Design Thoughts

The Human species has achieved feats that no other species in the animal kingdom has come close to. And history has been a witness to how the sheer intentionality that the human mind brings, in everything they do, generates an energy that transforms generations to come. But while being intentional about life is critical, our ability to stay intentional stems from a few basics in everyday life. While happiness is celebrated as an eternal goal, the quest for it doesn’t always lead to success, and it brings up a larger question that is happiness the right end goal for each one of us? Is there something more profound that we all look for subconsciously? As a kid we all have heard our parents say “that’s not right”, the dilemma it creates in most of us is the question on what is right? On one side we have the universal right, a right which is agreed upon by society or the larger collective. This collective may be as large as humanity, where one of the highest virtues is not to harm or ...

We all live in layers in our lives. Multiple layers of our own identity which we try to signify as one. Do we really have one identity. Or are we just an amalgamation of all these layers that we portray in different situation and social constructs. While we seek our true self we also deny a lot of our identities which exist even if we deny it. It's like the identities that we represent but we do not own as us. In the end even if we deny those identities they are a part of our existence. And perhaps they are not our favorites or even not the ones which we consciously want to represent ourselves with. But they help us float through the non deterministic world that we have to drag our existence through. And if this were to be true, then what remains is the challenge of knowing who are we in the end. We are definitely more than the flesh and blood or the mind and meaning that we construct. Perhaps we are just a figment of our own imagination, but then who is imagining in the first plac...

The human mind is a strangely powerful thing. While the world is busy being awed by the wonders of generative AI, we are lacking a true understanding that our brains, the OG natural intelligence to AI, have immense capabilities beyond our own human inventions. I woke up this morning with a terrible nightmare, and while I took time to control my emotions, the designer in me started observing the nitty-gritty of this generated world. As you can imagine, everything was believable. It had to be, because it was directly connected to my neural system. But the main part was how it didn't feel alien and had elements of my existing world, which increased my believability. I saw my daughter in a space that seemed fairly familiar. The twist of the fear-producing nightmare was when, from that real space, I was taken into a totally unknown realm. I felt lost, and I had lost my daughter as well, which added to my anxiety. While this is as much as I remember in detail, what is fascinating is the ...

As makers we tend to create things from the instance of momentous usage. What would the user do when he clicks this, or what would the user do when he is in this situation. Most of our design processes and methods have been traditionally focussed on design for that particular moment or period. However, the success of most designs is not just relevant to the aha moments of joy or failure. Human beings live a life, a period of continuous actions and reactions with multiple facets of objects and processes around them, hence the existence of our designs over a period of time needs to be treated as much seriously as we see the particular time period of use. While I write this I clearly do understand the limitations that drive us to design and develop things for specific moments. Firstly the challenge is to imagine a longer period of time for our users, the world is uncertain and may not always showcase results as we plan them to, we all know that systemically its not just one thi...

When you look at the animal kingdom, most of the times they try to use best of what they are. But as humans we are blessed with the notion of synthetic extensions. We tend to cover our natural selves to put up an identity that we desire to be...Be it at physical level by using perfumes, fancy clothes or even makeup or grooming. Or even at a psychological level many times we are not even true to our selves, or even in presence of certain audience or environments.  The question then is not about is it good or bad to have this facade over our existing selves, but its about our discomfort with our natural self. Why are we humans not comfortable being ourself always? Some may argue that the mask we put up on ourselves is just an extension as against a facade. But then even there whats . wrong with the plain jane us? Is it too boring or is it the drive to prove our identity distinct from other humans? Or perhaps human capability lies in projection of identities in dif...

Human beings grow up in social spaces where the value of " goodness" is extremely hyper rated. This not only leads to humans wanting to conform to the good values around them, but also creates a massive fear of not being good. Ever since childhood we are subjugated to this process of discerning between what is good and what is bad. We are shown role models of ideal behavior and told to follow the paths of the ones that showcase overall good values. Apart from the positive values that this brings us to fit into the social structure of humankind. What really concerns me is the negative effects it brings in. Just to be fitting into a set structure and form of "goodness" we avoid questioning any thoughts beyond it. We also fail to recognize that the very "Goodness" that the world preaches us is relative in nature and changes from place to place and time to time. It then becomes a deep imperative to follow the good spirit just to avoid any ire or repulsio...

As humans we all face various levels of struggles and challenges travelling through the journey called life. But there is a magical part in our lives which we often ignore or are not cognizant about. It starts as kids when we believe in the starry fairy tales or start role playing into worlds that exist in the corner of our minds. But it doesnt end there, however serious and "professional" the adultworld may look our illusions dont change. Infact we still have illusions as a prime motivator in our thoughts. We still love to be swept away in a world that is different from the real. More so when we are adults. We watch movies or plays just to imagine ourselves as the protagonist living the life that we imagine we could live. And even if you are a billionaire life doesnt stop there, we want to cut away from the steady routine reality and breakaway into short sweet bubbles of momentary comfort. Todays technology makes being in the illusive space even more easier a...

