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Design for Charity: a new initiative for cancer patients

  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 ...
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Design Dialogues: HHI initiative at IDC School of Design

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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...
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Hollow and Empty: A poster for South Asian Design Educators Alliance in USA.

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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...
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G. Vivekanandan memorial function, 23rd January, 2024.

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    G. Vivekanandan memorial function, 23rd January, 2024. Noted poet, writer, film director Mr Sreekumaran Thampi will deliver the keynote address at the memorial function being organised to commemmorate the birth centenary and death anniversary of well-known author G Vivekanandan at 5.30 pm on January 23, 2024, at Prof N Krishnapillai Foundation Hall, Nanthancode, Palayam, Trivandrum. The Chief Guest for the event is Sri Sreekumaran Thampi. Other speakers at the event include Prof G N Panicker, Dr Ezhumattoor Raja Raja Varma, Dr M Rajeev Kumar, Prof. G V Sreekumar (son). Some of Kerala Sahitya Academy award winner Vivekanandan's most famous works include 'Kallichellamma', 'Ward no. 7', 'Shruti Bhangam', 'Kallu' and 'Ila Kozhinga Maram.'  G.Vivekanandan started his career in All India Radio and then became Director of Public Relations Dept, Govt of Kerala. As the first Managing Director of the Kerala State Film Development Corporation, he se...
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Suggestions for Design Projects

 Many students get stuck when the stage comes, where project topics are to be finalised. I get lots of requests to give suggestions for Design projects. I strongly believe that a design student should be able to find topics in society where good design intervention can contribute in improving a scenario or in creative problem solving. Unfortunately, as time goes by, more and more students despirately look out for spoon feeding. So I am sharing some of the project topics I feel can make sense somewhere. Project 1: Title : Story of Indian Designers : A multi media system to introduce Iconic Indian designers and their work to school children. Description: This project aims at introducing Indian school children to design as a profession, works of indian designers like Yashwant Chowdhary, Sudarshan Dheer, R.K. Joshi, Shekhar Kamat, Bhumra, D Udayakumar, Pranav Mistry, Ashok Abraham etc  and how their designs have contributed to the country’s progress. The final output can be an aff...
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G Vivekanandan

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  ജി. വിവേകാനന്ദൻ •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• May 5 ഇന്ന് 97-ാം ജന്മവാർഷിക ദിനം സ്മരണാഞ്ജലികൾ!       ഒരു ചെറു പ്രത്രവാർത്തയിൽ നിന്നാണ് ജി. വിവേകാനന്ദൻ തന്റെ ഏറ്റവും പ്രസിദ്ധമായ നോവൽ 'കള്ളിച്ചെല്ലമ്മ' എഴുതാനുള്ള 'ത്രഡ്' വലിച്ചു ഉയർത്തുന്നത്: കുടികിടപ്പുകാരിയായ ഒരു സ്ത്രീയെ തേങ്ങാ മോഷ്ട്ടിച്ചതിനു, ജന്മിയുടെ പരാതി പ്രകാരം, പോലീസ് പിടിച്ചു തേങ്ങാ കുല ചുമപ്പിച്ചു സ്റ്റേഷൻ വരെ നടത്തി എന്നാണ് വാർത്ത. വാർത്തയുടെ വരികൾക്കിടയിൽ ഒളിഞ്ഞു കിടക്കുന്ന ദൈന്യമായ ഒരു 'ജീവിത' കഥയുണ്ട് എന്ന് വിവേകാനന്ദൻ തിരിച്ചറിഞ്ഞു... ശേഷമുള്ള നോവൽ - കഥാപരിണാമം വിവേകാനന്ദൻ്റെ 'കല്പനാവൈഭവം'. വിവേകാനന്ദൻ 'കള്ളിച്ചെല്ലമ്മ'യുടെ കഥ പറഞ്ഞിട്ട് ആറു പതിറ്റാണ്ടായി (64 വർഷം). 1956-ൽ ആണ് 'കൗമുദി' വാരികയിലൂടെ ‘കള്ളിച്ചെല്ലമ്മ’ പ്രസിദ്ധീകരിച്ചു തുടങ്ങിയത്. വെള്ളായണിയിലെയും വെങ്ങാനൂരിലെയും പരിസരഗ്രാമങ്ങളിലെയും ജീവിതമാണ് ജി. വിവേകാന്ദൻ പറഞ്ഞത്. ഇവിടങ്ങളിലെ ഗ്രാമ്യഭാഷയും ഉത്സവങ്ങളും നാട്ടുഭംഗിയുമൊക്കെ ആവിഷ്‌കരിച്ചു. വെള്ളായണിക്കായലിന്റെ തീരത്തെ സാധാരണക്കാരുടെ കഥയാണ് ‘കള്ളി...
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Mukesh Mohanan wins National Award for Information Graphics

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Mukesh won a National Award for Information Graphics for the second time. (The China Journalism Award, approved by the Central committee, conducted by All-China Journalists Association. It is the highest award for journalism in China) Mukesh was my student when I conducted a series of Design Workshops for the staff of "The Week" publication at the Malayala Manorama office at Kochi, Kerala. Apart from being a wonderful designer, he lives upto his name by singing all hot songs of the legendary singer Mukesh. His works can be viewed at http://mukeshez.blogspot.com/ Mukesh Mohanan
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