Designed this way

Lisa Rath, a design principal at Itu Chaudhuri Design, boasts decades of experience in UI/UX and editorial projects. In this engaging conversation, she shares her journey from a mischievous childhood to becoming an influential designer. Lisa discusses the transition from print to digital design and the importance of UX before it was even termed as such. She offers insights on innovative projects, like an exploratory re-reader for Arundhati Roy, while also warning against analytics-driven creativity. Finally, Lisa emphasizes the necessity of collaboration and teaching within design agencies.

Balaram is a veteran industrial designer and educator. He was among the first batch of trainees at the National Institute of design. Later he served as a senior faculty and Chairman of Education at the NID. After retiring from NID, he served as a Dean at DJ Academy of Design, Coimbatore. He also helped in the formation of the Craft Development Institute in J&K. Currently, he is the Director of SASI Creative Colleges, Coimbatore. Apart from his contribution to design education in India, he has practiced industrial design for objects/products critical to Indian masses - like a Bicycle, Bullock Cart, Stone-top, Bamboo Duster, Tongue Cleaner etc. He has also published a book compiling his thoughts and academic papers named ‘Thinking Design’. On this episode, we talk about his surreal childhood, the history of Design in India and his love for designing critical ordinary objects that affect the masses. RELEVANT LINKS & INFO S. Balaram’s blog - balaram43.blogspot.com NID - nid.edu DJAD - djad.in J&K Craft Development Institute - cdisgr.org Sasi Creative Inst. of Design - scid.ac.in Kashayam - Crushed Mixture in Ayurveda Gunnathotavalasa & Bobili - https://goo.gl/maps/NfVR58STgyqFcTUi8 Visakhapatnam - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visakhapatnam Kolam - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolam Datun (Balaram used it to make brush) - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teeth-cleaning_twig Tholu bommalata - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tholu_bommalata Sari - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sari Telugu - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telugu Projector Slides - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slide_projector Bapu - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bapu_(director) Rabindranath Tagore - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarat_Chandra_Chattopadhyay Premchand - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premchand Sardarji (Sikh Man) - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism Shantiniketan - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shantiniketan Kumar Vyas - indianexpress.com/article/india/design-fraternity-mourns-demise-of-nid-faculty-h-kumar-vyas-4585703/ Dashrat Patel - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dashrath_Patel Jawaharlal Nehru - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jawaharlal_Nehru Sarabhai family - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarabhai_family Charles Eames - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Eames Pupul Jayakar - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pupul_Jayakar The India Report - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_India_Report Lota (vessel) - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lota_(vessel) Calico Mills - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calico_Mills Le Corbusier - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Corbusier Bob Gill - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Gill_(artist) Mahendra Patel - designedthisway.com (3rd episode) George Nakashima - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Nakashima Soul of a Tree - nakashimawoodworkers.com/accessory/the-soul-of-a-tree/ Henri Matisse - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Matisse Bruce Archer - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._Bruce_Archer Shiva Nallaperumal - shiva-n.com Kalamkari - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalamkari Narasimha - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narasimha Laurie Baker - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie_Baker Padmanabhapuram Palace - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padmanabhapuram_Palace Indian Oil Corporation - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Oil_Corporation Vimana - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vimana Oxygenator - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygenator Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute - sctimst.ac.in Dhimant Panchal - www.mitid.edu.in/Dhimant-Panchal.html V. S. Naipaul - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V._S._Naipaul Arundhati Roy - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arundhati_Roy Parimal Parmar - parimalparmar.in Langar - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langar_(Sikhism) Thinking Design (there’s another edition with NID)- www.amazon.com/Thinking-Design-S-Balaram-ebook/dp/B01L1UX5FE Irma Boom - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irma_Boom Barefoot doctor - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barefoot_doctor