Happiness is a critical emotion to human lives. It not only motivates the drive to stay alive but also brings in a healthy journey through its pains. But what triggers happiness is as important as the pleasure of enjoying it. Also what matters is when does a being realize he or she is happy? One such state that surely seems to be driving happiness is the feeling of achievement. In most of the cases whenever people achieve something in their lives or atleast they feel they have acheived something they feel happy.There is a sense of victory mixed with a deeper sense of self worth proving the need of existential self over others. Although a very motivational and powerful thing...sense of achievement like many other human feelings is a relative sense. If we were to ask ourselves when does one achieve something? and then...when does someone feel happy about the achievement? Most common achievement realizations can be around social acceptance the process of positive acceptance by th...

Interruptions were most of the times considered as a negative element in society. If you are doing something and get interrupted the resulting effects could range from feeling irritated to outright rage. However the digital world seems to be thinking differently. The identity of interruptions is becoming popular and regular these days. And yes this is not new, but the advent of technology has surely changed the way we access our information. Be it the ping i received while typing this blog post or the FB update that i keep checking every 10 mins. It was fine untill these so called friendly updates were on my phone which i could avoid by keeping my phone on silent. But a new class of technology is already encroaching, THE WEARABLES...This new class of device is built to interrupt. And it makes it even more easy to be interrupted. Be it a buzz on ur hand or the new taptic touch which makes u feel as if someone is tapping you on your wrist. And with more ease of use to reach this i...

Browsing through my linkedin page suddenly my eyes went up to see who had shared the entries...much to my surprise the person who was sharing it was my 1st level connection. And much to my greater surprise I didn't know the person!!! I almost felt like a stranger on my own profile. With hoards of connections on our social networks whom we barely know its pretty much like sitting in a room full of strangers. And that's not all..we constantly consume loads of information shared by them...over that we are addicted to hearing these updates from these strangers. What's also surprising is that a very high amount of our day to day lives are influenced by what we read. This surely is like a massive screwup situation in our lives. In olden days people used to feed on selective knowledge that either they choose or is being sermoned by someone  whom you trust or believe. At max you would have a gossip session with your known folks to talk about the latest. It was much control...

There is a serious disorder floating around the world and we all are facing it. Especially the ones from the so called internet developed nations ..and especially the species called Designers. Its the madness called "New". The rapid growth of choices brought into our lives after the industrial revolution has created a behavior that is so deep rooted in us that most of the times we ignore it. We all are akin to the state of novelty at short instances of time. And as much as it may be affecting the very souls who have to create these "new things" it equally has become a fad among every citizen of this so called progressed world. We all want new clothes, new products , new information, new posts and new entertainment at such fast rates that we also have a strong desire for a New Self at such rapid paces, that the idea of constant is passe. Some of the skeptics may ask me why, whats wrong in innovative thinking....trust me i am not against innovation. Especia...

Will: is such an interesting concept that we humans may have discovered or invented. It extends our existence to a new level by transcending our thoughts into an impact on the situations around us. Use too much of it and you are called self-centered narcissist use too little of it and you are labeled herd follower…But it is always existing in that deeper self of your conscience. It is a command given to your own self by you…or maybe it’s an affirmation to your own self or an expression of a decision made by you. We do many tasks in our daily lives each one of them unique in its own way…there are many tasks that we should, could, or even must do at times….but then there are those that we want to do…the ones that are driven by our will. “Should” tasks are mostly social obligations derived out of societies or religious attributions mostly created by the “Others” for us to follow. “Could” tasks are abilities that we have and their possible actions that we could...

Our thinking is a critical facet to our impact on this planet. And ofcourse our thinking is not autonomous, it just doesnt happen out of nowhere, we dont think in isolation, we think through the influences that affect our thoughts...hence these influences matter to make or break the identity that we become over time. Just think of the amount of things around you even at this particular instance influencing you. Be it television channels, newspaper articles or even a random sound across the street. The immense capacity of such influences affecting not just ur conscious but also subconscious mind is pretty amazing. And then this becomes a part of the greater thought process that lingers in your head while tackling through actions that require decision or even creativity that matters. But wait a second, if each of these aspects are affecting your thought process, doesnt it mean that they have the power to influence your actions, and hence your existence. Agreed that they cannot mak...

