mitid’17
A Graduation Project by, Mazhar Bagasrawala
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Graduation Project 2016-17
Interactive Annual Yearbook 2016-17 Sponsor
Self-Initiated Student
Mazhar Bagasrawala Communication Design Graphic Design
Faculty Guide
Prof. Ranjana Dani
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Graduation Project 2016/17 g r a d uat e
diploma
programme
The Graduation Project Evaluation Jury Recommends
Mazhar Bagasrawala to be awarded the Graduation Degree of the MIT Institute of Design, Pune in
communication design (graphic design)
herewith, for the project titled
MITID’17
Members of the Jury: NAME
organisation
signature
on fulfilling the further requirements by* (Subsequent remarks regarding fulfilling the requirement)
Chairperson of the Jury 5
acknowledgements This project reminded me time and again, “An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.” -Oscar Wilde MITID’17, is by no means a single-handed effort. There are a few people that deserve a special mention. They have been along with me from the onset of this project or through its’ various stages. It is a genuine pleasure to express my deep sense of gratitude for Prof. Ranjana Dani, who has been my mentor and guide throughout this endeavour. Without her guidance, this project would never have felt as complete or as aesthetically sound. Rahul Chopra’s expertise with lighting, photography and ability to humour me definitely contributed to the commencement of the shoot in May. The film & video crew were helpful with everything I needed. I thank the creators (The Noun Project) of the icons used in this publication, Sneha Mehta- who has written the most tasteful foreword I have ever read, and Abizar Bagasrawala- for crafting words like a maestro!
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Graduation Project 2016-17 : Mazhar Bagasrawala
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timeline Highlighted below are the months through which I worked, and what was accomplished when.
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1
may
2
june
3
july
4
august
Understanding the nature & scope of the project Preliminary research & project brief Photo-shoot for the Batch
Clarifying my final direction (and medium) Establishing structure, content requirement, and timelines. Concept generation
Visual language (Image selection/editing, style, typography...) Pre-design (learning new techniques required, assimilating information) Design begins!
Design phase continues... Validation with select users. Perfection (copy editing, image edge refinement, navigation...)
Graduation Project 2016-17 : Mazhar Bagasrawala
You can’t look at the competition and say you’re going to do it better. You have to look at the competition and say you’re going to do it differently. -Steve Jobs 9
contents
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01 preface
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02 a yearbook
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03 the brief idea
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04 target audience
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05 the persona study
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06 what if...
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07 the photo shoot
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08 screen vs paper
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09 profile page
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10 content structure
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visual language
12 the key pages
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13 the extras
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14 end.
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preface I have undertaken the project of designing MITID’s yearbook for the class of 2017 to honour my batchmates, who inspire and change me everyday with their passion. After collaborating on projects, eating with each other and living as a family, we have managed to create a tight-knit community of everlasting relationships amongst us. This book attempts to encompass the persona of my batch as a collective and the relationships we share through unique visual treatment and other novelties. Though it is based on the American concept of having annual magazines that generally contain information about seniors of the graduating class, this book strays from some conventions of a formal yearbook.
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a yearbook! “A book containing photographs/moments of the senior class in a school or college.� Here are some examples of what Yearbooks around the world look like:
Being a design school, our visual style has to be significantly superior.
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Graduation Project 2016-17 : Mazhar Bagasrawala
i’m riding solo So how did I end up doing a self-initiated project as my grad project? That’s actually a nice story to tell. Here’s what happened. I requested my batchmates to do the yearbook. Well, super! Later, I secured an internship in Paris, France which could only begin in September. This year, college decided that, “all final juries must be completed before December.” I was in peril, what could I do? That’s when an authority suggested that I complete the yearbook as my grad project. I was hesistant at first but when I gave it some more thought, I couldn’t agree more... 4 months on a project with such wide scope? Sign me up!
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...mitid yearbooks Here’s 2 examples of past MITID yearbooks:
2012
2016
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Graduation Project 2016-17 : Mazhar Bagasrawala
then. and now? “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” -Benjamin Franklin As he rightly remarked, growth is mandatory. Having peeped back into past yearbooks, I questioned every aspect about the publication. These were my critical points of study:
1. increase in students From 2012 to 2016, the strength of the students in each batch increased from a mere 60 students to about 120. With our batch, 2017, this number stands at ~170. (Notice the 2016 batch has 4 people on one page whereas the 2012 has 1 person on two pages!)
2. interactivity
3. the paper used
The books of the past have a very static nature, and lack any form of interactivity with their users. This highly reduces its’ appeal.
The photo from 2012 where I saw 65 books all together on one desk made me wonder, “Is it really worth using so many trees on multiple copies of this collector book...”
