According to the Dyslexia Association of India, “Dyslexia is a neurological condition that is characterised by difficulties that mainly affect the ability of a child to read, write and spell”. Even though there are multiple detection centres and correction facilities available, most cases go unnoticed, as they are expensive and unaffordable for people from lower economic classes, which leads to most children dropping out of schools in pursuit of manual labour after being deemed as ‘not so bright’. ‘Let’s find letters’ is an application under development designed by Poonam S. Wagle, a communication design student, and Sasupilli Madhuri, a computer science student currently pursuing a PhD on developing educational aids for children with dyslexia. The application's ongoing development necessitated a heuristic evaluation. This paper presents a heuristic for evaluation of educational games for children with dyslexia in India in terms of usability, game experience and pedagogy. This has been achieved by a comprehensive study of existing heuristic evaluations for computer games, mobile games and educational games. This paper also explores some myths and assumptions researchers may have about dyslexia, as the pedagogy of this category of games depends on it.

Greysprings Software Solutions Private Ltd. was founded by a team of alumni from IITs and NITs. They develop educational computer games for children that cater to kids of the age group 2-10. They believe that a right blend of technology and creativity can create such products which can not only make learning fun for kids but also open new dimensions to kids’ perception towards education. Their mission is to revolutionise education with the help of technology, making it simple, experiential and available for the masses.

Kanheri Caves in Mumbai are a group of 129 rock-cut caves of Buddhist origin. These caves have around 100 inscriptions and served as an important Buddhist settlement. Due to their large number, visitors do not always visit all of the caves and also don’t have enough information about their origins and significance. Most of the information given by guides is usually misguiding and incomplete. The caves also depict mythological stories which are hard to be deciphered by uninformed visitors.

Often one finds oneself adrift with thoughts, doubts and uncertainties, indecisive of how to proceed and filled with questions about how one got there. I found myself in a similar flux a couple of years ago, disconnected with myself, unsure of what I wanted, looking for an escape and procrastinating work. As I started trying to understand why I felt so, reading and looking up more information, I found that I was escaping from myself, avoiding spending time with myself and introspection. This project is an exploration into the self, spending time with my thoughts, pondering on the topics I have hitherto been dodging via the medium of embroidery. I hope that the project would provide some insight and encourage another who might find themselves in a similar plight to take a journey of their own.

The northern Himalayan belt is a hub for adventure activities such as trekking and mountaineering in the country. This enables the indigenous people residing in these areas to pursue a career as a guide in these activities. But they are often restricted because of their limited knowledge involving the technicalities of these sports, even though they have acquired a certification in the same from one of the mountaineering institutes in the country. A similar experience was encountered when the author was pursuing a course in mountaineering from one of the institutes where it was observed that these indigenous locals are unable to grasp certain concepts of mountaineering, mainly due to their low proficiency in English and flawed educational background. This acted as a hurdle in their learning during the course. Which, if left unaddressed, can lead to accidents causing injuries and even loss of life in the future when these people take on the responsibility as guides themselves. In an effort to tackle the same, in this paper we talk about our efforts to explain one such concept of friction involved in making a clove hitch (a type of knot) in mountaineering using an instructional video created by us. Further, we discuss the issues encountered during the same and how we dealt with it by using analogies derived from the everyday context of these indigenous people.

The search for an internship was a tedious task. The options were to intern with a designer, artist, design firm or an organisation. Also having enrolled with the placement cell at IIT-B, I was able to land an internship as a user interface designer (UI designer) with the oilfield giant Schlumberger. Schlumberger is the world’s leading provider of technology for reservoir characterisation, drilling, production, and processing to the oil and gas industry. The objective of this internship is to gain knowledge through real-life experience in various areas of user interface design while keeping the end user in view. To understand the overall functioning of a corporate enterprise along with the roles and responsibilities of a UI designer in this setup. To work and deliver creatives as per the briefs and deadlines.

Mountaineering is an extremely dangerous sport. It found its roots in India in the 1960s, and from there on, it kept growing constantly. Initially, the institutes which provided education to the people enrolling in these courses were meant to cater to the military forces of the country. But, ever since northern Himalaya became a centre of attraction for adventure sports in the country, the institutes opened up for civilians too who want to venture into this field. The people who are the most dependent on them are the locals, as it gives them an assurance of better livelihoods after the course by becoming trek leaders, climbing guides, etc. But, there is a huge mismatch in the comprehension of the locals attending these courses and the way in which the instructions are given. This often leads to half-knowledge and learning difficulties for these people. Because the methodology carried out here is mainly in line with the military personnel who have a basic form of education, whose comprehension is way higher when compared to the locals.

