M.Des New Media Design (NID) | B.Des Industrial-Product Design (SID)
The realm of New Media and Trans-disciplinary work is daunting, but that's something that I've decided to devote my life to. While studying and after graduating with a B.Des majoring in Industrial-Product Design, I still kept looking for 'more'. I had no idea what 'more' meant for me back then. Parallel to that, I had been actively involved in a couple of Humanitarian and Social projects, trying to strike a chord between Design and studying Social Constructs.
Working in the corporate design industry for about two years(2016-18) was an eye opener because I started realising my true potential which had to come outside of the screen and into people's lives. After rigorous research, I stumbled upon New Media Design (M.Des) as a discipline at the National Institute of Design (NID) in India. I was also accepted at some esteemed Design institutes across Europe, but decided to stay in the country so that I could work on projects which would help me take a closer look at the real issues, and would be Medium-agnostic. I have always been of the opinion that there's more to it than what meets the eye and through each project that I've had the opportunity to work on, the belief has only been reinforced.
Having worked with various start-ups in India across sectors of Innovation in Electronics, E-commerce, News, Education, Food-tech, and Finance, I have learnt that a lot of it is interdependent and studying the other domains also gives great insights into the one that one's working in.
I have also been fortunate enough to have found an amazing guide in my Head of Department at NID, Dr Jignesh Khakhar, who helped me look at Design and Art as 'Designing Thoughts' and not mere products or services. That was a game-changer for me and got me interested in Innovation and Speculative Design, Ethnographic Research, and Etymologies. Most of my projects have dealt with trying to challenge people's thoughts around the Socio-Cultural normative structures. I have also taught myself some new mediums of expression(new to me) and I only wish to learn and explore more. Installations, Kinetic sculptures, Virtual and Mixed Reality, Basic interactive electronics, and Filming 360 videos, are some Mediums that I have had the fortune to work with and I can only hope that this list expands in the future!