4. visual quality
5. the core objective
One tends to notice that the visual quality has remained pretty much the same even though 4 years have gone by between the two versions. In this time, trends have changed, consumers have grown. It’s important that these needs are accommodated
Previous books focused on explaining the nature of the batchmates- however we knew those very people all along. I thought that it is the memories that are of real value.
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the brief idea 18
Graduation Project 2016-17 : Mazhar Bagasrawala
My project is to create a yearbook for the 2016-17 batch of MIT Institute of Design’s (under)graduating class. My objective is to create an embodiment of our lives at college, including what we accomplished as students but also as friends and family. It should strike up old memories and snippets of our college life, immortalizing our friendship and achievements. The book follows certain principles to achieve this, including equal representation of all batchmates (excluding those who failed to cooperate with assignments) and a space for every batchmate to speak their mind and give suggestions. The content for the book will be fed in by the students themselves. Another goal for me is to make this publication environment-friendly. In order to achieve this, I will explore the option of making the book completely digital.
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thinking There are two goals that I have focused on while working on this project: The first is to think like I’m designing a product, and not a book. This publication has a specific purpose and is supposed to satisfy the end users by not just meeting but crossing their expectations. A book relies primarily on the content to be a success. I plan to use every tool at my disposal to give my users a good experience, including powerful aesthetics and interactivity. The second is to utilize the element of Surprise. I want the users to be overcome with emotion when they are in contact with the publication. There should be no room for disappointment, and surprising them with what they haven’t expected is the most direct way to do this!
my facebook post
I was met with a host of mixed responses! There were few who were completely against this idea, few who were totally for me doing it, and some apprehensive. I did not wish to reveal too much to them at this point as it would drift away from my surprise quotient...overall, they wanted it to be personalised to some extent, emotional & a group effort. They later understood this was the best option practically.
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Graduation Project 2016-17 : Mazhar Bagasrawala
reactions!
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target audience
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Graduation Project 2016-17 : Mazhar Bagasrawala
Primary: Batch of 2016-17 Secondary: MIT Institute of Design Tertiary: Friends, Relatives, etc.
The target audience of this book are the students of the 2016-17 undergraduate batch of MIT Institute of Design, Pune. They have been together since 2012 as a group of 160 students, and shall graduate in 2017 in the month of April. They are a strong set of individuals, who have learned to take the best from the most grueling circumstances. They have also learned to value what they have, and yet not to become so proud that they do not explore the world in hope of further discovery and learning. You can find a sense of stark individuality amongst them, but at the same time a feeling of a unified collective that is excited and passionate. This is a group that understands the design of everyday life along with their own technical knowledge, that values relationships and places emphasis on an aesthetic lifestyle. They are hihgly sensible but yet completely crazy!
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160.
*Some students missed out on the photoshoot for various reasons. 24
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curious
hilarious energetic best
one sarcastic
we are The words listed here briefly describe the batch of 2017. The darkened ones will be used ahead while deciding the visual language, tone of voice & content of the book.
aggressive
there. animated
ambitious helpful supercool
beer & pizza competitive
filmy models 26
retarded
Graduation Project 2016-17 : Mazhar Bagasrawala
legendary
noisy
protective everywhere
colourful inspiring
quasar
a party
meticulous spontaneous
trailblazers online
on-the-go jugaad problem solvers
power nap. powerful real 27
the persona study 28
Graduation Project 2016-17 : Mazhar Bagasrawala
samyukta santhakumar Informed, Social, Open-minded Female: 22 years Samyukta is currently interning at Wari-Watai in Bangalore, India. She is settling into her new life and reminisces about her time in college. She misses everyone dearly! Tech Usage: Online shopping, Mobile gaming, Whatsapp, Social networking, Softwares for work, Usually online.
rahul chopra Introverted, Sarcastic, Ambitious Male: 21 years Rahul is an intern at Lowe Lintas, Mumbai. He is working on a range of tasks. He has a fascination for toys and other such gizmos. He secretly looks forward to what the yearbook will end up like. Tech Usage: Mobile gaming, Whatsapp, Digital Publication, Social networking, Softwares for work.
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mriganka bhuyan Free spirited, Self-assured, Carefree Male: 21 years Mriganka is currently interning at an animation studio in Pune, India. He is extremely busy with his work and is usually busy practicing drawing even when free. Mriganka is fond of new things in life... Tech Usage: Wacom tablet, Social networking, Softwares for work, infrequent Whatsapp
malvika bhasin Approachable, Philosophical, Outgoing Female: 22 years Malvika is working for 6 months with Lucid Design, Bangalore. Malvika loves spiritual discissions such as astrology or psychology. She would like the Yearbook to be an interesting read. Tech Usage: Online shopping, Mobile gaming, Utility applications, Whatsapp, Softwares for work.