Whether we acknowledge it or not, sex is an integral part of human life. The irony is that, even though we are the second largest population on the planet, sex is still a taboo subject for us. Existing sex education is not sufficient for understanding sexuality, and it happens that many learn about sex from pornography. Such distorted understanding doesn’t result in a balanced outlook of human sexuality. There are many discussions and debates about the impact of pornography on the increasing rate of violence against women. Besides, consumption of pornography can turn into an addiction which affects the personal growth of a young individual. This project looks into this aspect of addiction and how it can work against the individual and his well-being.

Sound symbolic words (SSW) are the visual representation of the sounds in comic books. It helps the reader to imagine the ambience of a particular panel in the comic and hence plays an important role in enhancing the mood of the panel. Consider examples such as CRASH, DHADAM, BOOOMM, and so on. An SSW is designed by two elements: (a) the form, i.e., the visual representation of the SSW, and (b) the word itself that represents the sound. This paper focuses on the following topics: 1) The determination of a suitable SSW for some common sounds through a survey. 2) An individual study of SSWs in the comedy genre of Indian comic books. For the first topic, forms were created for the survey and were distributed online and offline to take inputs from participants. The forms were then analysed based on the data received. For the second topic, a bunch of Indian comic books (mostly Raj comics) of the comedy genre were studied, and observations were recorded.

ECHOSTREAM is an evolving community of designers, dreamers, and doers with professional expertise in industrial and communication design. It started as a collective which aimed to provide design services to the government of Sikkim and communities with the prime focus on larger development agendas in capacity and assets in Echo stream to take on the challenges of a start-up in designs.

Gamification has been practicing in various forms across disciplines like education, learning, conveying messages, business, and marketing. Currently, education and learning are some of the most dominant and widespread forms of gamification. Here we explore the scope of gamification in the game design course itself and how physically gamified coursework could be better than digital learning. The aim of the project is to replicate game design coursework into a physical medium such that the essence and the message remain intact, but the form changes in order to add the interactivity. The idea is to combine coursework with the engagement of a board game, which gives the essence of a book but also the experience of a board game to compete with the digital platform of learning, including the accessories and elements of coursework.

In recent times, the Internet has emerged as a platform for sharing experiences and expressions across the world. People use the Internet to seek help and to help others. Even in the medical and healthcare industry. However, with this ease come the consequences, and the authenticity of information on internet is questioned. The same comes with the role of art and self-expression to others. Rare topics like hallucination, sleep paralysis, and lucid dreaming came into being and reached the general public with the help of the internet and art projects. On one hand, it helps people to an extent; on the other, it turns to alter perspectives. The sensory experiences from hallucinations are more likely to distress people, and they start holding supernatural beliefs, which also gives rise to religious preachers to misguide people. In this project, all the aspects were investigated, how incomplete or wrong information can cause fatal circumstances. This project, based on studies of psychological health by specialists and personal and shared experiences of hallucinations by people, is an attempt to create a graphic journal on sleep paralysis. This journal is intended to create awareness and influence people who are suffering from sleep paralysis and hallucinations. The journal aims to make an impact on those people who refuse to express their experiences and suffering from any fear to some extent.

Sound symbolics (SSW) are the visual representation of the sounds in comic books. It helps the reader to imagine the ambience of a particular panel in the comic and hence plays an important role in enhancing the mood of the panel. For example, CRASH, DHADAM, BOOOMM, etc. An SSW is designed by two elements, (a) the form, i.e., the visual representation of the SSW, and (b) the word itself that represents the sound. This paper focuses on the following topics: 1) The determination of a suitable SSW for some common sounds through a survey. 2) An individual study of SSWs in the comedy genre of Indian comic books. For the first topic, forms were created for the survey and were distributed online and offline to take inputs of participants. The forms were then analysed based on the data received. For the second topic, a bunch of Indian comic books (mostly Raj comics) of comedy genre were studied and observations were recorded.

