Graphic Design in India: A brief analysis of bullshit

In one single post it would be hard to talk about everything that has been developing in India in graphic design. It has certainly grown over the past 10 years, especially more so in the last 5 years. The quality and variety of work has gotten better. But is it really getting much much better? Not really, unfortunately.

Designers here in India are quick to jump and say that the clients are conservative, the public is uneducated and that they cannot express their creativity in such a stifling environment. However, a lot of fault lies with the designers themselves that they do not want to admit.

I will be a bit too broad in my generalizations but it doesnt make it untrue. Here are the facts as I have seen over the last few years since 2006 when I started to really understand design in India. There are very few design schools in India. Most of the graduates tend to have the same style and seem to be lacking originality or the "thinking out of the box" mentality, even in explorations. Noone seems to be trying to push the client much because they are afraid of losing them.

However the biggest fault of Indian designers, especially the senior onces is the way they go about designing. Concept comes second to the beauty. They are too busy emphasizing on making something pretty and agreeable to the client rather than something conceptual. Most believe that they can plug a concept after they have churned out something "pretty". When senior designers give this brief to their juniors, the latter get influenced in the way they design then and in the future. This is more so because the levels of hierarchy in any office (even a design studio!) are too stark and people are too drunk on their position of authority. Designers have egos yes, but good designers are those who do not let egos come in the way of great work. And I have hardly met anyone in India like that while in New York I worked with really successful and talented people who could push aside their pride to push someone to do something amazing even if it went against what they believe in. And it shows in the work that comes out from the two countries.

The problem is that there is too much bullshit here. Sure, bullshitting our way through a presentation happens everywhere but I am not cool with backward thinking-" make something pretty and we will plug a concept later on"! That's absolutely horseshit. Everyone knows that once you have a concept, the possibilities are endless- even the pretty design will come out! Senior designers in India have to stop making their juniors design in this way because they are the future of Indian design. And this is why design hasn't yet matured yet. Sure, clients can be conservative but not as much as we think. The most successful businesses are those who have taken risks. If the concept is really strong and you believe in it, the client will believe in it too. That's where you really use your bullshitting powers! Bullshitting logical and valid arguments is a true art. And to dismiss our large population as "stupid" or "uneducate" is just making an excuse. If liberalization has shown anything, Indians have the capacity to take anything new, however bad or good, whole heartedly. Taste is acquired. You feed them your bullshit, they will be used to bullshit. So if they stupid, it is probably because you have made them stupid with your bullshit!

This mentality of "my way or the highway" when it comes to senior designers is highly negative. Junior designers, fresh out of school or those toiling under boring bread & butter work, need real leadership not dictatorship. A true leader will tell them it is imperative that they do one thing that has great concept rather than 10 pretty things with no concept. If the leaders are unable to think of the concepts (due to actual inability, lack of time due to other responsibilities etc) the least they can do is not stifle those who can. Or better, promote this thought process aggressively. Even if the juniors havent met the client (which ideally, they should to start work on the project), it doesnt make their points irrelevant. The doctor doesn't always know best.

Right now the youngsters have anyway come from a very guided design program and now their seniors tell them to design only pretty things. They all look at great designs in great books and just wish and dream that they could do the same things. These books become "inspirations" for their pretty designs and this is what they believe to be the only way to design in India. When they become seniors, they will thrust this belief on their juniors to maintain the status quo of crappiness in the thought process- without having contributed a iota of something fresh or revolutionary in it. All those years of work cited as experience amounts to nothing if one cannot sustain modesty, humility or even the basic romantic idea of free thought.

Perfection comes with practice. Indians love to show off their knowledge of the English language or just what they consider "knowledge" inculcated through their love of books which they believe makes them superior to anyone on earth who doesn't indulge in it. They will go around town quoting inspirational quotes by famous people but one wonders if they really believe in what they are quoting. Because, Indian graphic design, the babies of these very "intellectualised" designers doesn't seem to reflect that. Only when they come around, will the clients come around. Only when they push for concept out of their juniors, will really great work come out. Till then, blaming people is the easiest thing that they can do. We will always stay a nation of artists with work that have hollow souls and generic visual imagery borne out of some lame-ass bullshit shroud under the garb of "pretty design".