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Graduation Project 2016-17 : Mazhar Bagasrawala
inference After the User study and personas, I had a clearer view about the audience, thier habits, comfort zones, etc. It was clear that they all used smart phones and were active on social media, each having good tech expertise level. The audience spend more time on thier laptops and internet rather than with printed content such as books or newspapers.
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what if... These are the first set of ideas that I generated while ideating upon the Yearbook back in May. Many of these ideas have been incorporated into the final book, however some had to disposed along the way.
1. People can share a story/incident/memory that is special through college. (Book of stories) 2. Dynamic design 3. Well-written foreword by Sneha Mehta 4. Cover page illustration by Lipi Gupta 5. Back cover infographic by Arjav Shah 6. Batch photo spread 7. Demarcation for different disciplines (could have illustrations here too) 8. Personal joke section 32
Graduation Project 2016-17 : Mazhar Bagasrawala
9. The Spaces in college that we interacted with as a batch. 10. Vault of Secrets 11. Appearance changes in students (Year 1-4) 12. Connect emotionally 13. Make it an involving Experience 14. Each one can reccommend a song 15. Birthday + Zodiac signs 16. About section written by a friend 17. Contact details 18. Make it Eco-Friendly 19. Old photos from when we joined (passport) 20. Mentor comments 21. Collages from college days 22. Collages of student work 33
the photo shoot 34
Graduation Project 2016-17 : Mazhar Bagasrawala
concept To conduct the photo-shoot perfectly for 160 students, I knew I needed help. As I’m highly appreciative of Rahul Chopra’s camera work and lighting, and have worked with him in the past- I had my man! We spent two days brainstorming before I set up a schedule for the students to get their photos taken. The photos were going to be Mid-shots, focusing on the face. We wanted to create a dramatic, filmy look. In order to do this, we decided to hit one side of the face with warm halogens and the other with cool blue light. We asked for free expression.
equipment Canon 5D Mark II Manfrotto Tripod 50mm f/1.8 Baby halogen bulb 2 Elinchrom soft-boxes White backdrop Stool Blue filters for the Baby
constraints We were permitted to use the college equipment for a maximum of 2 days and only from 9 am till 4:30 pm. Most of the final year students ended up walking into the college building only by 10 am.
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schedule 160 students. 2 days. 10 am to 4:30 pm. WHAT TO DO! I decided to allot groups of 5 students each with 15 minutes. This way, each student on average was allotted 3 minutes. It worked to perfection! The system was flexible to the extent that I could switch students from one day to another, or to another time slot if they so require. To the right is the communication piece that was sent to the clients via their mitid mail, Whatsapp groups, and print versions in their classrooms- 2 days in advance. My copy didn’t look as pretty once I was done!
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Graduation Project 2016-17 : Mazhar Bagasrawala
Yearbook Photoshoot
Day 1 (Tue, May 24)
Kindly identify your time, and be there.
In the sad event that you cannot make it to your slot, inform me at +91-9920982655 and I will accomodate you in the Contingency timing. Those who decide not to show up at all, you’ll find stock icons of ‘boy or girl’ in the yearbook against your name. Wear you best upper & avoid white. Rahul & I are looking forward to see you there :) Cheers!
41 Siddhi Patkar 12:00 42 Sneha Gokhale 12:00 43 Snigdha Sharma 12:00 44 Soha Savant 12:00 45 Srishti Sehgal 12:00 46 Suhani Mehta 12:15 47 Supreet Pandha 12:15 48 Tanuj Abraham 12:15 49 Tara D’Souza 12:15 50 Yohan Chacko 12:15 51 Zena Corda 12:15 52 Aishwarya G. 12:30 53 Paridhi Kajaria 12:30 54 Reshma Pore 12:30 55 Shrinidhi R. 12:30 56 Shriya Patil 12:30 57 Tanvi Kulkarni 12:30 58 Aashna Parekh 2:30 59 Aditi Purnapatre 2:30 60 Aditya Tambe 2:30 61 Aishwarya Chauhan 2:30 62 Aishwarya K. 2:30 63 Avanti Shinde 2:45 64 Basoli Dhirai 2:45 65 Bhavneet Kaur 2:45 66 Ishani Sule 2:45 67 Juhi Kamdar 2:45 68 Kunal Ajmani 3:00 69 Nishtha Vashist 3:00 70 Riya Agarwal 3:00 71 Roshelle F. 3:00 72 Ruhaani Thakore 3:00 73 Rutu Khirani 3:15 74 Saakshi M. 3:15 75 Sanjana Shelar 3:15 76 Shreya Gupta 3:15