I wanted to work with a cinematographer, and I got the opportunity to work with a gifted cinematographer from the Indian film industry, Mr Santosh Thundiyil. After getting a post-graduation diploma from FTII Pune in cinematography, he started his career as a cinematographer with the Bollywood film “Kuch Kuchota Hai (1998), and then he gave so many hits like Krish, Rustom, Kaal, etc., in Bollywood, and also he did many regional films, advertisements and documentaries. He got the Filmfare Award and the Asianet Award for Best Cinematography. The director of this project was Suresh Eriyat; he is a well-known Indian animator, director and producer. He did his postgraduation at NID Ahmedabad in animation. He started his own studio, Studio Eeksaurus; under this studio, he did lots of TV commercials and short films. Mr Suresh Eriyat got two national awards, one for “Fisherwoman and Tuk Tuk” (2016) and “Tokari (2018). Along with this, he got too many national and international awards for his work. He is known for his experimental style and techniques. I am feeling very glad that I worked with these two maestros. It was a great experience with them to understand how the film industry works.

In this digital era, gadgets have become a part of human life. Social media helps connect different corners of the world with a snap of a finger. Social media is misused as much as it is used judiciously. Posting and forwarding hoax messages, rumours, fake news and fake information is one such misuse, which quite often results in violence, riots and loss of human lives. Sentiments take over conscience and harmful decisions are made without verification and further investigation. My story is inspired from one such incident that happened in India, where people lost their lives because of the hoax message. It can be a dilemma whether social media is useful or not, but it can be said that it is up to an individual to decide how they could deal with these kinds of situations. The film being expressive, full of emotions and information, is a good way to communicate and express my thoughts.

It is essential in our lives to grow up with both parents, with their love and their support (financial, mental and emotional), which helps us to grow and stand on our feet. But when one of them does not exist in a child’s life, what then? Then it becomes difficult and more challenging for both the single parent and the child. This happens very often; we see families like this in our neighbourhood, among our relatives, friends and in our society, but it is very difficult to know all their problems. This film is an attempt to shed light on the problems related to single parenting faced by both parent and child.

In the history of any art form, cinema made the biggest impact, covering the most widespread audiences with the least amount of time. In 1896, the dawn of filmmaking, Georges Méliès invented the “cut”, and the magic began! Instead of just some moving images, cinema got its own language. And now, after 100 years, when we have 360-degree filmmaking techniques, we are still not clear what to do with it. The basics of filmmaking technique are again now on challenge. Right now we have to rewrite the whole language, from the point of light to composition, editing and even storytelling. So-called specific rules are not usable right now. Possibilities are infinite; only we have to find out the most efficient way. In merely a hundred years it has changed so drastically that to make a comment on any form and substance of film is exceedingly difficult. Though the change is substantial, as Soren Kierkegaard said, we can only understand something by looking backward, though we lived forwards. So if we want to understand the future, we have to look back and try to find out the pattern of the whole process.

The main aim of this internship was to learn about digital film editing as well as get an exposure to the film industry and get an overview idea of how all the departments with different skills work together. During my studio visit I got an opportunity to know about the approach towards the whole filmmaking process, which was an eye-opening experience.

We adopted our constitution to make our country a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic. These were the initial steps taken by our political leaders. In the last two decades of the 20th century we decided to move away from the ‘licence-raj’ and opened our market to the forces of globalisation. But where do we stand in the second decade of the 21st century? Did we solve our initial problem in a significant way? This project attempts to understand Indian society since independence.

The term “alienation” means a feeling of exclusion, coming apart of essence and existence. As human beings, we are always trying to achieve a better quality of life. However, in modern society, we do not seem to exercise a will or consciousness or design. We just do as we are told. We act in a mechanical way. Although human beings are essentially productive, this system moulded us in such a way that we feel most human when we are away from work. We feel human by means of consumption, which is a parody in itself, making us as similar to other beings possessing the same qualities. Due to this, the most important quality, the ‘creative’ part of us is being ignored. Any form of human creativity can lead to an eventual improvement of a skill/art, but in the assembly line-structured systems, that’s not possible. In such a system, we may achieve increased production; however, if we value human life solely based on economic profits, we significantly limit our potential. In this project, I attempt to address some basic problems of alienation which are well known around us. Though those problems are not clearly identified as major life-threatening issues of our society, the number of people who are suffering from this state is not negligible.. As an outcome of this project, I have chosen to use a short movie as a medium to communicate my thoughts.