Kalapi is an Indian typeface designer and font engineer. He graduated from The Faculty of Fine Arts, MSU Baroda. And he later pursued his post-graduation in Typeface Design from University of Reading. In 2016, he joined forces with friend and fellow University of Reading graduate Gunnar Vilhjálmsson to set-up Universal Thirst, a design practice specialising in developing typefaces for writing systems of the Indian sub-continent. Universal Thirst has designed multiple latin and Indic bespoke typefaces for various companies, brands and events. Soon, they’re releasing their own retail typefaces. On this episode, we talk about Kalapi’s life, design education and type design work. We talk about his foundry Universal Thirst and the business of Type Design. RELEVANT LINKS Universal Thirst - universalthirst.com Kalapi (The Poet) - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalapi Saurashtra (region) - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saurashtra_(region) Rahul Gajjar - http://rahulgajjar.com Sandhya Gajjar - www.dnaindia.com/ahmedabad/report-bringing-the-chhara-community-into-the-mainstream-still-a-long-way-off-2765058 MSU Baroda - msubaroda.ac.in Baroda/Vadodara - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vadodara Bhasha - www.bhasharesearch.org Dr. Ganesh Devy - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._N._Devy Pavagadh - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavagadh Rajkot - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajkot NID - nid.edu Bauhaus - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus Mahendra Patel - designedthisway.com (3rd Episode Guest) Weiden + Kennedy - www.wk.com Hanif Kureshi - guerrilla.work/About GV SreeKumar (IDC) - http://www.idc.iitb.ac.in/gvsree/bio.html Fiona Ross - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiona_Ross_(type_designer) University of Reading - www.reading.ac.uk Neelakash Kshetrimanyum - www.brandnewtype.com Gerry Leonidas - leonidas.net Gunnar Vilhjálmsson - http://www.gunnarvilhjalmsson.net Erin McLaughlin - erinmclaughlin.com Linotype - www.linotype.com (Ofcourse) Gerard Unger - www.gerardunger.com Johnathan Barnbrook - www.jonathanbarnbrook.com/about/ John Hudson - fonts.adobe.com/designers/john-hudson Unicode - http://unicode.org Shri-lipi - www.modular-infotech.com/html/shreelipi.html Michael Twyman (with his ephemera) - www.flickr.com/photos/dietzsch/6318103998/in/album-72157628061754102/ , www.flickr.com/photos/wasianed/1801854874/in/album-72157602459000103/ , www.flickr.com/photos/wasianed/2175100655/in/album-72157602459000103/ James Mosley - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Mosley St Bride Library - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Bride_Library Linotype Gujarati - www.linotype.com/1750/linotype-gujarati-family.html Orthography - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthography Matras (Devanagri) - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devanagari#Vowels University of Liden - www.universiteitleiden.nl Dutch Type (Book) - http://www.drukeditions.com Noto - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noto STEAM - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STEAM_fields Dalton Maag - www.daltonmaag.com Metal Type - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_metal Backward compatibility - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backward_compatibility Complex Script - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_text_layout Hangul - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangul Telugu - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telugu_script Nokia Pure by Dalton Maag - www.daltonmaag.com/work/nokia Malcolm Wooden & Northern Block Foundry - thenorthernblock.co.uk/malcolm Typotheque Blog - www.typotheque.com/blog Logo painted by sign painter Joshua - www.instagram.com/p/B9ETrwOhGi4/ Sophy Hollington - www.instagram.com/sophyhollington/ Korra Denim - korra.in Dhaka Arts Summit - www.instagram.com/p/B3mGDi0hTvA/ Bangla - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengali_language Fraser Muggeridge Studio - http://pleasedonotbend.co.uk Frieze Sans - www.instagram.com/p/B3fBx8zhtXB/ Here Maps - wego.here.com/ Indigo Airlines - goindigo.in Bauhaus (Font) - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus_(typeface) Anagha Narayanan - www.instagram.com/anaghanarayanan/ Elai - www.instagram.com/p/B7Giry_hUst/ Variable Font - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_font

Sneha Sankar, a talented designer and former Creative Lead at Unacademy, discusses her journey from aspiring architect to graphic designer. She illuminates her unique experiences at the National Institute of Design and the challenges of design education. Sneha shares insights on personal branding, practical tips for building an online presence, and the importance of creating a community around design. She also introduces her whimsical typography newsletter, Tip Top Type Tips, aiming to make type history accessible and enjoyable.