ID
1 Abhinav Arora 10:00 2 Aditi Soni 10:00 3 Aishwarya Pagar 10:00 4 Animita Guha 10:00 5 Anjana Narayan 10:00 6 Anjum Lakhani 10:15 7 Anshini Chitania 10:15 8 Anushka Mallick 10:15 9 Aparmita Sharma 10:15 10 Arpit Jasuja 10:15 11 Ashlesh Londhe 10:30 12 Deepika Dixit 10:30 13 Devashree M. 10:30 14 Jeremy H. 10:30 15 Kahaan Baxi 10:30 16 Kanal Chhajed 10:45 17 Kaveri Bhatia 10:45 18 Malleka Singh 10:45 19 Malvika Bhasin 10:45 20 Meghna Sahni 10:45 21 Minal Jadeja 11:00 22 Mrinal Naithani 11:00 23 Nidhi Oblapur 11:00 24 Nikisha Kotwal 11:00 25 Nikisha Shah 11:00 26 Radhika Dhepe 11:15 27 Rajat Vyas 11:15 28 Rashmeet Saggu 11:15 29 Rasi Surana 11:15 30 Reuben Joshua 11:15 31 Riya Kuvavala 11:30 32 Ruchi Pathak 11:30 33 Saloni Bedi 11:30 34 Sarah Das 11:30 35 Saumya Singhal 11:30 36 Shachi Shah 11:45 37 Shikha Kanakia 11:45 38 Shivani Gadkari 11:45 39 Shreya Sood 11:45 40 Shubhaya Sinha 11:45
RED
As promised, the Yearbook Photoshoot is here! The session is spread over 2 days and will happen in the T-9 Film Studio.
Day 2 (Wed, May 25)
PD
41 Prachi Deshingkar 12:15 42 Rakshit Anand 12:15 43 Riya Patil 12:15 44 Rohit Gole 12:15 45 Samvidh R. 12:30 46 Samyukta S. 12:30 47 Sanjana Jain 12:30 48 Sanket Bhatnagar 12:30 49 Sanya Jaisinghani 12:30 50 Satej Mulick 12:45 51 Saylee Thakur 12:45 52 Shagun Chauhan 12:45 53 Sneha Mehta 12:45 54 Sneha Paradeshi 12:45 55 Shimona Roy 2:30 56 Sonal Patil 2:30 57 Sonika Sil 2:30 58 Sukhada T. 2:30 59 Swapna P. 2:45 60 Trisha John 2:45 61 Tushar Diwan 2:45 62 Vedang Agnihotri 2:45 63 Abhinav Nandi 3:00 64 Abhinav Kulkarni 3:00 65 Amey Sawant 3:00 66 Ankit Vichare 3:00 67 Bhagya Bhatt 3:00 68 Chirag Bafna 3:15 69 Conan Sarkar 3:15 70 Jay Dharamsi 3:15 71 Parveen Kumar 3:15 72 Pritam Mandal 3:15 73 Ruparas Singh 3:30 74 Siddharth Saxena 3:30 75 Smit Shah 3:30 76 Varun Rana 3:30
TD
GD
FVD AD
1 Ankita Panda 10:00 2 Mriganka Bhuyan 10:00 3 Pratik Satam 10:00 4 Rahul Tampi 10:00 5 Ashish Sawant 10:00 6 Chaitanya Palande 10:15 7 Chinmay Bhardwaj 10:15 8 Gaurav Joshi 10:15 9 Krithika Yegnaraman 10:15 10 Mihir Potnis 10:15 11 Pranjali Upadhye 10:30 12 Rahul Chopra 10:30 13 Shubhanshi Mishra 10:30 14 Smriti Thakur 10:30 15 Aalok Akbari 11:00 16 Aishwarya Chandra 11:00 17 Aishwarya Chirayil 11:00 18 Arjav Shah 11:00 19 Arushi Kulkarni 11:00 20 Arushi Mathur 11:15 21 Avishya Shetty 11:15 22 Bhagyashree T. 11:15 23 Brinda Khandelwal 11:15 24 Dhruv Mehra 11:15 25 Himanshi Parmar 11:30 26 Isha Patel 11:30 27 Ishaan Dave 11:30 28 Lipi Gupta 11:30 29 Maleesha Gera 11:30 30 Manali Panchal 11:45 31 Manav Dhiman 11:45 32 Mazhar B. 11:45 33 Mehr Singh 11:45 34 Natasha Kedia 11:45 35 Nayana V. 12:00 36 Neha Shah 12:00 37 Neil Khan 12:00 38 Neil Rebello 12:00 39 Nishigandha S. 12:00 40 Ojasvi Malekar 12:15
Mazhar Bagasrawala
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results (unedited)
Graduation Project 2016-17 : Mazhar Bagasrawala
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screen v/s paper the medium of publication
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digital
1. Large Carbon footprint 2. The joy of paper (tactile, odour) 3. Very heavy, not portable
1. Eco-Friendly option 2. Physically non-existent 3. Highly portable, anytime/anywhere 4. No Mfg. Cost
4. Mfg. Cost (INR 1000/- person) 5. ~4 Students on one page
5. More real estate (unlimited) 6. Interactive
6. Static 7. Navigation by turning pages
7. Navigation using links 8. Everlasting
8. Can be lost/damaged 9. Predicatable
9. Surprise element 10. Innovation
10. Conventional
As you can guess from the above comparison (in regard to this Yearbook) I decided that the publication must be Digital. It’s a risk because this is probably be the first time this has happened! 41
feedback When I suggested this option to Dani ma’am, she thought it was an interesting idea. We discussed the pros and cons of going digital, and eventually realised that yes, it would be really cool! However, she added something really vital, “Use your medium to its maximum potential. If you’re going to be printing your book, make sure it has interesting use of material and if you’re going digital, use that freedom to create a novel experience.”
