Download links and a brief on the design are given below.

Download Links for Desktop Wallpaper/Calendar

‘Vande Mataram’ wallpaper with calendar (August and September 2011)
Click here to download in 1920 X 1200 pixels (JPG, 486KB)
Click here to download in 1280 X 800 pixels (JPG, 319KB)

‘Vande Mataram’ wallpaper (No calendar)
Click here to download in 1920 X 1200 pixels (JPG, 435KB)
Click here to download in 1280 X 800 pixels (JPG, 280KB)

Design Notes

Barun Patro shared the following image that formed the basis of the Calendar Wallpaper design. Thank you very much, Barun!

I recolored the three bright ribbons to the tricolor. I feathered around the central light source and deleted that part forming a gradual transparency at the centre. I placed this image on top of the first image.

I prepared on more layer with a feathered central light source. This time, I applied ‘Inverse Selection’ an deleted the selected parts. Now I got a transparent layer with only the central light. I stacked this on top of the other two layers.

When I merged all the three layers, I got the present, final image that shows an aurora and tricolor ribbons. Simple, isn’t it?

‘Quadranta’ font is used for ‘Vande Mataram.’ The calendar is created using ‘Constantia’ font.

That’s it! Awaiting your comments…
Happy Independence Day!

Design date: 03-Aug-2011

Download the ‘CPDM Illustrated’ newsletter from here (PDF, 2.3MB).
Download the High Quality Version of the same from here (PDF, 11.3MB).

The three generations
It is decided to devote pages for three batches of M.Des. Students with contact information.

1. 2007-2009 Batch who are no longer in the institute and have started their career in various organizations. The farewell group photo of this batch is included.
2. 2008-2010 Batch (Final year students) has done summer internship in different reputed companies. Their internship work is featured in the news letter.
3. 2009-2011 Batch (First Year Students): Since they are the newcomers, I asked them to e-mail me any work they have done in the past. So I got a lot of good works like photographs, drawings, paintings, collages…

The cover
I started the layout pixel by pixel and word by word. In the cover, I wanted to showcase the idea of ‘pixel’ as a basic building block. This led me to choose a photograph of a yellow flowered tree in our campus (Photo: Urvesh Bharambe). The image was rotated 90 degrees clockwise and the ‘stained glass’ filter is applied. Two versions are made by using white and black as the cell wall colour. I finally chose the black cell wall color.

The font of ‘CPDM Illustrated’ was retained from the first issue of the news letter (Designer: Arunkumar Francis). CPDM logo was dropped from the design and a round post-it sticker is used to denote ‘Issue +2.’ A transparent ‘Seal King’ like band was added to make the newsletter look unopened.

Page Layout

A clear heading and subheading are present on almost all the pages. Images are surrounded by a halftone patterned frame in grey and light yellow. The contents of the pages have 5 degrees of tilt. This tilt and the presence of ample white space in a page favour marginalia. As footer, a small band of single layered cells of the stained glass pattern is placed. Full page photographs are used to separate the three sections.

Software: InDesign, Photoshop
Design Date: 11-Nov-2009

Organized Trade: End Caps

Emerging Channels: Interactive Kiosks

Token of appreciation received for the designs

Greg Norman T-shirt

Dhoni & Ishant USB Memory Sticks (1GB)

Fastrack Sunglasses

Software: SolidWorks, Photoshop
Design Date: 31-Oct-2009

‘SunFlow’ is an LED (Light Emitting Diode) Solar Lantern designed and prototyped by Geo Paul and I. The lamp on the left (Orange color) is a 3D rendered model and the one on the right (Yellow color) is the final working prototype.

We did 3D solid modelling, impact analysis, electronics design and integration testing.

Anas K A and Geo Paul with ‘SunFlow’ prototype
(Photo Courtesy: Urvesh Bharambe)

Software: SolidWorks, Photoshop
Design Date: Project finished on 8-Dec-2009

I won third prize for this design that can be placed on the dining tables.

Design thoughts
In Kerala, snake boats are traditionally used for boat races and ceremonies related with temples. Miniature models of snake boats and Kathakali faces are the most gifted items or souvenirs from Kerala.

In the place of oars, holes are provided for lacing the toothpicks. Space between two toothpicks are sufficient for picking one easily. Provisions are provided for placing menu cards, if this design is used in hotels.

Judge’s comment
Amit Dongre, Desmania Design, New Delhi
“WOW is clear as the Indian form is used with good usability. I can imagine that the South Indian restaurants can use this happily and the customers will relate to it instantly. If the menu cards were like flags, it would have been even better. Picking the toothpick seems easier. The form will look great on dinner table.”

Acknowledgments
The background image used is ‘Attorney’s table in a courtroom’ by Jason Morrison, US.

Software: SolidWorks, Photoshop
Design Date: 20-Nov-2009

Software: SolidWorks, Photoshop
Design Date: 13-Nov-2009

Thus ‘dpe’ was born. ‘dpe’ means ‘Design | Participate | Excel.’ I made plans for a teaser kind of series ads to generate interest among the students.

