The Blog has moved!

Incidentally, this is also the 100th Post on this blog. But yes,

You see, I have a cool new website now. And there's no point in blogging the same things at two places. But this blog has been up for almost 5 years. And that means a lot to me! So, I can't possibly delete it. This stays here. But, change is good.

The future posts are all on my new website. Have a look, I'm sure you'll like 'em. :)

Click here for the new blog:

Click! Click!

#10SketchesfromWestIndia

Recently I had the pleasure of going to Mount Abu, via Ahmedabad, and was lucky enough to see various sites on the road that fell between them.

I'd taken up a small hashtag project.

I'd sketch one sketch, wherever I went everyday.

I called this #10SketchesfromWestIndia, and this was active on Instagram for more the 10 days of my trip. Here are all the sketches.

On Instagram, they can be found here: https://instagram.com/explore/tags/10sketchesfromwestindia/

In flight sketch!

"World Vintage Car Museum", Ahmedabad

This person has collected 105+ vintage cars. (1920s - 1970s, European and American make)

Gravity makes everything look organic! As the third of my #10sketchesfromWestIndia here's one from Ajmer Intercity Express. 

For the 4th sketch from my #10sketchesfromWestIndia, here is one from the picturesque hills of Mount Abu, characterised by mellow sunlight, soothing winds and quite a few beautifully constructed places on the slopes!

As for the fifth of my #10sketchesfromWestIndia here's one from a subtle climb to a simple "sunset point" in Mount Abu.

This one's at Hotel Hilltone, Mount Abu

For this sketch from my #10sketchesfromWestIndia I trekked a small trek to Toad Rock, Mount Abu!

I had the pleasure of sketching No.8 from my#10sketchesfromWestIndia #hashtagproject, at Sun Temple or Surya Mandir from Modhera, Gujarat, the second of it's kind - the other being in Konark.

A multi faceted and intricate diamond was in the basement of the main chamber, which reflected sunlight to illuminate the entire temple court room - giving it the name. 

Allauddin Khilji, a Mughal invaded this temple in the 11th century, destroyed a few intricate statues and took away the diamond, also destroying parts of the temple. 

However, it is still said that there is wealth at the basement chamber that is sealed away. There are 2 secret pathways to nearby villages. 

500 year old Adalaj Stepwell, near Ahmedabad

And that's a wrap!

Here's No.10 and the final one from my#10sketchesfromWestIndia 

This time, it's me, drawing myself. 

It was superb doing this #hashtagproject. 

Instagram 200th Post

https://instagram.com/p/20HgceTdSP/

Here's a 10 minute quick sketch I did as my 200th Instagram post! 😁

An ode to all the food, idsketching, sunlight and comic collection photos I have posted till date on instagram

Macbook for Industrial / Product designers - yes or no?

After having used Dell XPS 14" for 5 years, (and having constant issues about heating, charger conking off, and battery dying thrice), I decided to switch to Macbook Pro 13". Of course, I was in a dilemma, whether to buy it or no, since the air around me was that "Most Product Design softwares do not work on Macintosh". Against all that, I bought the Macbook (which is a sheer piece of beauty in design and engineering - placements of lights, the fillets, fine-brushed aluminium - Wow!) So here is my experience. 

Before we start? My Macbook is
13"
2.5 GHz Intel Core i5
8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Intel HD Graphics 4000 1024 MB

Here goes.

Hardware:
Everyone keeps talking about it. I needn't say much. But a genius of manufacturing, engineering and design. Every fillet, every detail is so meticulous yet so simple. Looks so sturdy, yet beautiful. Trims are so nice! I spent a good hour looking at it before I even booted it!

Design Softwares:
Yes. The important bit.

Windows 8.1 / BootCamp on Mac
I am used to SolidWorks as my primary CAD software, and can't move away from it for anything - which is not available for Macintosh. So, I had to go for bootcamp / dual boot, only for that one singular software.

Does it heat up?
Yes it does. On prolonged usage. The only reason I went for an 8GB RAM is my requirement for SolidWorks / Keyshot. And 20 minutes into use of SolidWorks, it starts heating up. So, I am sure you don't need a cooling pad. I just keep my Mac inclined on a book, and that does the job.