animation I spent loads of time processing what we spoke about. At one sudden point, I remembered a game Rahul and I used to play while taking the photographs. (or everyone who takes photos really plays). When you’re taking multiple photos of the same subject, you tend to flip back and forth occasionally to compare shots. I realised that this technique might be possible within an interactive pdf, and could make the Yearbook engaging & playful.
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it takes one 10-inch thick tree to make ~30 books of 150 pages. for 160 books, we would need to fell at least 5 such trees! you decide...
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profile page 44
Graduation Project 2016-17 : Mazhar Bagasrawala
A page for each student. A place where one should be able to feel like they are back with the person they are seeing again. The chance to re-connect and remember, everything that has happened through 4 years at MITID.
contents 1. Animated photograph of each student (if viable) 2. A strong memory/experience at MITID 3. Birthday (and zodiac sign) 4. Song recommendation to the batch 5. Student name
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send it! This post was created to bring in the content required for the profile section of the Yearbook. It was sent to the batch via mitid mail, facebook group, & WhatsApp groups on the 20th of June. As you might expect, it was rather cumbersome bringing in the content from so many students. The deadline on the post says 25th June. By that day, I probably had 10 of 160! However, by the end of August, with a ton of personal chasing I had nearly all :)
*This was designed for screen use in RGB using neon green. 46
Graduation Project 2016-17 : Mazhar Bagasrawala
160 stories I’d asked the students to send me anything between 100-150 words describing a memory or experience from their time in college. The grand idea was that all 160 stories would come together to form one vault of memories. The batch would intuitively be able to connect to one another’s memories and hence, each would be unique and interesting to read. Often times, plans tend not to work completely though and what I ended up getting was stories ranging from 30 words to 600! On one of my interactions with my mentor, she suggested I abridge the long stories to 200 words to keep things constant. We decided against this though, because the lengthy stories were already as short as possible and any reduction would tremendously reduce the content value within the book. Another issue was the 30 words stories. There was no way to increase their word count. Thus, I decided to make this a crucial design decision i.e. to incorporate stories of varying lengths but still make it feel equal.
happy birthday! Many students sent their write-ups without their birthday or song for which I had to contact them individually. Luckily I now have their birthdays and hence their zodiac signs. The zodiac signs were added as a fun visual element that the students could identify with. It would be interesting to know which batchmates are Virgo as well, eh?
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ah! musique Songs came in from different languages and genres of music. A person’s taste in music is highly personal and absolutely original. Listening to someone else’s choice of music allows you to join their journey, if only briefly. There is a ton to learn. “I think music in itself is healing. It’s an explosive expression of humanity. It’s something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we’re from, everyone loves music.” -Billy Joel The main purpose of this section is to allow the students to dive into the diverse range of music that is prevalent among the hard disks and minds of MITID’17.
nee ls l g e a ew ar n a o y r ge - ty n s sia e l e v t i l s e l l r je ou thri f o p a e che tim me u fl kc rav rco u u a f a l l m g e on d wa e s d y c da ma ma e g e g l e na hin coll t fi e ake rd om r a s d w p ho gu ce n n n i e a k -b ed e coo n a m o d l fem ere a l m s e e t’s ond e t ya i m e h l e l c w a nu in a l p ou v d a kk a y b 1234 z a nna ad e a k g h k i a -r us e o v o m dl n st fa u o o f s lles i e e e alm x r w ba a et fo r e a fl -s se o v tles n s a d r r a o b c tal ckfo myk s o y r r -c nn sti s a o u d m l rry rust ron t a o a n h o a u y rniv e-s l a l k u nm ay a d r lay yaa new p d l co p u up & 48
Graduation Project 2016-17 : Mazhar Bagasrawala
photuuu... This is definitely a primary element of the profile section. I tried multiple styles with the photograph while breaking down the visual language for the book (more on this later...) however I thought it makes sense to display the photo trials here. 1. Charicature morph: This was an initial idea for bringing interest to the faces however it was dropped once I decided to animate. 2. Pop Art: This is something I tried however it wasn’t aesthetically pleasing & was too far from reality.