Wherever I am, I will keep fighting this mentality and I sure hope I am not alone.

India win Cricket World Cup 2011- A quick Analysis

It took India 28 years to win the Cricket World Cup again. They won it first in 1983 and now in 2011. I had stopped watching cricket due to its length and India's continuous dismal performance. This year I caught the semi-finals against Pakistan and the finals too- matches that will become legendary! And I am glad to have been a part of it.

What was fitting was the Malinga's last over when Dhoni belted him for fours screwing up the bowler's figures and bringing India inches to victory- just 6 runs needed off 12 balls! It was fitting because Maliga had dismissed Sehwag and Sachin in his first spell and it nearly spelt doom for India.

Also important to note is that too many people were waiting on Sachin to hit his 100th 100 and he had the expectations of the entire nation- as always. And it was his home ground of Mumbai! However, after looking promising, he was dismissed due to a poor shot selection, his hopes of a 100 vanished and it seemed like the match also was going to go downhill. The good thing that came out was that for the first time, I saw the Indians play a very mature game and the underdogs in Gambhir and Kohli and Dhoni come into their own.

Sreesanth was called the lucky mascot for the team and his selection, despite him being absent in most games, seemed vindicated in the end. He ended up at the Champions' side again!

A sms was apparently floating around since morning about how the match would be fixed- it predicted that SL would win the toss, SL would get 260-270 runs, Sehwag would be out in the first over, Sachin would get 98 and India would win by 1 wicket. Most things seemed to be coming true after Sehwag's dismissal but then things changed. Sachin went for 30 odd and India won by 6 wickets. What mattered was that we won.

Cool fact-2011 has the same calendar as 1983- the year when we won the cup first and the year that I was born! ;)

Many superstitions would have cropped up and many, including me, would attribute the win to what they did- like sit in one place, send someone to the kitchen, or the color of the shirt that they wore etc etc. I guess it makes us feel more important about being part of history.

The game also showed a important moral lesson that people can use to tell their kids. The Lankan captain Sangakara lied about what he had initially called at the toss which led to a re-toss which India lost. In the end, India won despite the Lankan captain's full attempts to sabotage the toss. So, now parents can say "if you lie or be dishonest, you will lose the game". Sweet!

This game also shows that nice guys do get the prize in the end. I have met Dhoni in real life and he is a sweetheart with no airs about him. A fitting captain. I am sure Sachin is the same- you can just tell. While, the Lankan captain has that devious vibe about him- which manifested in the lie about the toss. Indians are much less aggressive too and generally pretty docile and polite on the field. Well, in the end, it wasn't the Aussies, the Lankans, the South Africans...but the nice guys who took this cup. So its a lesson to everyone- good guys do win and there is nothing bad in being a good guy- they are just ahead of the game.

The game brought millions of Indians together but I also saw another side. People cannot handle excitement and are obviously not mature enough. The celebrations spilled into the street but it started to appear more of hooliganism. People blocked traffic, smashed bottles on the road, hung precariously out of cars, screaming at the top of their voices and just making the road seem a very unsafe place for anyone out there. A total disregard of rules to the limit of making it unsafe for everyone, including themselves. It will take these Indians a lot of time to change, if at all. I think it has to do with our so called "traditional" (aka suppressive) culture that represses the way people emote and when they do, it's basic, crude and absolutely inconsiderate. I was mortified to be riding on my bike through these roads- almost seemed like the riots! I hope "civilization" finds its place among the Indian youth soon and they find a more mature way of handling things. Imagine, if India had lost- how much damage would result from their rampage. Think of how people in the South went crazy after a movie star died- due to natural causes at that! It's unimaginable. I just hope noone got hurt in this melee. That they cheered for the team, hugged each other, gave hi-fives and did not cause harm or damage to anyone.

So, it was a joyous momentous occasion that we will all tell our grandkids.Lesson learned and respect earned. Many people became rich but more people became graced.

Cheers to Team India.

