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Pavement Ads

  I have mentioned in my earlier posts about my evening walks. While on an evening walk, I happened to see numerous business card sized massaging service paper ads all over the side walk, partly buried in the sand. The card was quite simple, it had a phone number in a big typeface and an attractive Indian girl in traditional cloth on the front, probably a south Indian Actress. On the very top, it says Indian Massaging service. I am quite sure it could be an ad for sex work. The country I'm at being a conservative Muslim country, that does not allow mixed schools or gyms, I am quite certain that its view on opposite gender massage isn't very forgiving one, let alone sex work. That said, it's not like sex work doesn't happen here at all. I imagine its not easy to eradicate one of the most ancient professions with harsh laws and religion.  People would always find their way around these barriers and that is why these ads are quite interesting. When I first saw them on the

The Migrant Data

 I wanted to explore a project on tableau. No, that's not where this story begins. Way before I knew what tableau is or even what visualizing what data is, I was reading about the migrant crisis in lockdown. It was heartbreaking because it's pure neglect. In the government's decision making, the whole community of daily wage migrants was overlooked. It seems unreal, because we have 45.36 crore migrants in this nation of ours. Its not a number that could or do disappear when we talk about India or its economy if you have to think that way, but it did. The migrant crisis made headlines with its heartbreaking stories, of mothers dying beside their toddlers, walking workers dying of exhaustion and suicide. The final lethal blow to the entire affair came months later, when the government announced that there is no data of the migrant sufferings and deaths.  "When there is no accountability, there will also be no responsibility" That was until I came across the data fro

Samsung Watch Face Design Process

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  This is my documentation of my team’s design research and process. Week 1. UNDERSTANDING THE SYSTEM Research methodology for week 1 and 2 At first, we went wide. We looked into the existing wearable tech, listed out keywords, possible narratives, mapped emotions, culture, history, made affinity maps and so on. Later on, we planned our own research methods. Since our project is largely based on micro interaction and watch face, we relied a lot on curated list of motivational drivers in people for our research and ideas.  In the market, We noticed the main selling point of smart watches is the fitness factor, especially apple watches focuses on this. Which is a direction that makes sense when it comes to a tech that is worn so close to the skin, an extension of your body. If smartphone has the appeal of a loyal assistant, a smart watch operates on another level of intimacy, perhaps that of a companion. Most smartwatch users wear the tech for most part of the day, the smartwatch records

Understanding Data

  Some time ago, I came across Data Viz and started this one sided love affair. I read about Tufte, Florence Nightingale Georgia Lupi and so on. I read about principles. I tried to do some explorations myself and so on. I was watching software tutorials. It was a frantic affair, I wanted to show I could do it in a short time. Recently I have decided to take a step back and figure out what I want to show. Moreover, I wanted to know what I liked about Data Viz and what captivated me. I guess I could say that I never thought about data in a narrative sense. I never realized the possibility that data tells powerful stories about us. Its history, its insights waiting to be found, its patterns that reveal new patterns. I never thought about myself as s story teller, I always thought I ended up in design because I could draw a face. I realize now I love story telling and that I may have always been a story teller. I know data has so many stories to tell us and I want to be part of that.  I al