Anant Ahuja, a creative entrepreneur and design evangelist from New Delhi, shares his inspiring journey. He discusses launching his first company, Inchworks, at 23 and the challenges that ultimately led to its closure. Anant emphasizes the importance of sustainable growth in entrepreneurship and offers invaluable tips on networking and time management. He also dives into founding The Irregulars Art Fair and creating impactful branding for clients like Airbnb, showcasing his innovative approach to design and community building.

Ishita is an illustrator and graphic designer from New Delhi. She is a graduate of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad and is currently pursuing her masters in Illustration as Visual Essay at the School of Visual Arts, New York. She loves to document moments from her life and travels in her sketchbooks. She co-authored and illustrated - The Girl who went to the Stars and Other Extraordinary Lives, a book published by Penguin Random House, India. On this episode, we talk about Ishita’s journey as a designer and about how she acquired the obsessive habit of documentation through sketching. She also shares with us her struggles in finding a right work-life balance and her efforts to build sustainable work habits. SECTIONS - TIME INDEX Childhood and Early influences - 00:02:00 Design Education at NID - 00:11:30 Graduation Project - 00:21:26 Part-time job with a start-up - 00:24:40 Book - ‘The Girl Who Went to the Stars: and Other Extraordinary Lives’ - 00:28:55 Masters Program at SVA - 00:41:50 Project - Unladylike - 00:55:00 Thesis Project - 01:02:00 RELEVANT LINKS Ishita Jain - ishitajain.in Ishita Jain Instagram - www.instagram.com/ishitajain24 Streams in Indian Senior Secondary education - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_India#12th_(Senior_Secondary_or_Higher_Secondary)_Exam Cuttlefish - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuttlefish My podcast with Rajesh Dahiya - designedthisway.com I can draw (Book) - https://books.google.co.in/books/about/I_Can_Draw.html?id=9CHpeNGWPYgC&redir_esc=y Ruskin Bond - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruskin_Bond Entomology - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entomology Gemology - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemology NID - www.nid.edu Srishti Institute - http://srishti.ac.in Green Goose Design - www.greengoosedesign.com Tarun Deep Giridhar - www.nid.edu/hi/people/faculty/tarun-deep-girdher.html Guesthouser - www.guesthouser.com The Girl Who Went to the Stars: and Other Extraordinary Lives - www.amazon.in/Girl-Who-Went-Stars-Extraordinary/dp/0143442627 Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls - https://www.rebelgirls.co/products/good-night-stories-for-rebel-girls Naomi Kundu - www.naomikundu.com Kalpana Chawla - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalpana_Chawla Janaki Ammal - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janaki_Ammal SVA - sva.edu Visual Journalism - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_journalism Parsons New School - newschool.edu/parsons/ Pratt Institute - pratt.edu Unladylike - ishitajain.in/unladylike-1 Nariana, Delhi - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naraina_Area Riverside Park (Manhattan) - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverside_Park_(Manhattan) New York Botanical Gardens - www.nybg.org Roberto Burle Marx - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Burle_Marx Wendy MacNaughton - wendymacnaughton.com Dr. Ina Vandebroek - www.nybg.org/person/ina-vandebroek/ Alex W. Crowder - alexmakesthings.com Auroville - auroville.org

Ashwini Deshpande, co-founder of Elephant Design, shares her inspiring journey in the design world. She discusses how her childhood influences and education at NID shaped her creativity. Ashwini highlights key projects like Paper Boat, Tata Salt, and Organic India, emphasizing emotional branding and sustainability. She dives into the challenges of being a design entrepreneur in India, the importance of rigorous financial practices, and creating a studio culture that balances creativity with discipline. A fascinating peek into the world of design!