Fan boys are amusing

Every day people never cease to amaze me with stereotypical and predictable behaviors. I guess my rants are not rants but mere observances of how far humans have evolved from being simple food gatherers to being the most annoying and illogical species on this planet. The possibilities to find them are endless- they could be right in front of you or even on a social networking site! And on the latter is where I found the latest addition to the melee- wish it wasn't this person but it was.

This guy is a leader of sorts for a section of the population- mostly youngsters who really hang into his word and in quite a true sense, are his fans. More than 50,000 of them! And yet he fell down to the level of a typical fan boy who got so defensive on something that did not warrant such an reaction. It was the classic mac vs pc debate- developed from a discussion on the new ipad2.

Functionally, as a professional designer and biker, to me this device makes no sense- in fact its an inconvenience. Everything it can do, any laptop or netbook can do. Being a user of tablets, I wanted that screen to be practical for Adobe programs but it isnt. So basically what I would end up using this ipad (first of all it sounds like a woman's personal product) is to read papers or books, listen to music, watch movies, play games, surf the internet, take pictures, make music etc etc. But the thing is, I prefer physical papers and books while a laptop can easily do the rest of me- in much better quality. As far as the much touted Garage band is concerned, serious musicians are rolling their eyes just like millions of graphic designers/photographers did when people started taking to photoshop/paint/etc. Everything in the ipad seems a dumbing down of everything. I am all for the democratization of technology but it is more than that. I prefer quality and though the ipad is very well built, any laptop (of comparable or smaller size) can do every single the ipad can do better. Much better. And my standards are high so why would I, as an individual, choose something that promotes mediocrity through a excellent looking device? Why cannot it be available in version like wacoms are- for the casual users (bamboo) and for the hardcore users (intuous and cintiq series). In addition to a laptop, a phone, a music player (if not within the phone) and a separate camera with all the bells & whistles (the ipad wont be be even able to match a quarter of its features), why does one need to carry one extra device to do bits of all that? At a inferior output? On the other hand, the ipad is a hit with cats and perhaps for my future furry friends, I could get one! ;)

I have seen people open up laptops on subways- a more convenient thing could be a tablet pc- the original idea behind the ipad in the first place! I dont even travel on subways anymore and dont intend to spend more than 30 minutes in it at a stretch in the future. When inside, I want to just hold my breath and take a breather from daily life. However I ride my motorbike now so that purpose is not needed. My old laptop is still a workhorse- I can start it in under 10 seconds, design a professional magazine layout under a minute, make 3 finished logos under 20 minutes (though I wouldnt push it), play Motogp, browse the net and still have tons of battery life left after 30 minutes of a subway ride. It doesnt have a fancy screen but there is no real inconvenience in making better looking professional grade final products. That is why, though some people may want to have a toy to play with or show off to the world- I live in Delhi and everyone likes to show off here- I dont really want to waste time with mediocrity. We live once and I want to live it fully and in high def! There's nothing wrong with people wanting toys but as far as products go, the Apple products have a lot of serious competition- i.e. only for those who are not blinded by the Apple brain washing. Everything shiny is not always the best but as Apple has proved, people can be made to believe otherwise.

So, anyway that was my simple point. I dont need the ipad and one must really think before getting the machine. Want is all and well and is fuelled by the ultra slick marketing of Apple- they dont give a shit about your emotional connect etc. They are a business and they want to sell. Period. End of story. Let's not elevate Apple to anything more. But the fans do. And so did this guy. A few months ago he got a macbook pro and is all gaga and starry eyed about. He had the iphone 3 and now the iphone 4 and the stars seemed to have leaked something into his head. While I tried to say that their machines are far from being the perfect pieces of utility, he went off on a defensive rant to everyone who went against his view. I think I & others touched some raw nerve and he went all ballistic, pulling up quotes to dissect every single word, splitting hairs and going to real lengths to prove his point. All this while he absolutely chose to ignore my main point. He became all self righteous about how he lives his life to the fullest and how only when one does, can that person understand how Apple products are really so awesome- not his exact words but you get the idea. He started pointing fingers, albeit indirectly but it was obvious to me, at my stellar education background but though I have known him off and on for a while, there is so much he doesnt know about me. And yet he insinuated that I am just one of those who gets a 9 to 5 job, wears a suit and have a boring unfulfilling life.

