People who work in the creative field usually flaunt their latest work on their desktops. Some designers, before giving a slide presentation to an audience, deliberately tinker with the projector cable connected to their notebooks for some time so that the viewers can see and envy their latest desktop background!

Last year, around this time, I asked some creative people about their desktop images. My intention was to publish 10 such images, but I could get only five as some people replied that they are using the default images of their OS.

Here are the five desktop backgrounds. Click on the images to download the high resolution file.

Gavin Elliott: designer, writer, creative strategist About | Blog | Twitter How I know him: I first heard about him when I encountered his article: “Designers, what was your first piece of work?” (2009).

Gavin says about this ‘Spex’ wallpaper: “A little before Christmas (2009), I decided to design a new wordpress theme of which I called ‘Spex’. The desktop wallpaper was to accompany the theme however I’ve not got round to building the theme. The Spex desktop background has remained on both my machines to this day to remind me to finish the wordpress build.”

Jacob Cass: Graphic, web and logo designer About, Blog1 | Blog2 | Blog3 | Facebook | Twitter How I know him: Since 2008, almost all of my Google searches on ‘web design’ or ‘logo design’ have landed on the blogs of Jacob Cass!

Jacob Cass says about this ‘Reading’ wallpaper: “You caught me off guard… the wallpaper I have at the moment was actually a personal joke between myself and a co-worker. It was a wallpaper that I designed for a Disney sub-brand called ‘Unrequired Reading’. I never thought that someone one would use the wallpaper so I used the wallpaper myself… and somehow stuck for a few weeks.”

Paramvir Singh: Cinematographer About | Blog1 | Blog2 | Facebook How I know him: He is the founder of the best online forum for Advertising professionals in India: DesiCreative Forum.

Paramvir says about this ‘Jazz’ wallpaper: “I shot this image of Delhi streets myself and have used it as a desktop picture for a very long time.”

David Airey: brand identity designer About, Blog1 | Blog2 | Blog3 | Twitter How I know him: In 2007, I became a fan after reading his design process blog of Miskeeto logo.

David says about this ‘Grid’ wallpaper: “The image was downloaded from AisleOne, created by Antonio Carusone. It caught my eye, so I thought I’d give it a shot. You can grab a larger image from Antonio’s site here.”

Matthew Muñoz: visual designer About | Blog | Site | Twitter How I know him: He was a design team member of the Fedora logo re-branding (2005).

Matt says about this ‘Letterpress’ wallpaper: “I use this image that a friend found on the web. Can’t find the original place I downloaded it from though… I love the history here — a letterpress shop in action!”

And yours?

So, what is on your desktop? If it is an interesting one, do share it with us.

18 March 2011, CheeseCare

Click on the image for a larger view.
(Back Row; From L to R) Swati Hota, Sujith Somasundaran, AnasKA, Soumya Jain, Kamal
(Front Row; From L to R) Samuel Chaomai, Deepak Khetan

Hi there, how have you guys been?

The other day, while screening portfolios of prospective designers for my employers, I spotted a lot of problems and irrelevant data. Then I realized that I too have committed mistakes in presenting my work as a portfolio. Then I determined to jot down some general guidelines on the preparation of an effective product design portfolio. I am sure that these points will help you to ‘wow’ your prospective employers.

So here goes everything….

Tips on making a presentable Design Portfolio

1. Let the Images speak – Have GOOD (can’t stress the word ‘GOOD’ enough) pictures of your prototypes and Models. It’s better to take the help of guys who know about photography.
   

   Always have renderings with a good DPI value (300 DPI is not a bad idea).

   Do not put pixellated images as they look unprofessional.

2. State facts in bold – Make sure to mention that it’s a ‘working prototype.’ Here in the industry, some people make the mistake of confusing ‘working prototypes’ for scaled models, so better mention it.
3. Let your work be your brand ambassador – Do not show your own picture where it’s not necessary, you are focusing on your product; not your face. If you have to/want to show your face, show it by being a user for the product.
4. Detail your methods – Stress on the User Research part of the product.  It is one sure thing the industry people want to see; but is generally missing in the portfolios. Show believable data (E.g. pictures of the people you talked to, for the surveys) and how the survey was conducted. There is no need to show the actual questionnaire; just mention the technique and show relevant analysis data.
5. Every point counts – If you are good enough in sketching, put some pictures in a single page.
   