Ritesh began his career advertising while at Wieden+Kennedy, Deutsch, and Saatchi & Saatchi and has since transitioned to leading Product Design and Branding in-house at mission-driven startups. He recently led a 360-degrees rebrand of a dog food startup called Pet Plate with Sagmeister & Walsh and R/GA, while serving as the Senior Director of Brand & UX. Currently, he is working with Serial Box, where he is (re)designing, (re)building, (re)positioning, & (re)branding the platform. On this episode, Ritesh shares with us the story behind how he got into the world of design. He takes us through the Pet Plate’s branding process, from the time the startup decided to rebrand, to deciding on the right design agency for the task and about the partnership with Sagmeister and Walsh (now known as And Walsh). He also talks about the importance of measuring the impact of design and how it can transform our industry. He also talks about diversity, inclusion and equity in the world of design. SECTIONS - TIME INDEX Childhood, Education and Early days of work - 00:03:00 Hungry Harvest - 00:18:30 Petplate - 00:24:00 Measuring the impact of design - 01:06:00 Diversity, Inclusion and Equity - 01:29:00 RELEVANT LINKS Ritesh Gupta - www.ritesh-gupta.com Serial Box - serialbox.com Brand New Conference - bnconf.com Temecula, California - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temecula,_California UCLA - ucla.edu MET Logo - wolffolins.com/case-study/the-met/ Wieden+Kennedy - www.wk.com Media planning - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_planning Saatchi & Saatchi - saatchi.com Deutsch agency -deutsch.com Shark Tank - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_Tank Hungry Harvest - hungryharvest.net Robert Herjavec - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Herjavec SNAP - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supplemental_Nutrition_Assistance_Program Pet Plate - petplate.com Renaldo Webb - www.petplate.com/about/ Sagmeister and Walsh - sagmeisterwalsh.com And Walsh - andwalsh.com Pet Plate project on And Walsh website - andwalsh.com/work/all/pet-plate/ McKinsey - mckinsey.com RFP - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Request_for_proposal Jessica Walsh - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Walsh First Round Conference - underconsideration.com/firstround/ Anthropomorphism - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropomorphism Moderat Font - tightype.com/moderat/ A/B testing - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A/B_testing Multivariate testing - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multivariate_testing_in_marketing Customer acquisition cost - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_acquisition_cost Customer lifetime value - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_lifetime_value McKinsey, The business value of design - www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-design/our-insights/the-business-value-of-design POC, People of Colour - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person_of_color Design Census 2019 - designcensus.org Non-binary gender - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-binary_gender Jammu city, India - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jammu Glassdoor - glassdoor.com Ritesh’s Email ID - ritesh@ritesh-gupta.com Daler Mehndi - www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ2PtEx9-ls