All this he could insinuate in response to  my statements about how we have to lead balanced lives and how I would prefer a better OS and other things completely irrelevant to what he chose to address instead. He even called Steve Jobs a human face for the company. When I pointed out that he was anything but that, this guy went even more berserk. True, Jobs has great foresight and business acumen but he is driven by profits as any sensible businessman would. This human face is part of his strategy and just shows how dictatorial and self-obsessed he really is. And this guy was showing the Steve Jobs syndrome. It is quite interesting the possibilities to identify oneself that open up once you buy a product!

This guy's story is unique- from a small initiative he grew into something he also had not imagined possible. He did have a few fallouts with other people but along the way he picked up friends- more so, fans and followers. You have to applaud his entrepreneurial spirit for something he loved doing. He is widely recognized all over India amongst the community he identifies himself with. Corporations involved with this community have showered him with adulation and opportunities he, himself, would not have deemed possible when he started off from his parent's apartment. I never got too deeply involved with this community as I was chasing my own dreams and the quality of newcomers seemed to not appeal to my sensibilities. However, he has my full respect for what he has managed to do. But today, I saw the side of this remarkable guy that should not have been there. He is just another fan boy who needs to justify something to the very end without really listening to the other side. While I pushed for neutrality, he pushed at extremes, relevant or not.

Observing fanboys is amusing but boring at the same time. Their defences lack creativity and almost always start getting personal. And when that happens, you know that you have won. I have no alliances and do not strongly support any brand because the possibilities of technologies havent been breached by anyone yet- we have come far but everything is at par with one another. I am a individualist and I believe that what one can do with what one has is more important than what one has if the end results are pathetic. If one starts to get defined by what they own, it is truly a sad life and sadly, Apple boys/girls are just that till they snap out of it into reality. All fanboys are the same everywhere. Provoking them seems fun at first but their repetitive chants are quite snore-inspiring.

Believing in individuality, I gave this guy a chance in my head. I tried to find an explanation for this overwhelming superiority complex he felt entitled to. Perhaps he felt that his views were threatened and and if he ceded, all his followers will be disappointed in him. Or conversely, perhaps his ego has been fueled by all his yes-men around him that he is not used to someone standing up to him and disagreeing. Perhaps he is having some troubles at home. Or with someone. Perhaps his childhood was traumatic. Perhaps he wants to justify it to others (himself most importantly) the amount of money he pays for these products. Who knows- except him ofcourse.

What fanboys like him forget is that humans are all different. Brands like Apple try to create clones and uniformity- nothing short of what the Nazis wanted. Its quite astonishing to see that fan boys do not realize that their own views have been subverted to create a larger view- all in the commercial interest of a brand who do not care about creating a "family" or "co-systems" (words used by him to describe going into the Apple family!)! I love branding but it is these issues which sometimes makes me be more careful and ethical about the message we put out. Brands are creating strange loyalties nowadays. The "families" they create are for their own selfish purposes to feed constantly with their products- a harem of sorts if you please.

Humans are supposed to be intelligent but some are more than others- the more intelligent seem to be the ones who own these brands and herd people like sheep into their fold. It is a dangerous phenomenon so similar to how militants and terrorists all over the world bring in new cadets. I guess a lot of humans are gullible to the extent that they can kill. In this scenario, it does make sense then to believe that fan boys can can be easily selective in their reading and illogical in their subsequent reasoning.

What I find more disturbing than these fanboys is the consequent growth of negligence of excellence in one's daily life. More and more people seem to be okay with something average as long as it was produced by something "cool"- be it photography, design , music, arts, literature etc. Since everything is connected, the complacency extends to other aspects of one's life- food, hygiene, accommodations etc. In India people love to blame everybody else except themselves and it is borne out of a similar attitude. What they dont realize is that they have to be the change that they want to be.

I do hope though that one day the fanboys of the world awake from their stupor and rebel against the prejudices in their head like the people did in Egypt against their dictator. This, however, is going to be a tougher revolution to win but worth every pound of flesh.