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3. Textured B/W- This didn’t resonate with the keywords that were narrowed down to, and had a boring vibe. 4. Impressionist- This is the style that was locked upon. It has the right amount of energy, animates perfectly, enhances detail, and has a certain pop about it!
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Graduation Project 2016-17 : Mazhar Bagasrawala
editing workflow If getting 160 photographs ready for the yearbook wasn’t hard enough, I now had 320! (160 x 2 for the animation). This was probably the second longest phase through this project and took me almost 2 weeks entirely.
image enhancement For enhancing the images (white balance, levels, exposure, shadows etc.) I used Apple’s native software Photos. Below are the adjustments that were made to the images.
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1
2
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3
4
Step 1: Selecting the positive space using the pen tool. Step 2: Creating an inverted selection and deleting the background. Step 3: Using Crosshatch to add some great brush strokes. Step 4: Spot healing the face to perfection. Step 5: Cropping the photo till its edges. Step 6: Save for web as a transparent .png of height ~1000px
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c’est fini.
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untrust us - crystal castles
graphic math:
+ ++ sarah das
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write-up
12/05/94
++ +
MITID has truly been the best time of my life as yet. I cannot express in words as to how much i am going to miss the time, place, people with whom i have not only made tons and tons of memories but moments that will stay right there in the corridors, classrooms, washrooms, tuck shop and all the wonderful spots of my favourite location in the whole world. My favourite memory, was the time when me and my friends replicated the Friends Quiz episode, exactly the same way, with post its where Prachi (aka Bunty) played ross, while the rest of us were in teams. There was no changing of apartments, lol, but there was certainly this moment where all of us burst out in laughter in the middle of the game, where i very confidently answered the question wrong. This is when we relaised that this friendship was going to last forever and how time and place is not going to be a barrier whatsoever. MITID is not just a place, it is an experience, a beautiful experience.
the primary content is ready. time to lay it out... 57
Content Structure
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information architecture
cover page
contents 60
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discipline cover
+ page 61
1440 x 900 px this is the final grid.
music icon write-up (flexible around centre)
song
chat-box name
surname navigation bar 62
Graduation Project 2016-17 : Mazhar Bagasrawala
A powerful, dynamic layout fitting for this filmy group of students. The grid emphasises proper heirarchy, while giving importance to visual elements & interactivity.
zodiac icon
image / animation
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visual
language
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inspiration
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picking a style 1. Newspaper (Timelessness) 2. Grunge (Revolutionary) 3. Sporty (Young, Graphic) 4. Textbook (un-Design) 5. Contemporary (Timeless, Refined, Type) 6. Expressive (Bold, Textures, Bright colours) 7. Royal (Richness)
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mitid’17
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Graduation Project 2016-17 : Mazhar Bagasrawala
typography Display: Bungee (David Jonathan Ross) Body: Quattrocento Sans (Impallari) As a purely screen-based interaction, the type selection had to be one optimised for the digital space. I felt the requirement of versatile & bold type! In this regard, Bungee fit the bill appropriately. It has been designed for Vertical & Multicolour typography. As shown alongside, Bungee comes in 3 versions: 1. Bungee (black and white use, when layering isn’t required) 2. Bungee Layers (regular, inline, outline & shade for chromatic effects) 3. Bungee Layers- Rotated (glyphs are pre-rotated for vertical use) Quattrocento Sans is an elegant and legible sans-serif for body copy and truly complements Bungee in the publication.
HONGUSKY hongusky 1234567890 HONGUSKY hongusky 1234567890 HONGUSKY hongusky 1234567890 HONGUSKY hongusky 1234567890
Quattrocento Sans Is Awesome! Busanihit aceatat ex earibus unti aliaspit volorrum, sitaqui aut idem di volectis esequi que rehentur? Porporia velitat apienist adia solor rem nonsedi nonse pedisquam de esequate eniam dolestiur? Mus soluptur abore, con nimus doloreperae sit facearcient eos eum volo conse pe re con por audam sus, quia denihillab id que magnati onseque doluptaqui comnim ant volorem in non restem arum quaecto doluptat magni sit, conseque sequiae rionse de pro estrum denditia sum nones secerum alic tempellor sequi qui di adis num idit od untior alique cus, ut elic temquiam, coribus ciusaero corae quat harum quibustrum fuga. Perfero ium aut lique quam exerum qui is sunt, ut ipsa sit omnis min perfern atemolu ptatiisquis re aspelit int aciis et, suntem rest hiciet ex.