Following are the three posters that were circulated as e-mails, one poster a day.

Notice the transition of background color and the change in the point of view of the box. ‘Provocative’ wordings like ‘We are second to none’ and ‘You are not a designer till you take part in this competition’ are coined and used. The box is open in the third poster only. The box and the alphabets are 3D modelled in SolidWorks software. We received quite a good number of responses for the first contest.

Software: SolidWorks, Photoshop
Design Date: 10-Nov-2009

The alphabet ‘M’ in the department name ‘CPDM’ is modified to resemble a heart or love symbol. Using appropriate color coding, the message can be read in two ways. It can be either ‘I am in CPDM’ or ‘I am in love with design.’

Originally, I wanted this graphic to appear above the heart of a person when he wears the T-shirt. Some of my friends decided that the graphic should be bigger and so it got printed on the rear side of the T-shirt. The front side of the T-shirt has the following words: ‘Student of Product Design, CPDM.’

Pankaj Upadhyay (The organizer) and I (The winner)

The other five
Here are my other five design submissions, in no particular order:

Ripples

Could you recognize a ‘cpdm?’ ‘Ripples’ is the name of the Annual Design Degree Show in our department.

IISc and CPDM

Car

‘U’ r here!

Department Building

Software: Adobe Illustrator
Design Dates: 08 to 28-Mar-2009
T-shirt released on: 01-Oct-2009

Click here to download the CPDM Placement Brochure 2010 (PDF, 426KB) »

The task was challenging, as design is highly subjective. Everybody had ideas on how the brochure should look like and selling my idea to them was difficult.  It was a great learning experience because some observations made by my design friends helped me to see areas that I overlooked.

Here are the design decisions I made while designing this brochure.

Requirements
Following are the requirements I fixed for the brochure.

• The look and feel of the brochure should be formal. Because it will be sent to corporate companies and they should not take us lightly as a bunch of kids who know drawing.
• There should be a subtle touch of playfulness. This is the main reason for using a doodle logo on the front page as opposed to the official version. One of the inside pages features a character illustration by a fellow student.
• Samples of student work – 10 designs — are featured on all the 12 pages including cover. This will be a temptation for visiting the student portfolios.
• CPDM is a younger department in IISc and many people don’t know the existence of this Master in Design Course in Product Design. So, an introduction to the department, M.Des. Course Structure, Faculty Profile, Student profile of 2010 Batch… are added to the brochure.
• A very clean and structured layout is used for the brochure.

The Layout

1. Picture band – One student work is featured per page.
2. Sidebar – Sentences that need immediate attention are featured here. Font size is larger than the body text. A lighter version of the main color palette is used as the background.
3. Body text area – The title and descriptions run here.
4. Footer – This area is practically empty and features the main color palette. Various shades of grey, a dull flesh colored brown were tried before fixing the present fresh yellow color.
5. The facing page also features the same layout, but the features are mirrored to give a sense of equilibrium and stability.

Featured Works
Following are the works that are featured in this brochure.

The watch — Sharath Kumar

The Torch — Pavan Sridharan & AnasKA

The Refrigerator — Renjith Koshy John & Urvesh Avinash Bharambe

The Washing Machine — Sharath Kumar & AnasKA

BMW — Renjith Koshy John (A wireframe of this model also feature on the front cover).

Audi — Pankaj Upadhyay (A wireframe of this model also feature on the back cover).

The Bamboo Chair — Pankaj Upadhyay

Highway Mohawks — Pankaj Upadhyay

‘Sagat’ The Super Hero — Pankaj Upadhyay

‘I am in Love with design’ — AnasKA

I hope that all the 17 students of 2010 Batch will find good jobs with design studios and corporate companies.

Software: Adobe InDesign
Design Date: 07-Aug-2009

Last year, we designed a greeting card to mark the occasion.It’s really important to us that important days are marked in the correct way. Designing a card or wallpaper is the perfect way to show your feelings about something and really gives you a chance to express your feelings.

The raw materials
The base image for the design is an illustration ‘Diagonal Color Stripes’ by Miamiamia. I used the ‘Image -> Adjustments -> Replace Color’ command in Photoshop to convert the yellow stripe in the original image to a white colored, ‘brushed’ stripe.
Original image is on the left. The other one is the modified image that alludes to the tricolor.

The quote “Freedom lies in being bold” is attributed to Robert Frost, the famous American poet (1874-1963). The slogan ‘Jai Ho!’ needs no introduction.

Download this Desktop Wallpaper Calendar
Click here to download this ‘Jai Ho!’ wallpaper with calendar (August and September 2009), 1280 X 800 pixels (JPG, 410KB)

Click here to download this ‘Jai Ho!’ wallpaper (no calendar), 1280 X 800 pixels (JPG, 378KB)

Software: Photoshop
Design Date: 10-Aug-2009