Kimya Gandhi is a type designer from Mumbai with a passionate interest in Indic type design. She is an alumnus of National institute of Fashion Technology and Industrial Design Centre, IIT Mumbai. She got her professional start interning at Linotype in 2010. Over the next few years she freelanced for several type foundries catering to their multi-script requirements. In 2015, she became a partner at Mota Italic and now focuses on Indic and Latin designs for retail and custom corporate projects. On this episode, we talk about Kimya’s journey as a designer and about some of her key type design projects. She also talks about the unique challenges of designing fonts for Indic scripts and about business aspects of the type design industry. RELEVANT LINKS Kimya Gandhi - kimyagandhi.wordpress.com Motaitalic type foundry - www.motaitalic.com Madh Island - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madh_Island NIFT - nift.ac.in Fashion Communication - www.nift.ac.in/bdesfc NID - www.nid.edu Lettering - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lettering IDC, IIT Mumbai - www.idc.iitb.ac.in White Crow Design - whitecrow.in Type Design at Univ. of Reading - typefacedesign.net Type Design at KABK, Netherlands - www.kabk.nl/en/programmes/master/type-and-media CDAC - cdac.in Fontographer - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fontographer Prof. Kirti Trivedi - www.idc.iitb.ac.in/kirti/index.html
Kohei Sugiura - www.academia.edu/28689470/Kohei_Sugiura_Graphic_Design_Methodology_and_philosophy Gurmukhi Script - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurmukhi
Mahendra Patel - designedthisway.com Linotype - www.linotype.com Monotype - www.monotype.com Indian Type Foundry - www.indiantypefoundry.com Satya Rajpurohit - www.indiantypefoundry.com/about
Devanagri - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devanagari DIN Next - www.linotype.com/517415/din-next-family.html Jubilee - www.linotype.com/317196/jubilee-family.html Akira Kobayashi - www.monotype.com/studio/akira-kobayashi
Type design intensive course - http://typefacedesign.net/courses/tdi/
Cleveland Museum of Art - www.clevelandart.org
Gerry Leonidas - leonidas.net
Fiona Ross - www.reading.ac.uk/typography/about/Staff_list/f-g-e-ross.aspx
Indic Scripts - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmic_scripts
Dr Vaibhav Singh - www.reading.ac.uk/typography/about/Staff_list/v-singh2.aspx
Rob Keller - www.motaitalic.com/info/about/
Sharad Typeface Download. - setuadvertising.com/sharad76/
SETU Advertising - setuadvertising.com
Conjunct consonant - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjunct_consonant
Maku Typeface - www.motaitalic.com/product/maku/
Dingbats - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dingbat
Glyphs App - glyphsapp.com Robofont - robofont.com
Chikki Typeface - www.motaitalic.com/product/chikki/ Chikki, the food - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chikki Boaty, McBoatface - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boaty_McBoatface Shirorekha - idc.iitb.ac.in/resources/dt-jan-2009/Anatomy%20of%20Devanagari.pdf Physics Envy - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physics_envy
Link to my upcoming Gurumukhi Type Inspiration (Mentioned in the podcast) - www.instagram.com/p/BrzbZT3Hxqr/
Golden Temple - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Temple Type Design Resources from Motaitalic - www.motaitalic.com/info/type-design-resources/
David Jonathan Ross - djr.com
Inga Plönnigs - www.ingaploennigs.com OTF - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenType TTF - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TrueType WOFF - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Open_Font_Format
Futurefonts - www.futurefonts.xyz EULA - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End-user_license_agreement
Apache License - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_License
Danfo Std by Da Design - dadesign.studio/work/danfo-std

Seyi Olusanya and Damilola Marcus are the founders of Dá Design Studio, a brand identity design studio from Lagos. Dá Design believes in pushing the boundaries of brand expression in Nigeria, testing the zeitgeist and most importantly, creating effective communication. On this episode we will talk about Damilola and Seyi’s journey as designers, about the formation of da design studio and about the iconic work created by the studio. We will also talk about the unique challenges and opportunities of operating a design studio in Nigeria. RELEVANT LINKS Dá Design Studio - https://dadesign.studio Lagos, Nigeria -en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagos University of Nigeria -unilag.edu.ng Nigerian Independence - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Nigeria#Independence RGB vs CMYK - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RGB_color_model vs en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMYK_color_model Yourba culture - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoruba_people Market March - https://dadesign.studio/work/marketmarch Pidgin - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pidgin Igbo People - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igbo_people Kofe Club - https://dadesign.studio/work/thekofeclub Cowrywise - https://cowrywise.com Y Combinator - https://www.ycombinator.com Niara Symbol - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_naira Indian Rupees Symbol - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_rupee_sign Danfo Typeface - https://dadesign.studio/work/danfo-std Nollywood - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nollywood YabaTech - http://www.yabatech.edu.ng Dribbble Meetups - https://dribbble.com/meetups Ije Nwokorie - https://twitter.com/onyeije?lang=en Eddie Opara - https://www.pentagram.com/about/eddie-opara Osaze Amadasun - https://www.instagram.com/osaze_amadasun/ BINI playing cards - https://twitter.com/osaze_amadasun/status/1122189125388521474?s=20 The Fallacy Of The African Aesthetic - https://medium.com/@MarcusandAD/the-fallacy-of-the-african-aesthetic-149193cc846e Kerala Sari - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala_sari