In the age of smartphones and internet connectivity reaching every person, digital communications have become an integral part of almost everyone’s lives. WhatsApp is one such internet-based messaging and communication platform available as a free application and widely used in India. In this report, a study of Whatsapp usage variation across age groups has been presented. Quantitative interviews were conducted across participants of different age groups ranging from 12 to 72 years to investigate the frequency of usage of messaging and also the various document-sharing features and chat features provided by WhatsApp. Data is represented graphically, compared and analysed. This led to a brief overall understanding of how people from different age groups appropriate the use of the various features provided in WhatsApp Messenger.

The app icons and their screenshots displayed in the already overcrowded online application stores are extremely crucial. In split seconds they create impactful impressions and can directly affect the purchase rate of the app. Under the digital marketing space, the main area of work for me was designing icons and screenshots appearing in the App Store and Play Store for those apps created by the company. This included studying the various existing game icons and screenshots in these online stores and generating the essential ideas for the same for the given games. Also, some areas of Content Development for ASO (App Store Optimisation) and creative writing were covered.

With a slight flavour of the #metoo movement running in the backdrop, ‘Staring’ is chosen as the representative topic of concern in this project. The intention to do this project is bilateral. For one side, it is to enhance sensitivity amongst us so that we are more aware of how our actions in public might be negatively affecting someone around us without us even realising and hence, act consciously. For the other side, it is to amplify the level of consideration amongst us so that before we immediately jump to conclusions, judge and take action against something that disturbs us, we give it a thought from the other person’s perspective too. This short narrative, in the final form of a photogenic novel, hopes to shed some light on the above grey issues and foster understanding of the misunderstandings that could happen anytime.

I was inspired to take up this topic after I had a deep discussion with two of my close batchmates, Meera (who is a lesbian) and another guy friend (who is gay and doesn’t want to be named). Even post-decriminalisation of homosexuality, her parents were not ready to accept her and her girlfriend’s relationship, and on top of it, they were forcing her to marry a guy as a solution to avoid the social pressure. It was drastically affecting her personal as well as academic life here, and it left me disturbed with a question: Which is a bigger weapon? The law? or the social prejudice that still exists in varied extents throughout the country. Decriminalising Section 377 is surely a progressive step that has brought about a huge positive wave of change in our country. But still, there exist many who are yet to be a part of the change and are still holding on to their preconceived myths about homosexuality instead of actually knowing more about it. Many blogs written post-decriminalisation state that it’s still a ‘battle half won’ until the social prejudices vanish. The struggle to win the other half still continues, and I genuinely wish to contribute to it through my work. We usually like to follow the natural rhythm that has been already set by the society for us. Going against it or choosing to differ takes courage, especially if one has already spent most of their life abiding by all the set rules, which is the case with most Indian parents.

Observation and research of visually impaired people dealing with the exchange of banknotes with a mixture of old and new designs. It also includes their habits and behaviour as well as tricks and tweaks for identification of denomination. The paper portrays the current situation of visually challenged people while exchanging currency and analyses the new design of the currency (Visual + Product) and its usability and utility, considering the amount and type of population we have.

The main aim of this internship was to learn and explore details of wayfinding and signage and its installations. Graphics Beyond, III being specialised in Public Information System Design and Installations, it helped me to study in this particular area. Then I got a chance to visit the workshop where all designs get produced as per the required scale. There I got to study materials used for installations. I also worked on the typography area, where I worked on personalised stamps and identity, and then I worked on the packaging. The place was full of a lot of books; I got a chance to read most of them. Overall, it was nice learning. I got introduced to many real-time problems which usually occur in workshops as well as while installing them, which the designer should attend while designing.