We humans are truly complex creatures, we delve around in spaces creating identities which at times even we are not very aware of. When we travel around through cities as an outsider, we see many thoughts many spaces that make what the city is all about. May be generalizations or even pure facade...but cities do have an identity and that in turn surely affects its citizens...... Sitting across a public place as an audience gives a wide range of people to observe...especially when you are all alone and keen on looking around you. Take for example an airport...you see families capturing their final moments with their loved ones...kids running around or even crying to the fear of the crowd...taxi drivers waiting with name plates of unknown faces...looking for a perfect match. And then there are the guards doing their jobs without losing their cool...some guy rushes in delayed for his flight...while some other relishing the eatables around waiting lavishly....some business guys in the...

Traditionally we all have subjects or topics from school that we consider ourselves "good" at, and to an extent these are the topics that help us shape our thinking or even our careers at times. But if you were to reverse question the thought of how does one become good at something, you tend to see that we develop a strange kind of liking towards the topic as kids. When we like something we have a natural inclination to do that thing more repetitively. By saying this i don't intend to say that liking makes us an expert automatically. But Liking surely acts as one of the key recipes towards developing the expertise. If you like something you tend to become more curious towards that topic, you make special efforts at times to make urself spend more time in that domain. Lets for example look at a kid who develops a liking towards geography and due to that you would see that his attention span towards geography is high. Hence he would grab more knowledge make more me...

We all grow up from that innocent childhood days...but many of our behaviors are still locked in within us. Behaviors which tend to make us do things which we can eliminate to make our lives more meaningful, creative or even just happy. As we grow we transit from our school lives and college lives to work. Perhaps the most dreaded word over time, and it very much is for creative individuals because it sounds too industrial too, intensive too serious. However that's the catch, hence at times we call it career or some other more interesting names to make the bitter sound sweet...or even feel sweet. Its not that all work is boring or redundant or just plain old work, most of it is interesting depending on what we do and where. But what i have observed over time is that most of the work that is dreaded upon by people across the world is done in a specific manner. A manner which we tend to call professionalism. In the name of professionalism we tend to work in the homework...

We have multiple ways in which we think everyday...but just like all other laundry lists...i feel we also have a lots of thinking types... Like there is a thinking "we love to think about" which are thoughts that create a happy feeling to us....we are not bounded by any other thoughts but our own in this thinking...and perhaps creativity lies somewhere here.... But beyond this type there is the "we have to think about" thinking....now we may or may not like this thinking....but yes its obligatory for us to think about it... And then there is the " what others make us think about" thinking...this one is common becoz of the influences and distractions we have around us...this may be a good or bad...but it surely uses that brain of ours... Also there is the "we shouldnt be thinking" thinking....which are our taboos...our things that society or our upbringing has brought us about...this is more in restricted zone which we dont generally sh...

We all meet up new individuals in new spaces everyday. Its like a constant process which happens knowing or unknowingly. Considering the number of humans on this planet there always is obvious scope. During our conversations and interactions with strangers or even colleagues or relatives or to generalize to any other human there seems to be a zone in which many people tend to reach. By the zone i mean a comfort level or frequency match which people tend to reach. Talking to a visually impaired friend of mine i was wondering what is it that makes such conversations engaging? What makes that frequency match happen? What makes people rhyme in communication? If you see there is a good chance that if you had a engaging conversation with an individual you tend to have a good feeling about that person or atleast about that moment of conversation. In my desire to find the answer, i started observing all the conversations i have been having for last few weeks. And by observing i dont real...

Its early morning and you start your day by cleaning your self, rushing towards feeding yourself....feeding food...but at the same time your brain is also hungry, what do we feed our brains? Research says that early morning is the best time for a person grasp in information to remember and understand it, during the silent times of the night we do have our brains working, but in a very free manner. But as soon as we get up, our brains a kinds of open doors to things. Remember the exam times when our parents used to wake us up to revise things early in the morning. But over time what has happened is that most of us feed our bodies with amazing breakfast with variety, most of us focussed towards healthy breakfast and healthy exercise....but what about the brain? What do we feed our brains? Lets make a list, there is the morning news paper which has traditionally got into the cycle of morning brain feed, off late our social network updates and email checks are into the zone. If y...

As we grow in our career life we see more and more people are keen on taking up authoritative jobs. Or the other way, the society in general would consider a person with authoritative job successful. The question here is : Is Career Progression defined by authoritative jobs? Does Authority in any space or domain mean progress of a particular career? On one side we have skill or talent progression where an individual in his career tends to become more skillful in what they do, this however happens only when he/she has continued doing the same thing for a longer period of time. However it is only considered rewarding when an individual working in a particular space gets a better "position" which in turn translates into "managerial" position as progression. Is this social view always necessary? Which also lets us deduce that we believe that managerial position or higher authority is the only way ideal decision making would happen. So in turn it deduces that its...