   Show sketches of products; not your grandmother’s or some hot babe’s.

   You can have a section dedicated to sketches, but don’t overdo it.

6. Specify your specialty – If you are a product designer interested in graphic design, show some work where you have used graphic design to increase a product’s appeal or to alleviate some of its problems.
   E.g. You would like to show some car decals that you have done. While showing such projects, do prepare a small write-up of what is going on in the piece and what was the thought process behind it.
7. Outline your thinking method – If you have done some posters, you can show them; but do have a short write-up on the idea that led to the design.
   

   Remember, Graphic design is not about showing your hidden muscles in Photoshop.

   It follows a philosophy similar to product design. Do not disrespect graphic design (and graphic designers) by showing random images that you have created using a bunch of downloaded brushes.

8. Be concise – Maximum 15 pages in a portfolio. In fact, 15 pages are too much, but this can be forgiven if and only if the showcased work is excellent. To steer clear of being a drag, stick with a number lower than 15 pages.
9. Maintain a flow – Have a good flow in the portfolio. Start with projects with completed prototypes, then projects with more conceptual designs, then product sketches and lastly, your hobbies.
10. Don’t overdo – Do not say or show things that aren’t relevant.
    E.g. While applying for a product design or graphic design job, there is no need to mention that you are an expert in C# and .NET.

    If you claim that you can write a code while tied upside down from the ceiling with one hand holding a glass of beer, while balancing a knife set on your chin — the industry guys may consider these as bragging.

11. Use lists effectively – To show your software and technology skills, talk about the tools you have used for your product design process. These include processes for which software may not exist like the TRIZ or QFD

A perfect list will look something like this:

“I know the following software:  1. Solidworks; 2. Rhino; 3. 3DS Max; 4. Alias studio tools; 5. Hypershot; 6. Vray; 7. Illustrator; 8. Adobe Suite; 9. Photoshop; 10. Ansys…

I also have the skills for/ I have also been taught: 1. TRIZ; 2. QFD; 3. Use-centric design research; 4.Lean manufacturing; 5. Six-Sigma; 6. Project Management; 7. Finance…”

Extra Points

So far we are discussing about the ‘perfect portfolio’, but I would like to remind you that ‘Nobody is perfect.’ Practice ain’t ever gonna make you perfect, but it can definitely get you closer. You need to have working knowledge of the all the software listed in your portfolio.

For a product designer, one modelling software (preferably a good surface modelling one like ALIAS), one rendering software, Solidworks and Photoshop – all these will see you through your career.

I’m inclined to say that Solidworks and Photoshop are a must. Because Solidworks is a complete end to end solution for product design and Photoshop is created by Zeus himself.

I hope that these pointers will help in improving your portfolios. I also hope that you will appreciate the viewpoint of an industry person who might look at your portfolio.

Cheers and happy designing!

Further Reading

Earlier antzFx had written a quick start guide for portfolio design. It tries to answer the question “How can I make a good portfolio?”

Can you please tell me what should one have do to be a good product designer. I mean, what are the prerequisites for entering M.Des. course like what software I should know, what books I should read ? I would be thankful for any help you give.

I’m a software professional who is keenly interested in product design and hoping to pursue it by taking up the CEED & DAT exams in Jan’11. Since you guys are also involved in the same area, I was therefore wondering whether any of you could answer a few of my questions about the test and maybe provide some tips, if any..

These are samples of CEED (Common Entrance Examination for Design) or M.Des. (Master in Design) related questions that we often receive. Well, here goes my answer…

Coaching for CEED

As far as I know, there are no authentic coaching centers for CEED or for any other Design entrance exams. But there are a few people who say that they can give you the required coaching like the one mentioned in this website or this one. But if you happen to get a postal coaching from them, you’ll only receive the following books and they will charge a lot of money for them.