Museums always have been unbiased teachers, as they are open to everyone regardless of class, race, gender, caste or religion. I believe that they are a portal to the past and a bridge to the future. We always have been talking about aesthetics, forms, metaphors and concepts of ‘Western culture’ while referring to design. I recently visited the Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum in Pune and was fascinated to see the variety of artefacts one single museum could have. I would urge every designer to visit this museum at least once. It triggered to me that the museum needs some boosting, as most of the audience are unaware of its amazing collection. The collection consists of musical instruments, Mughal lamps, paintings, carved palace doors, a pottery collection, and vessels made up of terracotta, copper, iron, and even brass. Each and every object displayed reflects the mastery of the craftsmen who designed them. The project will be a rebranding design exercise which will give the museum a new face. The exercise will include creating infographics that will turn the museum into an informative exhibition rather than just a display of historical artefacts. The project also looks forward to creating way-finding solutions for the existing museum building to increase ease of navigation. This project will be an attempt to bring forward the Kelkar museum with a new face. The project will also focus on informing people about the richness and beauty of Indian craft.

This started as a project about love and patriotism about our country. But in the initial stage of presentation and studies, I understood that love and patriotism are very personal, and everyone has their own political preferences. Children and youngsters have their own definition of love and patriotism for the country based on their surroundings. The idea was then narrowed down to why is my country not clean, not disciplined, and not punctual, and why is there a ‘Chalta hai’ (it’s okay) attitude, which I think is the base of many problems we face in our daily routine? How do we introduce these problems to children of developings? That was the challenge I accepted and started working on. While talking to the children, I came to know that they do observe things happening around them but do not understand why people behave like that! After talking to the adults, they were unconcerned about this issue, saying that in India that’s how it will be. As a witness to these weird behaviours I face every day, I decided to study and portray different angles of Indian socio-culture and civic sense in front of children so that they will grow up to be responsible citizens in the coming years.

According to the Dyslexia Association of India, “Dyslexia is a neurological condition that is characterised by difficulties that mainly affect the ability of a child to read, write and spell” . Even though there are multiple detection centres and correction facilities available, most cases go unnoticed, as they are expensive and unaffordable for people from lower economic classes, which leads to most children dropping out of schools in pursuit of manual labour after being deemed as ‘not so bright’. ‘Let’s find letters’ is an application under development designed by Poonam S. Wagle, a communication design student, and Sasupilli Madhuri, a computer science student currently pursuing a PhD on developing educational aids for children with dyslexia. Since the application is under progress, a heuristic evaluation of the same was needed. This paper presents a heuristic for evaluation of educational games for children with dyslexia in India in terms of usability, game experience and pedagogy. This has been achieved by a comprehensive study of existing heuristic evaluations for computer games, mobile games and educational games. This paper also explores some myths and assumptions researchers may have about dyslexia, as the pedagogy of this category of games depends on it.

Adivaani, based in Kolkata, is an archiving and publishing organisation dedicated to creating a database of Adivasi writing for and by Adivasis. Established in late 2012, Adivaani has published 19 books spanning various genres, including fiction, non-fiction, folk stories, historical accounts, and poetry. The organisation was founded by Ruby Hembrom, who also serves as its director. Hembrom is the author of two Santhal creation books titled We Come from the Geese and Earth Rests on a Tortoise.

The project attempts to reinterpret and create original content based on the Kolarian customary folklore for the Ho-speaking population of India. The project also aims to generate a contemporary folklore which is intertwined with the old and the new. Furthermore, it explores how landscape and soundscape can be employed to set up an ambience to effectively express a visual and aural narrative.

The project attempts to create a contextual and relatable visual narrative of Kurukh’s spring festivals as a learning tool for the underprivileged children from resource-constrained rural and tribal areas with low literacy levels. The project also aims to promote local folklore and narrative in order to inspire, encourage and help its readers to familiarise themselves with English as a foreign language through local narratives. Furthermore, the project explores pop-up design as a medium to enhance visual folklore in order to create an immersive and tangible experience for the reader.

As new companies which leverage smartphones to provide innovative services are becoming more and more common, there is a need to understand what leads to the adoption of these services. Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) Theory proposed by Everett M Rogers provides a framework to understand various factors involved in the diffusion of innovations. In this study, we analyse the diffusion of new service innovations by looking at two services, PayTM and Swiggy. The study focused on postgraduate students of IIT Bombay who would fit into the user category of innovators and early adopters, as defined by DOI theory. We conducted interviews with the students to understand their experience with PayTM and Swiggy and identified important factors that led to the adoption of these service innovations. This data was mapped to the variables that affect the rate of adoption of innovations, as defined by DOI theory. The study finds that some variables have more importance in the diffusion of the two service innovations considered among students of IIT Bombay. The study suggests that the DOI framework still holds as a good framework to understand the diffusion of innovations, but it has to be modified to incorporate factors as demanded by the context.

