A 'Serif' existence!

Many students ask me why I dislike Arial so much. I decided to write down my reasons.  Here they are:  First, I find Arial to be an unattractive font. To me, both Arial and Comic Sans rank among the worst fonts in history. Second, most people stick with Arial because many software programs set it as the default and list it early in the font menu, thanks to its alphabetical order. Third, no skilled designer has ever chosen Arial for a professional project, not in the history of graphic design. Fourth, if given a choice, almost no one would pick Arial for its looks. I ran some tests where people chose between four sans serif fonts, and almost everyone rejected Arial. This makes me think that calling Arial “ugly” isn’t just my opinion—others agree. These people weren’t designers, either.  Arial has been around since 1982, created by Robin Nicholas and Patricia Saunders at Monotype. It was originally made for IBM’s bitmap font library. Later, Microsoft adopted it in the early...

  The Healing Palette: Where Creativity Becomes Compassion Introduction Design has always been a powerful tool for communication, identity and storytelling. It has the ability to inspire emotions, shape perceptions, and bring ideas to life. But what if design could do more? What if it could heal, support, and make a tangible difference in people’s lives? This belief is the foundation of The Healing Palette, an initiative that transforms graphic design into an act of generosity and kindness. At The Healing Palette, I design book covers and logos for free, but with a purpose: instead of paying me, clients donate my professional fees to a charity that supports cancer patients. Through this initiative, design becomes more than just an aesthetic service—it becomes a lifeline, a source of hope, and a tool for change. Every project created under The Healing Palette contributes to something far greater than itself, turning creativity into compassion. This is not just about offering design ...

Vision Welcome to Design Dialogues – where great ideas meet great chai (or coffee, if that's your poison). We believe that the best ideas don’t come from staring at a blank screen but from conversations over a shared table, fuelled by caffeine and curiosity. Design is not just about pixels, grids, and typography; it’s about people. And people need to talk! We envision Design Dialogues as an informal, monthly rendezvous where UG, PG, and PhD students, along with faculty, break free from deadlines, discuss ideas, share crazy inspirations, and maybe—just maybe—create the next big thing in design (or at least have a laugh about the ones that didn’t work). This is about human-to-human interaction (yes, that thing that existed before Zoom calls). Think of it as an intellectual jam session—part TED Talk, part college canteen gossip, and part design therapy session. Mission Design Dialogues exists to: Encourage Cross-Pollination of Ideas – UG, PG, PhD students, and faculty members rarely s...

HOLLOW and EMPTY:  This is a poster I designed for SADEA (South Asian Design Educators Alliance in USA). SADEA initiated a project called "Posters for Peace" in which they invited 20designers across the globe to design posters based on their own interpretation of Peace. https://www.sadea.community/posters-for-peace My design philosophy is to follow the principle of "Form emerges from Content". I believe that all design processes start with the designer's ability to have a deep understanding of the content on which a design is being created.  My process follows the Indian philosophy of Upanishads:  Study and understand the content, create a view point, understand the context of communication, study the sender and receiver of the message and medium of communication. Then I articulate all desirable qualities of the end product. Then initiate deep contemplation/brainstorming/meditation phase and proceed to image visualisation. The final image emerges itself from the...