Last year in October, I was approached (on twitter) by a not for profit organisation based in North Carolina that helps other national organisations such as Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) by donating funds raised by creating annual shows. These organisations help kids suffering from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy by ‘providing equipment, medical attention, and most importantly, support.’

The organisation asked me for my services to help them raise money for their upcoming show. It was a pro bono project and the vision behind the organisation got me interested.

The idea was to create four limited edition posters for the event and sell them during the show through bidding at the stage. The money collected from these poster would add to the total fund. After a lot of email discussions and a google hangout conference, I started working on the posters. But in between, due to some problems with the selection of the venue for the show and other related issues, the project went on halt. Here, I am not disclosing the name of the organisation these poster were designed for. But I thought I should talk about the work I did initially during the project.

The Process

This was an open brief project. So I started with brainstorming around a statement the show will be based on: ‘Beauty is defined in many shapes and forms.’

I made a list of things that are beautiful (aesthetically and philosophically):

I then chose 9 most suitable things from the above list and started sketching roughly with basic shapes and forms.

From these sketches I incorporated different elements into groups and created the posters.

Posters

For this poster I chose Rainbow, Eye, Vinyl Record, Moon, Stars, and Clouds. As they say that ‘Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder,’ the poster shows an Eye created with all the chosen beautiful elements. This poster projects the idea that kids suffering from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy are beautiful and capable, and they should not be treated any different from other healthy kids.

Books are a source of education, awareness, and understanding of the world we are living in.

The second poster uses Books placed on a bookshelf as an element depicting enlightenment and comprehension of the disease for people suffering from it and everyone around such people. Without understanding its causes and complications, we can not help people suffering from it and find its cure.

Diamonds are beautiful. The process of finding a raw uncut diamond from a mine to transforming it into a cut polished diamond ready to be sold is nothing less than arduous and fascinating.

The poster illustrates this transformation in a very simple way. It relates to the vision of the organisation and its efforts to make the life of people suffering from the disease and their families better.

A woman is considered as a metaphor for beauty in our society. So I had to create this poster that uses this element of beauty of our universe. It shows a silhouette of a woman, with a bit of quirkiness; instead of her hair I chose flowers (another beautiful thing by nature) hanging from her head down to her waist.

Note: This poster is inspired from Dylan Poster created by legendary graphic designer Milton Glaser.

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It’s half way through Movemeber and I am growing a moustache for supporting the cause. Help me by showing your support.

Photo Credit: Movember Foundation

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In our professional lives, sometimes we have to work with people we don’t like. The reason could be anything: from their uncanny and annoying behaviour, to the way they approach their work, or their habit of asking useless questions. So, how can we solve this problem and find a way to create a healthy working relationship with such people? Peter Bregman writes about the reason behind this problem with an unusual solution.

The above poster, under the ongoing Harvard Business Review Poster series, is based on the blog post written by Peter Bregman.

Note: Permission for the use of the content has been granted by HBR for this personal project.

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I was never a regular reader of books, newspaper, or any other kind of literature in general, until recently. Apart from reading text books to get good marks while studying in school, and then in university, I never thought of reading as fun, or as a source of knowledge.

This lack of interest in reading was, perhaps, due to the fact that I never had the opportunity to become a part of a reading culture. There was no encouragment from anyone around me: my parents, friends, or teachers. I never saw people, especially from middle class society, reading books while commuting. There was nobody I knew about who used to do bed time reading. But this is changing, as reading books for the sake of fun and knowledge is slowly becoming a part of Indian middle class lifestyle.

In my early teenage years, for a brief period of time, I started reading comic books of Superheroes like Batman, Spiderman, Superman, and their Indian counterparts Nagraaj, and Super Commando Dhruv. I borrowed them from my friends and cousins, and sometimes bought from local newspaper shops with my daily pocket-money saved from days. I used to hide them in my big bulky text books, reading, while I should have been preparing for my class tests. We all have done such things; haven’t we? Eventually, I was once caught, and was suggested to concentrate on my studies as I was nearing my final examination.

