More Design Opportunities Visualised: DCC 2008 scenarios

Image: Thumbnails of several water based scenarios prepared by the DCC2008 class at NID. They are shown below individually at the links listed here below.

Image: Six pages from a 20 page manual prepared by the Desert Rajasthan team as part of their group assignment The group work Design Opportunity Manuals are now available at this site. You can download the PDF files at the links below:
Desert Rajasthan Manual: 20 page pdf 6.1 mb size.
Kerala Rainforest Manual: 26 pages pdf 4.8 mb size.
Northeast Hills Manual: 12 pages pdf 3.5 mb size

More Design Opportunities: DCC 2008
Here is the second batch of scenarios that emerged from the students of the five regional groups, all working on water based design opportunities for the five assigned geographic regions of India, namely, Northeast Hills, Kerala Rainforest, Himalayan Foothills, Desert Rajasthan and Coastal Maharashtra. They are listed below and hyperlinked to the image and email text that was provided by each of the students selected here.

The five groups are represented here below by another eighteen members:
6. Pragya Singh : Design Opportunities Water (Team – Northeast Hills)
7. Abu Basim : Design Opportunities Water (Team – Northeast Hills)
8. Rohit Goyal : Design Opportunities Water (Team – Northeast Hills)
9. Kabini Amin : Design Opportunities Water (Team – Kerala Rainforest)
10. Abhijit K R: Design Opportunities Water (Team – Kerala Rainforest)
11. Aakash G V: Design Opportunities Water (Team – Kerala Rainforest)
12. DIPTI KHOSLA: Design Opportunities Water (Team - HIMALAYAN FOOTHILLS)
13. Prachi Choudhari: Design Opportunities Water (Team - HIMALAYAN FOOTHILLS)
14. Amol Singh Tomar: Design Opportunities Water (Team - HIMALAYAN FOOTHILLS)
15. Anoushka Garg : Design Opportunities Water (Team – Desert Rajasthan)
16. Akanksha : Design Opportunities Water (Team – Desert Rajasthan)
17. Lavanya Naidu : Design Opportunities Water (Team – Desert Rajasthan)
18. Avirup Basu : Design Opportunities Water (Team – Desert Rajasthan)
19. Gaurang Nagre : Design Opportunities Water (Team – Desert Rajasthan)
20. Jyotika Deep Singh : Design Opportunities Water (Team – Desert Rajasthan)
21. Surabhi Gangrade : Design Opportunities Water (Team - Coastal Maharashtra)
22. Kavya Agarwal : Design Opportunities Water (Team - Coastal Maharashtra)
23. Nandini Krishnamurthy : Design Opportunities Water (Team - Coastal Maharashtra)

<Items 1 to 5 can be accessed from this link here.

Kabini Amin : Design Opportunities Water (Team – Kerala Rainforest)

Kabini Amin : Design Opportunities Water (Team – Kerala Rainforest)

My visualisation, 15 years from now :

I imagine having started a magazine for youth that deals with issues like water, environmental degradation etc. Teen-targeted publications normally deal with film stars and random gossip. Also a large section of people are moving towards urban areas, where life is seemingly comfortable, and are thus unaware of the rural realities.

I personally think the youth is the strongest asset a country has. Unfortunately in our country, people aren’t considered capable of making decisions until they are well into their 30’s, an age at which they are so part of this larger system that all creative thinking has been suppressed. The youth in the country (in this case Kerala) should be mobilised and sensitised towards making some kind of change. With the magazine I hope to create a new system.

I would begin this by studying the functioning’s of popular youth magazines, by targeting readers, advertising and increasing popularity.

I remember always wanting to act proactively in the society and wanting to help resolve environmental issues, but never knowing how. I wish to inform like-minded people about steps they could take in this direction.

After weighing out all the possibilities, I found that this design opportunity was the most feasible and at the same time the most powerful. When the state/country has an empowered and informed youth, then it is truly a rich land.

This idea may not be exclusive to Kerala, but has the advantage of being flexible so that it can be adapted to any place.

Kabini Amin : (Team – Kerala Rainforest)
P.S. all this would apply if 15 years from now the state of Kerala still exists even after the effects of climate change.

Abhijit K R: Design Opportunities Water (Team – Kerala Rainforest)

Abhijit K R: Design Opportunities Water (Team – Kerala Rainforest)

Buddha, ‘Brand Water' and creative commons

Design scenario visualisation

Buddha is the sign of knowledge dissemination without bounds. In a way Buddha paved the way for creative commons and the idea of sharing as a whole.

After 15 years, once brand 'keyaar' is established, I believe I’ll be able to do the things with very few constraints of time and money.

