer is Ulhas Moses. I have been loyally in aweo him since 2006- back when I never knew o IDC. His website wasbeing lusted ater by a couple o my riends in ofce. It was the veryrst time I saw an Indian designers work looking Indian. First time.

I had practically created a database o all design studios in India,wondering whom I should work with. It soon hit me, that they all dothe same work. That they all lack a voice. They have no distinct designstyle. Indian design invariably becomes kitsch driven, or is derivedrom a humorous exaggeration o a normal Indian product. Worse still,it goes into a spiritual, exotic land o snake charmersimagery. Moseshas broken the cliche. His prints are ull o play and action, where artand crat does combine into a design that is not pre-meditated. Heuses Indian motis in an unconventional way. He transorms some intocosmic algorithms, reminding me much o John Maedas work, orhis computer art. Yet his work is organic. One can sense how he hasevolved over the years in his own way. And he is still at it.

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EDITI

First o all thank you or picking up the inauguralissue o Drost. I write these words with a sense oanticipation and anxiety at the same time. Drostis an extension o the various views and counter-views discussed on IDC Suniyore- the podcastseries. Both clubbed together are an attempt tobring in the open, conversations that have beengoing on in smaller groups, whether in studios orat Descae. These conversations revolve aroundIDC- its people, their work, the culture. I am tryingto spark o a dialogue on what this place currentlyis about and the numerous possibilities o what itcould be.

In each issue the attempt would be towardsbringing together sta, aculty and students onthe same page. Literally and metaphorically. Inthis issue I am looking at IDC through the lens oan insider who is zooming in and out at dierentpoints in the picture. The Point o View sectionthis time talks o an important issue- reedom atIDC. While the podcast is a lighter easing in into aserious subject the article here attempts to lookdeeper.

This entire attempt is an outcome o my projectgetting people to interact. Why get people tointeract? So that IDC is a charged place ull oopenness, ideas and learning. The process howeverbegins rom the sel. I hope you nd this modestrst attempt enjoyable and excuse me in advanceor any shortcomings you might notice. Youreedback is always welcome.

Aditihelloaditi@gmail.com

Point of View

For a person to be able to create, she has to be ree in her mind, body andspirit. But what is reedom really? The way I see it, reedom does not beginand end with academics but goes beyond it. Freedom is speaking up, askingquestions, sharing opinions, criticizing without ear or avour. Freedom is alsochoosing your own schedule o work and play. Freedom is having a licenceto explore whatever subject, medium, technique one wishes to. Freedom isbeing able to work on personal projects apart rom assignments. Freedom isthe possibility o a student charting her own course o path at IDC.

Students like aculty are divided over whether IDC is really a ree place.To Understand the notion o reedom a little better one may do well tolook more closely at the attendance rule, even ormat o courses, projectsand the manner o evaluation. The attendance rule requires students tosign the muster everyday beore 9:30 am. Such a rule is oten regardedby students as an imposition on their reedom. Some members o acultyare inclined to regard this rule as something that emerges rom poorattendance or the morning interactions. Unless there is an internaldiscipline, whether in academics or otherwise it would be difcult to berigourou s, a qua lity which helps one thrive in a creative discipline. The currentscenario in IDC thereby, denitely needs to be re-examined in this regard.

Freedom and rigour go hand in hand. In act, working with rigour is theresponsibility o anyone who enjoys benets o reedom. Also rigour willresult not out o external orce or push. Those might help a bit, but in thelong run rigour will result only out o passion, a burning desire to learn and

curiosity.

What about academic reedom? Do students have the reedom to chosethe projects they wish to do? Yes, but then one ought to remember thatacilities and education provided to students at IDC, IIT Bombay aresubsidised by the tax payers o the country.

There has been, in my understanding little discussion in recent times overwhether the projects students take should in some way lean towardsbridging these social gaps. What responsibility do students o this institutehave towards the tax payers- as designers in making, needs to be discussedat length. Unless that happens, a disconnect between the needs o thenation and the projects undertaken will prevail. And the notion o reedomat IDC will continue to be hazy. Academic or otherwise.

Overheard@IDC: Rigour, woh toh apne liye hota hai. Faculty ko dikhane ke liye thode hota hai?? Rigour toh kaam mein ana chahiye,you should have a higher aim or yoursel than previous time, bass.

Archived Inspiration

Products designed in IDC for occupational and professional use:Products or occupational use become the priority items in adeveloping country. The income distributions clearly indicatethat 70% o the population in the lower income groups consumeonly 30% o the national produce. This would mean that thepoor majority spends very little on problems o comort. Designo products or poor has little meaning unless it deals with their

earnings. Workers and proessionals have seldom any say in thechoice o tools and equipment they use. Practicing individualdesigners may never be commissioned to design these productsin the present circumstances. Here comes a socially responsibleand visionary role or a design institute to tackle such problemsand propagate them among those responsible or decision-making. Students at the Centre are encouraged to take up suchproblems though rom a narrow commercial and proessionalpoint o view such exercises may look academic.

Many thanks to the contributors o this newsletter.Kunal Parida, or the Scaricature, Shilpa Bisht or Ilike, Sakshi Gambhir or tea party photos and Pro. A.G. Rao rom whose book A Decade o Design, I bor-rowed material or Archived inspiration.

The Japanese style cups rom ceramic studio were given to Descae and Sakshi organised a tea party to mark the occasion. The cups and the Tulsi tea being the

highlight. Not to orget chai conversations!

Scaricatureb

yKunal

Parida

The Gamela, scissors and shoe-shine stand were amongst the earliest projects at IDC and addressed the need o tools and equipment amongst the lower

income groups. Practicing de signers may never design such products but IDC chose to sensitise its students in the area o Indias unmet needs.

Freedom?