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.

Pragya Singh : Design Opportunities Water (Team – Northeast Hills)

Pragya Singh : Design Opportunities Water (Team – Northeast Hills)

During heavy rainfalls in NORTH EASTERN hills faces flash floods in urban upstream n soil erosion in rural downstream. Winters are dry which leads to lesser cultivation. Since both the rural and the urban areas are dependent hydrologically, I conceptualized integrated management system.

This system consists of many interlinked small watersheds (partly underground) at different levels of the hill to collect rainwater. Grooves are dug along the contours at different levels, which are open and directed towards respective community tanks (every individual house has its own simple rain water harvesting system comprising of a small above ground tank which collects clean roof water for drinking).

During heavy rains we can capture a large amount of water, which can be useful during dry winters for irrigation and domestic uses. During winters water can be pumped up during winters, since the tanks are interlinked....

Planned n thick cultivation (specially above the grooves) to help control soil erosion...
SINCE it’s a complicated n huge system plan, there will be many important considerations and required procedures to make it practically possible.

Firstly, I myself need to be well acquainted with knowledge of north east India n water structure over there...this can b done by research n social interactions.

Secondly, this is not a one man task ...it will need support n direction from experienced n enthusiastic people...to work it up as a team...

Thirdly, field study, environmental perception by directly going to the field is very important ...to identify the problems n find the best possible solutions. By interacting with the field...

Fourthly, proper planning.problem solving, plan considering all minute aspects of design ... like cost effectivness. Resource access, needs n mental build up of people there ...etc.

Fifthly, once we r ready with the plan.we need funds in addition to engineers, transport facilities, labour force, etc to actually make it possible...this could be done by approaching n convincing big influencial people in governmental n non govt. organisation.s.

Sixthly, spreading awareness by promotion, education, n proper expression.... so that we can properly convince the local populations to accept this system ...n its application

This could be done with the help of common awareness methods like internet, television, comic books, poster s... news channel, targeting students ... etc....

AFTER 15 YEARS I see a huge green hill (which is green even in winters).... and a flood free Northeast India..., which doesn’t need to go 1 mile downstream to get water...!!

Pragya Singh : Design Opportunities Water (Team – Northeast Hills)

Abu Basim : Design Opportunities Water (Team – Northeast Hills)

Abu Basim : Design Opportunities Water (Team – Northeast Hills)

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Abu Basim : Design Opportunities Water (Team – Northeast Hills)

Rohit Goyal : Design Opportunities Water (Team – Northeast Hills)

Rohit Goyal : Design Opportunities Water (Team – Northeast Hills)

NORTH-EASTERN HILLS
DESIGN OPPORTUNITY OF MANUFACTURING WATERPROOF ACCESSORIES.

AS WE KNOW THAT WATER IS AN IMPORTANAT RESOURCE OF LIFE AND NEED TO PRESERVE IT CAREFULL, WE STUDIED THE DIFFERENT METHODS AND APPLICATION OF WATER HARVESTING IN NORTH EASTERN HILLS. AFTER A LONG JOURNEY OF STUDYING WATER FROM DIFFERENT PESPECTIVE AND COMING UP WITH DESIGN OPPORTUNITIES IN OUR AREA IN LAST ASSIGNMENT I DECIDED TO STUDY MY DESIGN OPPORTUNITY OF MAKING SCHOOL BAGES WITH INFORMATIVE GRAPHIC RELATED TO WATER ISSUE I MEET AND TALKED TO LOT OF EXPERTS AND CONSUMERS. WHEN I TOOK MY PRODUCT TO MARKET THE FEEDBACK, WHICH I GOT, WAS GOOD THAN EXPECTATIONS. SO I THOUGHT WHY NOT THE PRODUCT SHOULD BE CARRIED FURTHER.