Utem nobit ad eosa dipsuntus desci voluptatum ea veligen dandis venemodis mo earciis esciur aperio. Et et velendaero es expelesedis ex experna tecusae. Ut fuga. Et omniet quibuscid earchil iquaspe digenim oditio. Adi od quas core erum fugit, cor autatio doloratquam, te seribus mi, utem ventionsed quis voluptia vel exernat quo moluptatem doluptat maximus voluptatquas re comnist inimus acepro vere cum. 71
colour I went through many options while working out a colour palette. I explored with using sober two-colour palettes and neutral schemes using white/balck along with a neon colour, however it all felt too bland. Besides, it would be unjust to the digital medium if the gammut of possible colours (and vibrancy) were not exploited. Strategy: 7 bright colours (15% within the same grey values) were chosen to depict each discipline. This would also aid in navigation. To add to this, each colour flows into the next seamlessly! With these colours, pure white and black can be used as well. Another option at hand is to use transparency with a ‘multiply’ blend mode over the assets. Visual harmony & balance are key. *The colours are RGB optimised values and may not render correctly in print.
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AD
78 0
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GD
34 34
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FVD
0 98
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0 255
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PD
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icons The Yearbook required line icons for 3 broad purposes, which I sourced from The Noun Project. All creators would be attributed. 1. Zodiac icons: These are placed directly above the students’ birth date. The casual and informal style of these icons by Tatiana are supercool! 2. Background icons: As a background element in the Yearbook, a collage of icons was assembled. These icons are depictive of various aspects of being a designer from different disciplines. Creators: S. Flemm, Theysaurus, Simphiwe Mangole, Ciprian Popescu, Philip Glenn, Caitlin Das. 3. Headphones: The song recommendation was placed within the headphones in a symbolic manner. Icon by Emel çelik.
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background
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sample spread
*This was designed for screen use in RGB. Colour reproduction is inaccurate. 78
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how it works The interactive face change was a tad bit complicated to crack. Within Indesign’s interactive features, I had to experiment with buttons to get the right result. Trial & Error at its best! This is how it was acheived: Two graphic frames were created and placed over the general area where the character was required to be. The two expressions were placed within the respective boxes. I will use the following legend to continue: 1- Initial Expression 2- Expression on Hover 3- Trigger Place 1 behind 2 (3 over 1’s face), and set up their actions as shown below in the screen shots. Check ‘hidden until triggered’ under 2. Now create 3, a square (shown orange in the live version for demonstration) which is the trigger region for the animation. Here, you need to hide 1 & reveal 2 when hovering in trigger region. 3 is invisible.
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animation design
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graphic design
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film & video design
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transportation design
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product design
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interior space & furniture design
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retail & exhibition design
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defaulters There was a little complication that arose while working on the profile spreads. A host of students didn’t send in their write-ups and another set did not attend the photoshoot. Some were not present for either. I had to find a solution to have these students represented as well, as much as possible without sacrifing the integrity of the book.
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After all the disciplines, a ‘+’ (plus) section was created. Here, I created a separate part for each set of defaulters.
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the key pages 98
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discipline dividers A cover page for each discipline. Aesthtic, bold, in the right colour, and highly functional with the alphabet range for navigation.
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cover page
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contents
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disclaimer
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foreword I’ve always thought we lived in a village. Of course, I can almost hear you thinking, of course we lived in a village- it was the bane of almost all our existences. We constantly found new ways to crib and fret about this exact situation; why are you still unsure Sneha? Of course we lived in a village. Geographically, Loni was as rural as we could get without feeling genuinely uncomfortable. People from S6 will understand what I mean- remember Rural Visit? A village is a clustered human settlement, with a small population and defined patterns of life. We had everything it takes to make the perfect theoretical, if not geographical, village- a single corner shop that stocked essentials erratically, a meeting point that though not under a tree, served chai and cigarettes, assorted wildlife ranging from dogs to buffaloes, and most importantly a great expanse of gorgeous countryside- impeccable green lawns, sloping hills in the distance, leafy roads made for sunset strolls, and above all, our very own river. We met and mingled only with each other, apart from occasional trips to the big city when we felt too closed in. We ate the same food at the same highway dhabas, chosen after the same game of roulette that we all played every evening: “I don’t mind anywhere for dinner… except Paratha Place”. We walked everywhere, except for the privileged few with modes of transportation, who we begrudged as they sped past us on the way out. Our activities were governed by the weather: it was always too rainy, too hot or too cold to do