On a final note, a very interesting aspect of fanboys are that they start accusing you of things that they are actually guilty of themselves. This happens when they know sub-consciously that they have lost the logical fight. They will use very innane logic of confrontation to sound somewhat intelligent- to such extents that they would destroy their own arguments. This guy did not care that I have worked on macs and handled apple products on a daily basis much longer than he has and said that it was my personal experiences and it did not count!! Aren't reviews supposed to be from personal experiences? I would trust his word about something that he has tried out for a longer period of time before I have - or trust someone else who tried the same thing longer than he had! The community that he has built is based on this very fact and that's why he has his fan following- he has more experience than most others and done things that others haven't and that's why people look to him for advice. So when he says that my vast experience could not match his short spotty experience, he, in one swooping statement demolished the very foundation that made him known for who he is. Well, that's what being a fan boy can do to someone- even to this young intelligent man. They are truly amusing!

The people never make sense

This is probably a rant.

Today something outrageously funny (yet disturbing) happened. As me and some colleagues were in a mall on a research/store photography visit, a young (college?) girl approached one of us to sell some tickets to some random rock/bhakti show. We showed no interest though she waited around us. Later on, on her complaint, her male friend decided to confront one of us accusing him of taking her pictures! Obviously he had not and considering that (no apologies for being blunt and direct as she was asking for it) she was hardly good looking and that she actually thought that she was worthy of being shot discreetly was creepy, hilarious and showed just how vain some people are- especially when they have no reason to be!

People in the city never seem to work with logic- for anything. I have not known anyone with a Blackberry who hasnt had software/hardware problems and yet thy defend it without being able to prove the absolute necessity of having one over any other smart phone. Or Apple fans lapping up iphones or similar products just on face value that the products heralded new eras in their respective  categories- without any real research or understanding about how other companies have overtaken Apple in many respects in similar products. The competition that Apple created only gives more choice to the consumer but the loyalists are like fundamentalists who are brainwashed and have horse blinkers on to see the whole truth- like the Nazis or any religious fanatic.

Speaking of which, all the "intellectual" leftist/libral/marxist bullshitters stay quiet when naxals and marxist terrorists capture or kill innocent civilians either to avenge death of their "comrades" (they should really stop using these words that have genesis in great revolutions) or seek their release. The same pseudo-intellectuals will protst when any rightist decides to do the same. And these same fakers stay quiet when "leftist" countries like China and Russia commit similar attrocities or infringe on human rights of their own people. Perhaps these modern day sycophants should stay i these beloved  countries as unprivileged citizens and experience all those restrictions firsthand. Never have they been able to give any convincing answers (economically/socially etc) for an eclectic nation like India and their questions are driven by ideas formulated years ago having little relevance in the 21st century. Again, more brain washed people.

Stereotypes aren't hard to find and these leftists play the role well. But so do book-snobs in almost a similar vein. The belief that reading a book enriches one experience more than someone who doesnt't couldn't be misplaced any more than placing faith in a idea relevant in the first half of the 20th century. The misplaced faith extends to the repeatedly annoying habit of these snobs to keep saying that the movie based on a book was not as good as the book- preference is subjective but they are quite objective in their stance. Gaining all their knowledge about life, places and events through reading seems to give them a complex of having superior  understanding of everything they have read about. On the contrary it only makes them passive and when faced with real life issues, most falter and try to take didactic approaches inculcated from all their reading. If only life were that simple, leaders would read a book to solve their country's problems, win world peace and have absolute knowledge of every single person from any particular tribe in any particular village in any particular region of the world. In an world of subjectivity, objectivity is only detrimental to the process of understanding cultures and situations.

There are way too many such examples to list here but the point is that we are always going to be surrounded by people who make little sense to us, or even themselves. Heck, people cannot even understand how deeply involved a biker I am or the reasons behind being so! I may not be perfect myself but at least I try to make balanced decisions and opinions without getting swayed by brand loyalties or half-arsed ideologies or words written by someone sitting in an armchair. I probably dont give a damn about most things but annoying people annoy me!