• Figure Study Made Easy by Aditya Chari.
• The Manorama Year Book

Both of these can be bought off the shelf from the nearest Crossword, Landmark or any other good book store. After that, it is just a matter of sitting down and practicing. Still if you think that coaching centers can help you, then send a mail to them and see what they say.

CEED Preparation

The only preparation for CEED is ‘practice.’ So buy the books that I mentioned earlier and start sketching. It will improve your visualizing skills. For the design thinking, buy and read some of the following books:

• Design of Everyday things by Donald A. Norman, Don Norman
• Design for the real world: Human Ecology And Social Change by Victor Papanek

Besides these, you’ll have have a lot of websites that will tell you about the various fields of Design.  My suggestion is to try focusing on the design stream that interests you. There are Product Design and Engineering, Industrial Design, Visual Communication, Animation, Interaction design and Mobility and Vehicle Design at IITs and IISc Bangalore. Visit the website ‘The World of Design in India‘ that tells you all that you need to know about the design streams available in India.

Also, you can look at the following websites to see the quality of professional work that is expected from people who are in the design industry:

• Product Design Forums- Industrial Design Community, Blog & Resources
• Coroflot – Design Jobs & Portfolios
• Behance Network – The Creative Professional Platform

Don’t worry if you are not as good as some of those guys. They have acquired a lot of experience, but you are just starting out. Just find your idol, try to become better than him. If you practice daily, you will be really good for CEED exam.

Cracking CEED

The only way is ‘Practice.’ Find a stream of design of your choice, read about it, find the experts and try to better them. Practice sketching the objects around you. To know more about the examination and M.Des., visit IIT Bombay’s CEED website and download the last year’s question paper. You’ll know the kind of questions that are asked and what you need to do.

Following are the institutions where Master in Design courses are held.

• Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
• IIT Bombay
• IIT Delhi
• IIT Guwahati
• IIT Kanpur

All the best!

Additional Reading

• Teacup Blog: CEED Help by Prasanna Gadkari
• Here is the secret to creativity by antzFx
• Here is the secret to creativity… Reloaded by fullFx

Image Credits
Blackboard in the classroom by Kriss Szkurlatowski, Poland
Happy elves by Fran Gambín, Spain
Egg in C-Clamp by Shaun W, New York

‘Good artists copy, great artists steal’

— Pablo Picasso (Later made popular by Steve Jobs)

I realized recently that I am a regular visitor of some websites that offer great design insights in branding, identity design, product design, graphic design… These seventeen websites serve as my source of inspiration. I am sharing the following links with you and I hope that you will benefit from them.

(a). “Anything under the sun…”

The following four websites share unique miscellaneous designs: Product Design, Graphic Design, Package Design…

1. Notcot.com

2. Notcot.org

3. Design-Milk

4. Design Droplets

(b). Logo Design

5. Logo Design Love

6. David Airey

(c). Brand Identity Design

7. Big Spaceship: Blog

8. Landor: Blog

(d). Packaging Design

9. Lovely Package

10. The Dieline

(e). Product Design

11. Toxel

12. Yanko Design

13. Design Boom

14. IDEO: Blog

15. Frog Design: Blog

(f). Web Design

16. InstantShift

17. Smashing Magazine

There you are.
What are your favorite design related websites? The space below is all yours.

So today morning, I spent some hours digging through my back-up data in CDs and got some old stuff. For those who are interested, here is my story.

“What is a computer?”
I am one of those very few ‘youngsters’ out there who have actually used Windows 3.1 OS in 1996. Windows 95 had appeared by that time, but my village in India was far, far away from the latest technology (Now it is better!). For a long time, computer for me was the CRT Monitor. I never really observed the box with a power-ON switch near that monitor. Yes, yes, now I know how a Mac looks like.