something or the other, but each season brought some gorgeousness to our daily lives with the gulmohurs, unbelievable skies and icy cold walks to breakfast. The less said about summer, the better. At night we stayed up listening to trains announcing their passage through the village, cutting through the silence that descended after 10pm when everyone had to go home. We brought each other supplies from the big city, helping out almost any one who needed something urgently (usually food). Planning an outing took at least 3 days, requiring almost professional organisational skills (eternal gratitude to Shabbir/Sameer/Shaukat for bringing us back from all the 5pm movies we had to go for). We all drank the same sasta alcohol at the same hole in the wall restaurants (can we even call Maushi’s a restaurant?), the level of shadiness of which I’ve always had a hard time describing to people. It’s just a Loni thing I guess, and I’m sure we’ll all find that in all the years to come, it’ll be almost impossible to get anybody to share our enthusiasm for anda pavs, MIT discount at Multispice, PreQuasar or even our ever expanding dog family. Let’s face it, nobody’s ever lived like we have. We defined what Loni is, with our stories. It exists only in our collective memories. But the debt we owe to it is very real. This make believe village gave us the space (quite literally) to begin to grow into the designers we hope to be. Remember the unruly bunch we were in Foundation! That unruly bunch has come a long way together, and if I may say so myself- we’re as great a batch as any. Without us, Loni would’ve just been a stop on the way to Solapur, and how lame does that sound? This book contains that village that we created together. I hope that as we come back to it over the years, and look at our beaming faces flanked by the palm trees that creep into every #somewhereinloni picture, it’ll all come rushing back to us. I also hope that when we’re adults, and we find ourselves out of milk powder or some such, and as we’re on our way to the store to buy it, we’ll remember that between the years 2012-2017, we could’ve knocked on any door in our village to borrow some, stopping at each for a bit of friendly faculty bashing before going back to our rooms- happy and hopeful. Every time we’d return from a trip to the big city, and the air got colder as we passed the Grape Institute, and everything got a whole lot quieter, save for the wailing of trucks, it almost seemed as if we’d entered a new place altogether; that in the inky blackness that rushed by outside our rickshaw, there was an expanse that we could explore, a star studded sky we could be completely free under. And just as we’d settle into that daydream, lulled by the breeze, we’d take a sharp left, past our friends drinking chai at Kaka’s, through the tunnel, be summoned for ID’s, and we’d wake abruptly only to realise that this isn’t anywhere new, we’re just back to our village again. The best part? No one else even knows it exists.
- Sneha Mehta 107
navigation Since the book is digital, one can navigate freely using bookmarks & buttons. It’s very intuitive.
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extras At the end of the book, is a dedicated section for some very special memories and other valuable treasure chests. Here are all of them!
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the extras 112
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the challenge
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A vault that has immortalised every space that we interacted with through college. Sourced directly from Instagram!
#somewhereinloni
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the batch photo
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say cheese!
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about quasar: poem
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har saal is waqt ka intezaar rehta hai, jaha khushi aur gham ka yaarana rehta hai. aakhir yahin hai woh jagah jahaan sab paas aate hai, saare shikwe bhula kar saath ho jaate hai! andaz badal jaata hai, mahaul bana rehta hai ranjishe bhulane ko dil kyun phir kehta hai? jab saare nakaab utar jaate haihar kisi ke chehre se, mil jaate hai yaad rehne waale, kuch pal sunhare se! asal zindagi pe ek jadui kohra sa chha jata hai, jo naye purane dono rishte ko paas lata hai! mehnat bhare in aarso ke beech, mehnat bhare in aarso ke beech yel lamha naya hota hai woh kareeb aane ka sama is waqt bana rehta hai. kuch khattee meethi jhagdo ke beech woh pyaar bana rehta hai aakhir yahin hai woh pal yaaron jo dil ke paas bana rehta hai! - Documentation Team, Quasar 7.
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throwback
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before & after
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mentors
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tribute
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acknowledgements
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loni words
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refinement At the very end, the book required some last minute retouching. This included but was not limited to- fixing the pixel edges of a majority of the photo-cutouts, editing the grammar & censoring the paragraphs sent by the batch, & checking overall workability of links within the publication. This task was highly fulfilling once it was done.
feedback At the tail end of 4 years at MITID, this project felt highly appropriate as the bridge between an end and new beginning. In 4 days after giving my jury, I will be departing for Paris, my first trip outside of Asia to commence a 6 month internship before graduation. I can only be grateful for the vast amount I have learned while at MITID and through this project. Many thanks go out to everyone responsible for whoever I am today. The Yearbook has challenged me on multiple levels- at times technically and once a while, even emotionally. I dream of my batchmates opening the Yearbook, taking in every bit of the heaps of information contained within- overwhelmed with emotion. Minal had told me before I began, “I want the yearbook to make me cry.� Well Minal, I did my very best! With this book, I have merely carried on a tradition that began many years ago. I certainly wish that students from batches henceforth, make an even cooler version of this publication.
end.
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