This internship project is on the pre-production of a game show which was a Sunday prime-time airing project taken by Zee Network. This is taken to compete with the parallel game shows that were running between 1-2 pm on Vijay TV, which is the main competitor of ZEE TV. Following the Success of the “Athirshta Lakshmi” program the same production house was hired to make this game show. The initial budget of the game show was 35 lakhs. Media Mogul was the production house hired to make the game show. And I got the chance to work on pre-production activities of the game show, which was going around June and July 2018.

Perceiving whether a life experience is positive or not is purely subjective. Sometimes we fail to understand this. This short film tries to showcase the emotional fulfilment of people who are otherwise considered as a failure in public eyes. We publicise so-called success stories, which are just a minor percentage. In this film I am telling the story of a junior artist in the film industry who is considered a failure and his unique perception of it.

In the evolutionary process, humans are said to be at the peak of intelligence and are exploring different aspects of life based on their own talents. We are in the digital age when something can be communicated to the whole world in a click of a button of a smartphone. As we enjoy this power, it's an ugly truth that a percentage have not yet started their lives. An animal’s life goal is reached when it gets its food, but not in the case of humans. We are here to live rather than to survive, yet some of our own species share the condition of an animal, even worse. There’s just a hundred-kilometre distance between the country’s richest person’s home, Antilla, and a thatched hut in Palghar where children die because of not getting food. Many unknown faces work with the government or individually to bring fresh life out of the death cycle, and my work here is to document the effort, such as a network of people who work on malnutrition, particularly in Palghar.

The printed visuals, like posters, banners, and billboards, are a frequently used medium for communicating messages and advertisements. The visuals are printed on various materials like PVC-coated polyester sheets called flex, cloths, acrylics, cardboards, metal sheets, papers, etc. Even in this era of social media and the internet, the printed visuals are considered to be a powerful medium to reach the maximum number of people. IIT Bombay, one of the prestigious technical institutes in India, holds various festivals, talks, conferences and many events for its students and people outside the campus; this results in poor management of printed visuals on the campus. The aim is to study the use of temporary printed visuals and understand its effect on the environment of the campus and the consequent problems and come up with plausible guidelines and solutions.

This project is to create a multipurpose, monolinear, variable Devanagari typeface. The aim is to provide users a better alternative to existing Devanagari fonts and flexibility to use it as per their particular requirements, which non-variable typefaces may not be able to do. The idea of developing a variable font for an Indic script occurred to Mr Manoj Gopinath, a prominent type and visual designer himself and my guide for the project. Variable fonts are a relatively new and unexplored arena in typeface design for Indic scripts. I am very grateful to him for his faith in me and allowing me to take this project forward. The brief was to create a variable typeface which should be multipurpose (usable in different contexts), monolinear (to maintain the readability at different sizes), aesthetically pleasant and appealing to all ages. To give it a modern feel, it should be neither too roundish nor too squarish, as all Indic scripts have a characteristic roundishness. I was able to understand the intricacies of typeface design and the sheer hard work that goes into it during the internship. I was able to complete the basic designs of 26 characters (12 consonants, 14 vowels and the corresponding maatras), which are subject to further modifications.

The aim of this project is to design a multipurpose monolinear Devanagari font, which can be scaled to be used as a variable font in OpenType format. After initial form iterations in the weight and width axes with emphasis on readability, it was decided to create a form which is not too roundish or too squarish but to go with a form which is in between the two styles. The final font follows a unique visual form which is unique and finds a peculiar blend of round and square visual primitives. The final output is currently in single weight, which can be used for text as well as display purposes. The final form provides a good outline structure for further development as an OpenType variable font in multiple weights and widths.

All people experience anxiety at one time or another, to varying degrees throughout their lives. Anxiety is a feeling of uneasiness and worry, usually generalised and unfocused, as a reaction to a situation. However, the perception of threat in the concerned situation is very subjective. Anxiety affects quite a few people in a way that it hinders their daily life. Due to lack of awareness, lack of communication, negligence and stigma surrounding the issue, it remains untreated and could lead to unhealthy repercussions. As someone who struggles with depression and anxiety, I felt a strong desire to help other people who might be going through it themselves or know someone who does. It proved to be a great learning experience as I navigated through it myself, got to know different perspectives and helped myself understand these issues better. The project, in a sense, has been a very personal journey of hope, self-awareness, and finding the confidence and comfort in being my truest self as I worked on myself and, thereby, on the project.