Design School- bittersweet symphony

Two semesters in design school and I am just getting my feet wet- through inspiration persistence and the inescapable aggravation. The whole experience can be either enhanced or mitigated by the instructor that one has and like any group, they tend to vary. The best ones that I have found are those who ask the best out of us by letting us go wild, by being open to new ways and actually paying heed to our suggestions- 'cos they are mature enough to realize that we bring in certain experiences that they themselves may not always be aware of. But mostly, what makes these instructors good is that they do not necessarily teach what they know but what they have learnt. I am grateful to every single of my instructors who asked us to go crazy and think out of the box, to play to our strengths, make our projects 'special' and even develop what would normally sound ridiculous to them.

Often, in my life, I have seen that the best teachers are those who actually learn from their students and even accept when they are wrong even if they initially thought they were right. In a field like design, we can often get myopic and stop thinking like "regular" people- almost developing a sense of arrogance and a superiority complex about how things should look and feel. The best designers are those who are humble and I try my best to be so but it surely isn't as easy as it sounds- yes, despite having spent only a year in design school!

However, coming to the dark side of design school we have the teachers who are cocky, super-arrogant, stuck up and with absolutely myopic visions- and I feel that they are the ones who are a super bad influence o budding designers like me- and it works in two ways. Either students become like them or they become very aggravated- both injurious to the design process which calls for inspirational and exceptional thinking.

Sometimes, since we are students, we tend to look up to our faculty and oddly enough, I have seen people even gravitate to these dark Severus Snapes- and so far I have seen them to be either men or "programmers". Don't get me wrong, I have had some awesome male teachers but the others are the ones who should never be teaching in the first place- with their narrow outlooks or raging hormones. And it is even sadder when i see girls/women going all soft on them- reminds me of how even dirty old artists have women swooning over them despite the shit and filth that is coming out of their mouths and minds- kind of makes me question their sense of perception and intelligence. Also makes me think that I could get away with so much as a teacher! Sad. But, mind you, not all women are like that and those who are not get the rough end of the stick- but of course.

And then, there are those who don't want to stand up to these dictators-in-disguise teachers just 'cos they don't want to get into trouble and wreck their chances of a good grade. I think that often people forget that we are not here for good grades but to learn and create good design- even if it means going against what the 'teacher' thinks is the "correct" way to do something- and that can happen only if we have done our homework thoroughly, have faith in what we what researched and made. here is where we have to shed our own myopic outlook and over-dependence on our instructors.

And now, those people who spent a good part of their life learning the ropes of programming stuff, they have more often than not killed their chances of having good visual design because they start working within the strict constraints that they know and impose on themselves- and when they pretend that they are geniuses of visual design- its really pathetic. That said, I have been fortunate to have teachers who are programmers but who do not pretend to be great visual sense- honesty, a virtue I truly admire in everyone, especially designers and teachers. Here it is apt to remind people of the popular fact- you cannot do two things well at the same time. That should suffice for this argument.

I know that I probably have ended up sounding conceited, pretentious, arrogant, full of myself and very opinionated. I think the truth does make on sound like that. And all I am really saying is that the teacher-student equation is of equals to a certain extent especially when it comes to what each can offer the other. As students we have to be open to experimentation and realize that design is not just about making pretty things and that certain processes are important but they should never be something that dictates our own personal processes that works for us in individual capacities. Also, we need to always remember that we were once the "general public" and that we are still talking to them- and that we have to be humble about it and not become smaller versions of the little man from the 1940s with the short mustache and who wore a red band on his arm (yes, Hitler). Intelligent design comes from the acceptance of varied aesthetics, the individuality of projects, shedding dependence on familiar processes and the synergy of processes.

The worst phrases you can possibly hear in design school -
"I am not convinced"
"Stay within the grid"
"This is the only way to do it"
"There are some rules in design you have to stick to"
'We have to teach people good design"
'Sketching is archaic"

The best lines that I will always treasure -
"you can do it"
"Break the grid"
"Go crazy"
"Its possible"
"There are no rules in design"
"Everything is project specific"
"Sketching is important and fun at the same time"
"You are never done"
"Play to your strengths"
"Do not copy anyone else- you can always make your style work"

And that's why I still love design school despite the occasional speed-bumps. The bad guys are everywhere but it just means that we are being tested to be superheroes.