SO I DREAMED OF OPENING A FACTORY OF WATERPROOF ACCESSORIES LIKE SCHOOL, OFFICE, COLLEGE BAGS, RAIN COATS JACKETS, CAR ACCESSORIES ETC IN INDUSTRIAL AREA OF GUWAHATI, ASSAM MAY BE AFTER 15YEARS FROM NOW.
I STUDIED IN DETAIL OF OPENING A FACTORY AND CAME UP WITH FUTHURE ME BOARD.

EXPLANING ABOUT ME BOARD, ON EXTREM RIGHT OF SHEET WE CAN SEE THE MAP OF CHINA FROM WHERE THE RAW MATERIAL LIKE NYLON SHEETS, PVC SHEETS, REXGINE SHEETS ETC WOULD BE IMPORTING BY FACTORY BECAUSE OF CHEAP RATES AND GOOD QUALITY.NEXT TO IT IS THE PICTURE OF FACTORY WHERE RECYCLING PLANT OF FACTORY USED WATER IS ALSO SHOWN BY WHICH WATER CAN BE REUSED BY KEEPING ENVORNIMENT CLEAN. ON THE ROOF OF FACTORY WE CAN SEE SOLAR PANELS WHICH CAN BE USED FOR GENRATING HOT WATER AND ELECTRCITY WHICH IS USED ON LARGE SCALE IN INDUSTRY FOR DIFFERENT PURPOSE. BELOW INDUSTRY THERE IS A PICTURE OF INSTUTIONS FROM WHERE THE BEST DESIGNER AND EMPLOYERS WOULD BE TAKEN. ON RIGHT OF IT WE CAN SEE A PICTURE OF MULTI-NATIONAL BUILDING, WHICH WOULD BE THE OFFICE OF FACTORY IN COMMERCIAL AREA OF GUWAHATI OR DELHI. THE PICTURE OF TRUCK SHOWS THAT THE PRODUCTS WILL NOT ONLY TARGETED TO NORTH EASTERN ZONE BUT HOLE OF COUNTRY TO THE NEBIOURING COUNTRIES.

ON THE LEFT SIDE OF SHEET THERE IS WHOLE BUSSINESS MODEL REQUIRED TO SET UP INDUSTRY, WHICH WAS INSPIRED BY THE BUSSINESS MODEL OF ANDAWALA.

BESIDE THIS FACTS I THOUGHT OF NAMING INDUSTRY HAS GOYAL INDUSTRY PVT. LTD. GUWAHATI. ASSAM. AND ALSO OPENING OF EXCLUSIVE SHOWROOM OF INDUSTRIAL MADE WATERPROOF ACCESSORIES IN MAJOR CITIES OF INDIA.

Rohit Goyal : (Team – Northeast Hills)

Jasjyot Singh Hans : Design Opportunity - Water (Team - Northeast Hills)

Image: Jasjyot Singh Hans : Design Opportunity - Water (Team - Northeast Hills)

Jasjyot showed me the preliminary sketches that he had made in his sketch book over the last weekend when he had traveled to Delhi and was therefore delayed in preparing the final sheet. However, on the next day he showed up with the final scenario which is a rich representation of his thoughts about the concepts that he proposes for water based opportunity in the Northeast Hills.

Email sent in by Jasjyot about his scenario shown above is quoted below:

WATER AND AWARENESS

For this assignment, we had to imagine ourselves 15 years from now and look at ourselves in whatever profession we see ourselves in and what we could do about the design opportunity chosen in the previous assignment and how we could go about it. I had chosen to work in the area of awareness, as among north eastern India as we figured, the lack of which was the major problem for water related problems that prevailed. I see myself working in the area of animation and hence came the idea of targeting children because they would find the animation films interesting and we could effectively communicate with them through the medium and since they are the next generation and will be facing these problems, it was found necessary to instill certain values towards natural resources and ways to deal with a crisis so they can have a better understanding and could perhaps, inspire others with their truthfulness, innocence and involvement in the cause.

Tying up with an Non-Governmental Organization that works for a similar cause was considered as they could have better reaches in the area and could also have representatives that could make people living in remote tribes and villagers aware of 'what could be done' in their local languages. For this, we made two animated characters that had common middle class 'relatable' names according to their area so children could relate themselves to them better.