Since I moved to Australia in 2008, there has been a big change—professionally and personally—in my lifestyle, in my thinking, and in my approach towards achieving my goals. Reading regularly has become a part of this change. The more I read, the more I realize the need to read. In fact, more than the need, it’s about the process of reading that makes the whole experience worthwhile.

I am a very slow reader, who frequently move from one book to another, without finishing anyone of those at one time. Thats why I prefer compact books with 50-200 pages. Thinking about types of book readers, I believe I am a combination of a Multi-Tasker and a Chronological Reader. I started reading Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson , for instance, about 4 months ago, and left it in between, only due to the fact its a long book (with 656 pages) and also, because I bought other books during that time. But I hope I shall finish it, someday.

Most of my reading these days is done on my iPhone, and on my Kindle touch. However, I do keep a paper book with me for those times when I wish to feel the need to touch and smell ink and paper. Reading physical/paper books, especially while commuting, have its benefit of transparency, leading to conversations with strangers and creating a communal effect. On the contrary, reading on electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets, and e-readers puts the reader in isolation.

Nevertheless, the convenience of reading digitally inclines me towards using my iPhone and Kindle as my primary medium for reading. For me, some of its benefits are : the ability to buy books within a few clicks, carrying and storing hundrads and thousands of books on a device and/or on cloud, and moving from one book to another anytime as desired.

On my iPhone, I use certain apps for reading from different kinds of mediums such as blog posts, twitter, rss feeds, ebooks, and audio books. In order of frequency of use:

Flipboard: This app “creates personlized magazine out of everything being shared with you.” I use it to read my rss feed, and share interesting articles on twitter and facebook. I like its beautiful user interface, seamless connectivity with external news sources, and its shareability to social media.

Kindle: I use this app to read ebooks from my Kindle library. Its ability to sychronize with my Kindle touch, making notes and use of iPhone’s retina display makes it one of my most used apps.

Readability: This app turns any webpage into an easy to read single column view. It also has the option of saving the page to “read on your own terms- anytime, anywhere.” Other features include: add-on for desktop web-browser, built-in native sharing support, and unlimited storage. Saving articles for later reading, with a click, helps me concentrate on my work. And I can come back to those articles whenever I wish, or have time to read them.

Pulse: It’s another app that I sometimes use to read subscribed blog posts.

Twitter: To go through my twitter feed , I use their official app.

Photo Credit: hobvias sudoneighm

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Even though I work for myself, with no employees or partner, the importance of being a part of a good network has always been beneficial for me. It acts as a platform for professional development by interacting with people and a source of prospective clients. Moreover, through these networks I always look for creative people I can collaborate with.

So today’s poster under Harvard Business Review Poster series is based on the value of Networks, a blog post by Athena Vongalis-Macrow.

Note: Permission for the use of the content has been granted by HBR for this personal project.

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I would like to confess that despite not being a big fan of Indian contemporary films, I am finding the recent work of some of the very few talented and adroit directors, actors and music composers very interesting and captivating. There are some feature films and short documentaries—watching those was immensely gratifying—which made me reconsider my judgement about this changing Indian film industry.

For the last decade or so, Indian film industry has been coming out with some interesting subjects that are not banal and apparently more than ‘Boy falls for a girl; she is hard to get; boy fights with goons for her; she falls for him; they sing and dance; father of the girl takes her away from the boy; father uses violence against the boy; kills his family; the boy takes the revenge; lots of blood-shed and violence; boy gets the girl in a very dramatic way; more singing and celebration, and probably marriage.’ I noticed a small but progressive and momentous transformation in the thinking of Indian film audience that are accepting movies with different and challenging concepts. There are small budget movies, with experimental subjects, doing surprisingly well at the box office because of their strong concepts and good direction. On the contrary, many movies with big famous actors from top production houses are not even earning their investments due to their poor scripts and execution.