Going digital
I bought a ‘Dummies’ book and started learning Adobe Photoshop 5.5 in August, 2000. Since it was a limited day trial version without the ‘save’ command, I couldn’t save the early designs I did. I vaguely remember making a composition of a straw in a glass of yellow fruit juice. At that time, I was not a technologically advanced guy to think about ‘Print screen’ and ‘MS Paint.’ Alas!

This is the oldest Photoshop work I could get from the archives. The time stamp of the file says 28-Nov-2000. I created this on my friend’s PC while I was staying with him in Bangalore, in search of a job. You can see the influence of Hollywood in my earlier works.
I followed it up the next day with the ‘Perfect storm’ scene, a space shuttle and a satellite and some logo renderings of DOLBY Digital and DTS.

Animation
I started to learn Macromedia Flash 4.0 in August, 2000. I made a DTS trailer and fortunately I have the original file with me. It is fun to see it now. It even had a typo – ‘Aiso featuring…’ instead of ‘Also featuring…’ — just after the appearance of DOLBY logo! And, there is no audio in this file.

Then I made a ‘Jurassic Park-Lost World-Godzilla’ inspired short animation. After a couple of years, I lost interest in animations completely.

Website
As per records, on 03-Sep-2001, I made an htm file to use in a server for my colleague’s project. I don’t have that file with me, but I remember placing the LINUX logo in it. The project was called ‘Peripheral Sharing Device (PSD),’ I cannot remember what it was. I may have used Microsoft FrontPage to design the page.
The first website I made is for my own use and it was hosted in a FreeServers domain. The date of upload is Saturday, 22-Sep-2001. This domain is still active and what you see there now is an updated version I did in 2005. Click here to see the original version. If possible, view in Internet Explorer to see the gliding effect of the background. I designed it in Macromedia DreamWeaver.

I also had a mirror of this website in the now defunct Geocities account.

Back to 2009
That was a nostalgic journey. I am surprised to see how much design I was doing back then. I took a mental note to design more diverse stuff from now onwards.
So, what is your story? What was your first design? The below space for comments is all yours…

Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

Here is where I study design. IISc Bangalore Campus is beautiful and most of the photos I took so far are from there. Last month, Google conducted a contest for students known as ‘iGoogle Photography Competition.’ Five photographs have to be submitted in the pixel sizes specified by Google. If  I win, these photos will be converted into iGoogle Themes. The photos given above  were my submissions to Google under the theme — ‘My College.’

Following are the original photos that are taken on 11-Dec-2008 at the campus of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. And, I use a 2006 model OLYMPUS SP-500UZ Camera.

Statue of the founder J N Tata in front of IISc Main Building. He is holding a replica of the main building in his left hand.

A view of the main tower from the campus

The foot-over bridge in the campus

Light and shadows on the walls of Choksy Hall

Bricks on the walkway

More photos of the campus are available here. And, I didn’t win the iGoogle competition.

It was an instantaneous decision. I have done something similar in a webpage a couple of years back. But it didn’t see the light of the day.
Today morning, I realised that the date is 01-Apr-2009: April Fool’s day. I suddenly remembered my old prank and decided to re-do it in Twitter.

I went to the settings of our twitter account, changed all the colors to white (#FFFFFF). The background image was modified to a plain ‘Ha! Where did all my tweets go?’ in blue color. A couple of hours later, as an afterthought, I changed the profile photo to a white square.

The message
And, what is the ‘invisible’ message? Press ‘Ctrl+A’ or click the menu ‘Edit-> Select All.’

“If you can read this, today is NOT your day! This prank will be played in this account for the next 24 hours… #aprilfool Thanks!”
The home page looks like this.

After selecting all…

OK, Then…
This setting will be reverted back soon.
This prank will not work for our followers as our Twitter Account settings cannot work on their accounts. Also, views from RSS feeds cannot be altered. The viewer has to visit our Twitter page to see the effect.
I don’t know how many people will visit the page and realize the effect. A dozen of my friends visited, I am sure.

Update on 03-Apr-2009

We reverted the settings of our Twitter account.  The link for the prank was: http://twitter.com/antzfx/status/1428020283
Now, anybody can see the message!

Design Date: 01-Apr-2009