With the advancement of the idea, restricting ourselves to just films did not sound very efficient so it was thought that if it could be made a whole package by accompanying it with brochures, posters, flags that could be distributed in schools to the next generation, that is, the children that carried out the message simply but effectively. For controlling landslides and minimizing their impact trees could be planted near downhill settlements. This could reduce soil erosion as well. Schools and other institutions could organize tree plantation programmes that could involve children to help for the cause.

Jasjyot Singh Hans (Team - Northeast Hills)

1. Northeast Hills of India: Design opportuinities for Water.

1. Northeastern Region of India: Design opportuinities for Water.
The team chose to focus on 12 specific design opportunities that each of the team members had identified as potential applications for water based design explorations for the region. This approach left out many of the exciting possibilities that had been discovered earlier in the sketch stage but somehow the group decided to move in a much narrower area of focus. Perhaps the decision was influenced by the limited time that was available and this gave us the platform to critique their approach since it seemed to miss out on the macro potentials that were seen in the original sketches. Further the team seemed to get fragmented in their approach and therefore failed to leverage the potential of a group think that was possible at this stage of the exploration and articulation.

Northeast Team shows the way: Design Opportunity Maps

Image: Northeast team offered several design opportunities and presented these in a categorised manner.

The format provided for the capture and sharing of the design opportunities were used by all the students groups for the first time and it seems to have worked as planned. This is a new pedagogic tool for providing a common framework for groups to collaborate and make a coherent presentation. The small A5 sized cards on which the students could individually draw their imagination of the particular design opportunity along with a brief description was used well by the Northeast group. They offered all the generated alternatives into a meta structure where the identified design opportunities were divided into five categories: Individual, Family, Community, Village/Town and Eco-System Level.

For the chosen subject of design opportunities with Water, this categorisation worked quite well and the students were able to make a very expressive presentation, working as a group. The other groups too presented their explorations and at the end of the day we had a large number of avenues that could be explored in this specific field across all the design disciplines.


The format that the students used is in an DIN A5 size and the artwork was made on a DIN A4 paper for quick reproduction using the photo-copying process. Having a format I think helped in bringing a sense of order to the presentations and facilitated collaboration at the presentation stage particularly for the difficult task of categorisation of all the concepts. The rest of the presentations will be shared in the next post.

Design Opportunity Mapping: Northeast India

Design Opportunity Mapping: Water in Northeast India and Coastal Maharashtra
Image: Northeast group presenting the lists of design opportunities for water

The NER group made a presentation yesterday and their list was broad but lacked visuals This meant that while the possibilities at a general level were listed they missed the representation of the particular form that they saw for each opportunity in their minds eye. In design this is a very important difference and that is why in design there are many answers and not just one way to do things since each designer and their client situation would have different specific constraints and aspirations while deciding the features and the form in which a specific item in their list would be transformed and delivered in the real world.

Even the larger posters done by the groups showed a symbolic treatment while the need when unfolding a design opportunity would be to get as specific as possible so that particular attributes in the possibilities and the limitations are addressed in each representation. There are therefore many possible interpretations possible for each expression and the designer must then make a judgment call while making the thumbnail expression that would capture the image in the minds eye. In order for the students to experience this process we evolved a format on which they could capture these thumbnail sketches along with a very brief caption and key words working as a team that would cooperate in building a large number of design opportunities and these would be categorized and presented to the class for each region that has been selected, namely, Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Himalayas and the Northeast, all villages here so that the macro variables are drawn from this regional constraint by each group.

Image: Coastal Maharashtra group mappong design opportunities for water
The format is yet to be tested and we will know later in the day how the students have been able to use the constraints offered by the format and how they were able to interpret that assignment that has been set for each team. After this presentation we will explore the nature of various design disciplines through a field interaction assignment and also the Business model assignment using local street food vendor models as their source of inspiration. The teams would return to the village economy with the insights gained from these two assignments and continue to work in teams with the assignments that follow.