A 'Serif' existence!

On the concluding day of  every module (a set of classes in IDC which takes about 8 to 12 days to complete), I have a long Q&A session over tea, with my students. Many of them ask me which are my favourite books on design. But recently a few students asked me about my favourite books on "non-design" topics. BTW my students have full freedom to ask me questions on anything, they ask questions on design AND non design topics. The non design topics range from how was life during my student days, cricket, alcohol, drugs, cinema,global warming, sustainability,  to meditation, spirituality and yoga! Here are my favourite "non design books". Sequencing is not based on how much I love these books. I love all of them 1. Kallichellamma (Malayalam). Author: G.Vivekanandan. It portrays the real down to earth life of a poor woman, characters speak in their rustic village language and emotions are hidden very cleverly in a subtle manner throughout the novel, as the ...

Design Project presentations: This is a note to design students on project presentations: This is a PERSONAL blog, written in my personal capacity as a design educator, based on attending numerous juries in educational institutes across the globe and after seeing students making the same mistakes again and again without anyone telling them what not to do. Standard Disclaimer: Any resemblance to events or persons, living or dead are purely coincidental. The Institution for which I work for: IDC and IIT Bombay, has no relation with the views expressed in this blog and may not subscribe to the views expressed in it. There are generally two types of students who attempt project presentations at design schools. 1. The sincere, ethical student. Puts in hard work. Believes that more than half of the time spent in a design school can be given for learning design, apart from social media, entertainment and time pass. Approaches a design project seriously, spends time in stud...

My favourite books on design       Lots of students, mainly those aspiring to become design students who want to prepare for competitive exams, ask me this question. which are your favourite books on Design? So here goes the list of my favourite books, it is my personal list. This list is NOT in my order of fondness or my love for the author. First one in the list need not be my all time favourite! This list is not intended to guide any student to prepare for any entrance exams. Ruder Typography, Ruder Philosophy Helmut Schmid (Editor), Nicole Schmid (Contributor)   Typography of Devanagari Bapurao Naik While you're reading by Gerard Unger   Reading Letters: Designing for Legibility Sofie Beier Typographie: A Manual of Design by Emil Ruder Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works by Erik Spiekermann , E.M Ginger The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst Grid Systems: Principles of Organizing Type by Kimb...

What is good design? Lots of debates have been done in finding an answer to this question. Many design schools discuss some of the ten points written by the famous designer Dieter Rams. Lots of students ask me about my views on this question about good design. I am sharing some of my personal views on good design here. Standard disclaimer: Please do NOT approach this as a list which, if followed, will meet all requirements of a good design. There are two very very ambiguous, tricky and undefined words in the question we are attempting to answer here : Two words:  Good  and  Design . The word “Good” is a subjective term. If a design meets a specific number of conditions listed in a document written by a human being (or even god) cannot be termed as “Good” because the concept and definition of this word varies considerably from person to person. This word depends heavily on several defined as well as undefined or undefinable parameters. Some of the defined ...