My idea of design intervention in water related design opportunities and opportunities as a whole, is to create an online learning/knowledge sharing platform. I call it school’e’ for now. I will choose Internet as it's (I hope so) a medium where there is the least discrimination. And in the case of kerala, we have seen the spread of telecom revolution at a never-before-seen rate, and so when we project this to the net scenario, it’s right to believe that by 2023,most, if not every, household will have a computer and Internet access. The access to the site and its activities will be idea-centric unlike the skill centric institutions of these days. The site will hold discussions on society, ecology, design and logic. The principle will be that of 'practice what you preach' and outcomes will be held for peer-group evaluation. As a part of the program, there will be a water portal, both in Malayalam and English (which is a concept I had during the design opportunity mapping) so that in sync with the basic ideology, information will be open and experiential to all.

Besides these I’ll host an online community, wherein the various aspects mentioned above in school'e' concept will be discussed between activists, designers and artists of all sorts. This community and the school’e’ people will be responsible for the product and / or other ideas which the people of kerala will be able to put into practice. One approach will be to tap local resources like the coconut tree and local wisdom, which will be shared online or on the field.
The financial backup will be provided by my design activities, freelance writing and paintings and shares. As for infrastructure, the resources will be minimal, as a computer and a domain name will be enough for he purpose.
As for the strategy, I will be adopting the Adjusters strategy wherein I will use the normal branding procedure used by high paying brands and the Planman type of promoting one brand with another's activities.
On discussion with my peer group I found that the strategy appealed to all, with someone expressing concern over the classless nature of the Internet and the widespread use of the same. The feasibility aspect of this idea was also appreciated.
I have tried to present the idea in a straightforward manner and is based on the business model study we had in dcc, while the information gathered during the process of earlier brainstorms is used as a base.

Abhijit K R: (Team – Kerala Rainforest)

Aakash G V: Design Opportunities Water (Team – Kerala Rainforest)

Aakash G V: Design Opportunities Water (Team – Kerala Rainforest)

Me, Aakhash GV after convocating from NID, might pursue Masters In design (related to PD), then start earning (say after 5-6 Yrs.) The whole idea of establishing an industry that Manufactures Water management systems for various other industries in Kerala and other water related products using the then latest technology is what I dream of in reality. 15 years from now is a reallygood quality time to think upon its establishment,& feasabilty. Coming from an industrial background, my major financial aid will be my dad and my uncle + max. bank loans + my 6-7 years of savings + my bank accounts and policies. Investing such a huge amount, that also after 15 yr. in Kerala, one of the best places to located it would be COCHIN-Industial Zone.

Kerala, basically is abundant of rich raw materials, and resources. Im targetting at industries herethat consume water at a large scale, 15 years frm now. By then, 1000s of industries will be flourishing(if the ecosystem survives, especially water).Kerala also has a favourable, tropical humid climate, high literacy rate---->so good skilled employment and enough raw water supply and rain.These factors influence industries to enter Kerala.

Me and my industry [Aakhash Water Maagement Systems] will plan, design and manufacture products that are cost effective, sustainable, incororating the then best suitable technology and eco-friendly such as :

Various RO systems for industrial waste water purification
UV, Ozonization, Ion exchange process, activated water treatment,
various filter systems and other future technology for effective water purification.
Backwater de-salination by structured RO systems for industrial raw water supply(without affecting the aquatic and the surrounding water systems ) --power for the system driven by wind mills --a very high budget project ( say done later )
Ultra water purifiers for domestic purposes
Other water treatment processes for industries internally.
Permanent Water sprinklers around every industry that maintains greenery/gardens around it to reduce noise pollution and increase rainfall + oxygen.......Plants like grass, flowering plants, coconut grooves, banana plantations, mangrooves, etc.

Awareness :

Once the industry is well set up, then we will invite and offer industrial visits to school students and college students and educate them about the need and significance of the industry and hoe to manage water in the future.

Website designed to educate users on water management by presentations and motion graphics, along with the industrial profile.

Conduct contests regarding water systems at school and college levels and give away prizes.

Employment :

By establishing this industry , I will be providing employment to a lot of skilled and hard-working people related to the field. Major industrial directors, managers and members who mamane the smooth functioning of the industry will also comprise IIT, IIM, and NID graduates who will pave the future of the industry and Kerala.

Aakash G V (Team – Kerala Rainforest)

Design Scenarios for Water in India: DCC2008 ends with a bang

Image: The Kerala team and the Rajasthan team seen making their group presentations to the class

Design Scenarios for Water in India: DCC2008 ends with a bang
Each of the five groups made very interesting presentation of the numerous design opportunities that the groups had explored and decided to include in their presentation. As mentioned earlier each group had made an initial round of design opportunity capture using the small A5 size format provided and through these they had individually explored a wide range of design opportunities through the medium of small thumbnail sketches and a brief write-up that was appended below the sketch concept in the format that was provided. The groups then presented these explorations to the whole class and each of the groups had a chance to show and tell their design explorations and to get feedback from the class as a whole as well as from the teachers and visitors present. This stage is an important aspect of design since the feedback provided could either strengthen the individuals conviction or help redirect it to an area with greater promise of achieving a good result. This kind of discourse is an integral part of the design exploration journey and the use of sketches, words and texts as well as built models are all part to the process of dialogue and discourse that is inherent in the process of design.

