cover story
THE RIGHT TRACK As Associate Professor at the Industrial Design Centre, IIT Bombay, Mandar Rane is mentor and guide to students who pursue projects that will benefit the greatest number. The Mumbai Rail Map project promises to change the commuting experience of a staggering percentage of the city’s population. How did your tryst with academics begin? MR: I joined J. J. School of Applied Arts in 1992. Teachers like Prof. Vidya Joshi and Prof. Saynekar laid the necessary foundations. At J.J., everybody’s focus was to join an advertising agency. The ultimate goal was to become an art director. In 1997 when the batch passed out, we were greeted by recession; there were no jobs in the advertising industry. Belonging to a middle class family, I took up a job at Tata Interactive Systems (TIS) for financial security. Over the next two years, I realized that graphic design was like rendering a service for the skills I possess. I felt like an operator and something felt amiss at the core. To find this missing link, I decided to do a Master’s in Visual communication at Industrial Design Centre (IDC), IIT Bombay. Professors like Kirti Trivedi, Athavankar and Ravi Poovaiah 24 POOL #61
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