Being a born Indian living in Melbourne, I am very much connected with the country through books by Indian authors, current affairs, Cricket and Indian cinema. There has been a sense of compulsion to understand things from outside. So in recent years, I made an effort to visit cinema theatres regularly, which is once or twice in a fortnight, to watch Indian films.

Anyone whose interested in understanding Indian culture, religions, society and politics should watch Indian films to get more than a glimpse of the country. IFF (Indian Film Festival), returning for its third year in Australia, is an exciting opportunity for such people to explore India through its films. The festival (in its first year in Melbourne) is screening 40 films, including 20 Australian premieres. Apart from feature films and documentaries, the festival is holding Master Classes and QandA sessions with special guests from India’s film industry and a short film competition for the talent in India, Australia and New Zealand. The festival runs from (tomorrow) June 11 until June 22 in Melbourne, heads to Sydney on June 24, where it runs until July 4, to Adelaide from July 13 until July 15 and finishes in Auckland (New Zealand) on August 8. The festival is directed by Mitu Bhowmick Lange and her team.

Personally, I am waiting to watch the documentary Saving Face; the movie Michael starring one of India’s finest actors: Naseeruddin  Shah, and the movie Memories in March, starring Rituparno Ghosh.
For more information you can read the schedule. Hope to see you there.

Image Credit.

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Apart from these ‘night’ dreams, you also have dreams that you see with your open eyes. Doing what you dream about is considered the best of the decisions you can make, yet you seldom make enough efforts to make those vivid fantasies your reality.

A thought:
What if someone help you make those dreams come true? What if you could live those dreams even for at least some time? What if you could hold onto your dream for dear life?

A dream advertisement/solution:
Maree Jaeger and I came up with this idea where we shall be choosing (three) dreams out of all dream submissions by you and make those an artistic reality in a photographic session with you. As a token of your support and participation you will receive a photographic poster from the session with a copy of ‘making of the dream’ video.

For more information on how to avail this chance and submit your dream, visit her website.

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A retro style poster under the ongoing Harvard Business Review Poster series. These posters are strictly for my personal use only. The content is adapted via the HBR magazines I own; HBR blog posts and business tips I read.

Note: Permission for the use of the content has been granted by HBR for this personal project.

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Second instalment under the Harvard Business Review Poster series I am designing. These posters are strictly for my personal use only. The content is adapted via the HBR magazines I own; HBR blog posts and business tips I read.

Note: Permission for the use of the content has been granted by HBR for this personal project.

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This video by Jason Russell, founder of Invisible Children, that “aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice” has become the most viewed video ever posted on youtube. But “this overwhelming pop is unlikely to ever happen this way again”, says Seth Godin.

Four things progressive brands of today can learn from this:

Storytelling: A relevant brand story well told makes a connection with the consumer. The story can be a part of the brand idea or experience. Kony 2012 campaign created a buzz with the help of a (unfortunate) story of experiences of kids of Uganda shown in this video.

Ability to share: Providing easy information sharing, connecting tribes and (virtual and/or physical) interactivity can create a platform which gives a sense of responsibility to the user to create a difference. It also helps making an idea viral. The video of Joseph Kony uploaded on youtube platform gave the opportunity for people to understand the issue, share and support it. Tweets by millions of users made it among the top trends.

Purpose: A brand must have a purpose to sustain in the society. Every business needs to earn money but a purpose to make a difference is what separates one brand from another. This could be support for a social cause, innovation for improving life of people or an idea associated with the brand that can affect people’s lives in a better way. The purpose of the brand Kony is to raise awareness about Joseph Kony and his activities, and to earn support for his arrest (as told by Jason Russell).

Platform to contribute: People are no longer mere consumers of information. Rather they like to be engaged and contribute to the brand and culture. They want to be a part of the whole brand experience and feel responsible. People in the above video want to join the campaign by raising their voice and helping in other ways such as by pledging and buying the kit.

More about brand behaviours, last month, Wolff Olins released a very impressive and informative report titled Game Changers about five attributes of changing brands.

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