How good is the performance?
Good!
It isn't exceptionally superb, as much as a Dell high-end PC might give you, but it doesn't suck, at all. SolidWorks work great and flawlessly on my machine!

Battery Life?
2:15 Hours max while on windows + SolidWorks


Mac OSX
On Macintosh, I have all my other softwares: Adobe suite, Keyshot, Rhinoceros, Sketchbook Pro, AutoCAD (many of Autodesk softwares have their Macintosh versions).

Does it heat up?
Not at all. Well, almost. Only while using Keyshot it does, but not as much as, or as quickly as it does on Windows.

How good is the performance?
Awesome!
This sexy beast renders faster than my Dell XPS (i7, 4 GB RAM, 2 GB NVidia) did at it's peak time! While using premier pro, the video rendering is quick and smooth! Wait time is so less for everything here. Photoshop, Keyshot work as swiftly as sliding on melting butter. AutoCAD and Rhino work well too. And Rhino is still in it's beta version, so it's free (and doesn't crash despite it's beta)

Battery Life?
~4.00 Hours while working on Illustrator / Photoshop.
~6:30 Hours while watching a movie, or just surfing the internet or playing songs.

Extras!
Beautiful and intuitive OS! You'll know the stark difference between Mac and Windows only on using Mac for a prolonged time. This is so easy! And so intuitive! And so pretty-looking at that. And nothing heats up! Optimum usage of resources at all times.

And so many things are inbuilt!
You can extract audio from video, cut it, apply album art, change artist-album-track name - all with apps that come with the Mac! Just one example of the infinite things you can do with it! 

And amazing notification centre, complete with reminders, calendar, which synchronises with your Facebook / Google calendar and notifies you with birthdays, and also gets you Twitter / Facebook / LinkedIn notifications on your desktop.

There is Hangouts, there is Skype.

Recommended Apps:
Evernote - Tell me one creative who doesn't recommend this App. Paired with my phone, and Tablet, this makes for a great resource for a designer.

Digital Color Meter - (Inbuilt) - Colour picker which gives you RGB values of anything you see on your screen.

Are you an Industrial / Product designer who thinks he should go for a Mac?
You totally should! Just go for 8GB RAM at least for good performance in SolidWorks.

The Freelance Experience

"...freelancing is the most amicable, and suiting path a Product / Industrial designer can choose"

The director of MIT-ID, Dhimant Panchal told me on my convocation that in his experience, freelancing is the most amicable, and suiting path a Product / Industrial designer can choose. It is only if one gets a superb opportunity from a very good agency or a company, that has an excellent design culture, that will bring out the best from a designer, that it is right to take up a job.

What is important to a junior designer / fresh graduate is finding his forte, and learning as much as he can on the job. That certainly won't happen in companies who aren't design led, and where design is seen as just another 9 - 5 job.

It was surprising to see so many freelance opportunities come to me, without even looking for them, when I was still a student. India does have a need for Industrial Designers. There is a lot for us to do, to firstly fulfil the basic needs of people here: their healthcare, their sanitation, cleanliness, and overall well being. Design and creative problem solving is a necessity in India, and well designed products shouldn't be a privilege, but consumables for common Indians to improve their quality of life.

Before my graduation exhibition, I'd printed out my business cards, and they look like this:

I wish to get the best of experiences and be the best of myself, before I start my own large initiative, which, I think will be in servitude of making smart things, that'd be mass consumables, durable, and of utmost necessity to people.

Freelance is very self propelled. I'd ended up making a bunch of timetables and set deadlines for myself. Also, there is no safety net. You make something, and show it to the client. He may approve of it, or slash it down entirely. That's where the design process comes into play! If you follow it, you won't make something vague - that isn't feasible.

Also, I ended up getting another project with my initiative with Pranali and Uttara: "Quip", for which we are going to Mumbai for our first client meet. These things are new and exciting! :)

Looking forward to more projects, and more myriad experiences! :)