The printed visuals, like posters, banners, and billboards, are a frequently used medium for communicating messages and advertisements. The visuals are printed on various materials like PVC-coated polyester sheets called flex, cloths, acrylics, card boards, metal sheets, papers, etc. Even in this era of social media and the internet, the printed visuals are considered to be a powerful medium to reach the maximum number of people. IIT Bombay, one of the prestigious technical institutes in India, holds various festivals, talks, conferences and many events for its students and people outside the campus; this results in poor management of printed visuals on the campus. The aim is to study the use of temporary printed visuals and understand its effect on the environment of the campus and the consequent problems and come up with plausible guidelines and solutions.

LogIQids, started by IIT-IIM graduates, is anive web-based learning tool to develop logical reasoning in kids at a young age. LogIQids aims at boosting brain development in kids and enhancing various critical skill sets like problem-solving, creativity and lateral thinking.

The project is about the future of handlooms in India. The handloom industry has faced critical times due to the invasion of mechanised looms and decline in demand, but to convert this sunset industry to a sunrise industry, few of the young enthusiasts have put in their efforts to revive the craft and preserve the knowledge. The aim of the project is to communicate their ideas, work and journey in a book and appreciate them.

“If the craze for machinery increases, a day will come when we will curse ourselves for not being able to use the machine gifted to us.” - M. K. Gandhi. Like any of his other predictions, this prediction scares me and has made me realise that other than using our fingers for scrolling on our mobile phones and ordering food and clothes, we are on the edge of losing the basic knowledge of cultivating and cooking our own food and spinning, dyeing and weaving our own clothes. We have relied on technology that has negatively affected our confidence, self-awareness and happiness in reality. My project is to understand self-reliance by making cloth from cotton. This will help me understand Khadi, which has been mislooked just as a cloth, and understand its importance in my development of being more aware. My second objective is to weave an indigo-coloured convocation scarf for myself and my friends and learn the process and challenges faced during the process. Through this project I want to develop a perspective towards the need for handlooms as a means to sustainability by living and experiencing the lifestyle which is sustainable, interacting with people with a similar ideology and putting the energy into the formation of the future of Dandi studio at IDC School of Design.

This work talks about the relevance of mockumentary as a medium to communicate. We try to look into the general perception that many students fail to introspect and find their own calling while skimming through rigorous academic guidelines within the design field. We believe mockumentary is an ideal format to address this story by standing objectively on the sideline while trying to portray serious issues in the plot through the ‘mockumentary treatment’. Initially, we studied classic mockumentaries to identify treatments and approaches towards the plot and scene. We have used the format of interactive storytelling with a choice-based narrative. Followed by a short study into interactive films and the possibility of integrating mockumentary through this interactive medium. Which brings about the question of the approach: emergent narratives or the traditional storytelling ways? In the later part of our work, we elaborate on the process followed while outlining the plot and pre-production planning while working with the Text RPG approach to identify possible problem areas while conveying our story to the audience. Finally, we talk about challenges while working with interactive mockumentary as a medium and its ability to persuade compared to the traditional narrative median path we choose to stick to.

The purpose of summer internships is to provide an opportunity for students to get experience working in design firms, practising professionals in various fields of design, artists and consultants and other kinds of organisations and social enterprises. It is to be no less than four weeks.