All the groups then went back to their respective spaces and moved into the field to explore the concepts with experts in the field. This gave them a further opportunity to expand on their ideas as well as to clarify specific details that needed such clarification be it technical, operational or socio-economic in nature. The groups continued their research and exploration and then as a collective decided to focus on their next assignment which was the creation of a manual that could be used to sensitise the people of the specific region that had been assigned to each group. Based on this kind of expert input and on their continued imagination and articulation of the design opportunity that was identified by the group the final manual was structured and prepared for presentation and this brought the class to the final assignment that was an individual one, however the teams were still expected to interact and provide peer group supports to the individual by providing feedback and technical support in realizing the objective of preparing an individual scenario. The task as stated and set to the included the exploration and inploration of the concept of the chosen design opportunity with a time horizon of about 15 years through which the individual student was required to imaging all the possibilities as well as challenges that could be faced in realizing the said opportunity and through this process try and figure out ways to help the community or business realize the particular opportunity. The individual student explorations were submitted to the teachers after a gap of three days and since the class was to conclude the grades were decided and the pictures of all the A3 size sheets were placed on the NID server for being accessible to all the students in the class. Each student was photographed with their scenario offering and they had been asked to submit an email with a 200 word description of their individual scenario.

Some of the individual scenarios are shown here below along with the brief text that was provided by the student as part of their submission. I have chosen five such scenarios, one from each group to be shared here as an example of the scenario visualization assignment. These are listed below and are hyperlinked to the individual offering. Here below.

The five groups and the chosen individuals are linked here below:
1. Jasjyot Singh Hans : Northeast Hills: Design opportuinities for Water.
2. Aarti Srikant Lagvankar : Kerala Rainforest: Design opportunities for Water.
3. Kaveri Gopalakrishnan : Himalayayan Foothills: Design opportunities for Water.
4. Geetika Kejriwal : Desert Rajasthan: Design opportunities for Water.
5. Mitsu Shah : Coastal Maharashtra: Design opportunities for Water.

Aarti Srikant Lagvankar : Design Opportunity - Water (Team - Kerala Rainforest)

Image: Aarti Srikant Lagvankar : Design Opportunity - Water (Team - Kerala Rainforest)

When I visualise myself fifteen years from now in Kerala, my very first step would be to motivate the people to undertake steps for conservation of water. Since it is very difficult to change the mindset of people after a certain age, I believe that the children should be the target.

It is easy to mould a child's mind at an adolescent stage itself. It is very evident that kids have started moving away from books and the age of video games has begun. So I thought of designing an arcade game in which the player will be a droplet of water which has to approach various obstacles (industries, careless individuals, pollution, etc.). At every obstacle, the player would be asked a question related to water conservation. If answered correctly the droplet moves on as it is and if not it becomes polluted and hence the child gets to know what factors create water problems and how to get rid of them.

Similarly, water cartoons could be made. Films are also a great way of creating awareness amongst both the children as well as the adults.

A part of the money earned from tourism (major source of income) could be used to install water recycling systems on a household or community level.

Aarti Lagvankar (Team - Kerala Rainforest)

2. Kerala Rainforest: Design opportunities for Water

2. Kerala Rainforest: Design opportunities for Water
The Kerala team worked together as a close knit unit and produced a very large range of alternate approaches all of which had been classified and structured for the group presentation. The format that had been chosen too was very exciting and full of possibilities since the task was to develop a publication in the form of a manual that could capture and disseminate all the selected design opportunities that the team had discovered as part of their exploration.

In keeping with their task they produced a concertina folded book that could double up as a wall chart and the other side of the wall chart was a huge poster that called for sustainable use of water lest there be a water WAR in the south. The news from the South is quite disturbing with the Karnataka and the Tamilnadu squabbles for the use of the River Cauvery’s water and this dispute has been going on for so many years now. In spite of all the expenses that have been incurred on this dispute on legal and political costs the State and Central Governments have not applied their minds to the possibility of investments in innovation and exploration of the kind that this group has suggested in our class. I wonder when we will learn as a nation that imagination and exploration can find lasting solutions if they are used in a cooperative mode. This was a great show of group solidarity and the result really raised all our expectations for the area of design action in the future by such group action which is very positive.