The project deals with the study of portraiture, from portrait paintings to post-digital-age portrait photography, its evolution and role, with particular emphasis on mapping changes in stylistic approach in photography against art movements of the time, marking out advances in technology and other unique events. It addresses issues of content, paying attention to history, theory, and formal analysis along the way. Contemporary portrait styles have become more relaxed and less formal in the past decade. What is gained is a level of spontaneity that people seem to like. What is lost is the idyllic, structured way of rendering the human form. There are numerous reasons for the move to a more casual framework. The influence of fashion photography, with its heavily diffused lighting and untraditional posing, is one big reason. A change to modern DSLRs and equipment like the electronic flash gives photographers a level of flexibility that lends itself to shooting lots of images and many variations, including more spontaneous poses, not just in traditional studio settings. Digital technology offers the portrait photographer flexibility and speed and, perhaps most importantly, the ultimate in creative control. Additionally, the daunting task of traditional retouching has all but been eliminated by Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom and its many tools and techniques. The special effects tricks that were once the province of the accomplished dark- room technician are now routinely created quickly and expertly by the photographer using software. This project attempts to combine some of the time-tested disciplines with more contemporary methods in such a way that they will be useful to the modern-day photographer. It is not the intent of this project to impart a series of rules that must be followed without exception. Instead, this report aims to give photographers an understanding of the traditional rules and how they may be broken so they may incorporate what they will into their individual repertoire of techniques.

In this project, which has been my most extensive yet, I travelled along the river Bharthapuzha that runs through the length of Kerala, documenting the environmental condition of the river and the lives and occupations of people who live by it. In this process, I interacted and engaged with many people who have been closely related to the river, through personal histories, and some of them, through conservation efforts. In this process, I learnt of how environmental conservation is inextricably linked to social justice. And in a deeply hierarchical society like Kerala, conservation and caste cannot be addressed separately. These are complex questions, which I perceive and have attempted to understand. However, how does one address the difficult relationships between society, economy and environment in our conservation efforts? I have tried to use the medium of film as a tool for research. Through this medium I have tried to understand how the changes in society, culture and economy of the riverside population may have contributed to the degradation of the river.

Maps are wonderful examples of information design. Information design is the organising of information such that the hidden content is brought out in the right context and underlying patterns and relationships, if any, are made visible. The redesigned portable map of the IITB campus is a reference map. The purpose of this map is to help visitors find their way around 550 acres of sprawling IITB campus. In India, people are more comfortable asking for directions than reading maps. In this context we looked at the existing IIT Bombay campus map to find out the difficulties people faced while using it.

The most primary means of commuting within a country and in its cities is its public transportation systems. These systems get flooded every everyday with commuters and tourists that wish to use these systems to their full extent but are commonly confronted with problems in wayfinding and even language. Here in Mumbai, the public transportation system is the lifeline of commuters. The system is a complex web of services, woven with railways, metro, mono and bus transport. The most common problem that comes across while commuting through these systems is the wayfinding. There are systems in place for wayfinding, but they stand inadequate when confronted with the density of population and its diversity. Symbols and signs are now being used widely due to their ever-increasing need in wayfinding at public spaces, where masses of people interact and language becomes a barrier in communication. But it was observed that symbols that are responsible for guiding an individual to his/her destination are modified to meet the aesthetics of each individual system and then executed using hand-painted symbols, stencils and even stickers, depending on the overall budget. These symbols vary with every mode of transport, from bus to rail to metro, eventually creating a chaotic wayfinding experience. Here, the need to create a standard for the execution of symbols arises to ease the wayfinding experience of tourists and commuters and facilitate the ease of execution of more wayfinding systems in the near future, as more transportation systems might get included in the same web.

After being amplified by the media, the #Metoo movement generated fear between the sexes; men started to be scared around women. Companies started devising policies that created a rift between men and women rather than bridging it. This was just the opposite of what the movement was set out to do. The question asked by me over this problem was, “Why don't they speak up right away?” Lead me to understand that the insensitive point of view I was harnessing was in itself one of the reasons they don’t come out and speak openly. The question formed the basis of the project and helped me gain an overview of the patriarchal world we live in. Where we expect solutions to all the problems to be clear as black and white. We often have strong points of view over situations which we see or hear from a distance, but the ones who face them know and understand the complete heat of it. The project was able to surface multiple reasons and their layers that make decision-making hard in situations like these. The victim is confronted by multiple psychological and physical challenges that include fright/freeze, shame, denial, fear of consequence, low self-esteem, isolation, and hopelessness, eventually breaking the willpower of the victim to speak up. By the time they realise the fact that action should have been taken, it becomes too late. The focus of the project is to communicate through a fictional story about sexual violence and explain reasons why victims of such incidents don’t speak up. How perpetrators get away with the crime and how important a role society plays in situations like these. The challenge of the project is to visually justify the message through the medium of an illustrated graphic novel.