July 31, 2010 at 6:29 pm · Filed under Aspire & Inspire, Design Industry, India, Personal, Photography, Redhu
July ends today in another six hours approximately and I am looking forward to August. It’s green everywhere, with rain-laden clouds creating havoc in the National Capital Region, India. Traffic jams, water-logging and what not. Despite all the “take it your stride” issue with daily-living during the Monsoons, there’s a surreal beauty in the concrete landscape – with spots of green looking greener and outside light being lovely for photograph – if you find a good spot away from the rain. You don’t need reflectors.
Some of the shots from my Nexus One [ there are much better looking wallpapers on http://googlenexuswallpapers.com ].
The images have been made using the following Androids apps from the Android Market :
1. Camera 360 [ I have just bought the pro version - it has a ton of effects like HDR & tilt-shift ],
2. FxCamera, and
3. Retro Camera [ this one gives very small images though – about 512 x 512 pixels only.
No Photoshopping except rotating the images to get them right. All straight from the Nexus One camera with the help of the above-mentioned apps. If you haven’t seen my photography portfolio yet, do step by on http://studioaside.com!
UPDATE : couldn’t buy the Camera 360 app afterall : no line to buy is available.
Popularity: 3% [?]
July 21, 2010 at 1:08 pm · Filed under ASIA, Article, Design Industry, India, Logo & Corporate Identity, Projects, Redhu
There’s been a lot of talk and discussion around the new identity for the Indian Rupee. The currency now has it’s very own symbol – and the Indians are all saying, “Why wasn’t this done sooner?” I, for one, am happy that it got done at all. The process and the award might be suspect [ there's speculation that the publicly declared number of applications - 3,000 in number - are a lot less than the actual figure - supposed to be somwhere around 25,000 - accordingly, the winner should have received a lot more than just the INR 2,50,000 as award money. Each applicant had to pay INR 500 as registration / participation fee. Simple Math. ]
Coming to the design of the symbol itself : it has been designed by an IIT graduate, Udaya Kumar. I love the design. It is supposed to represent the “R” from the English language – giving credence to the fact that this country runs on English and there are no two ways about it. The identity also represents the Devanagari script with the same letter representing the “R” character in this script as well. Which is, quite fantastic in my opinion.
A company going by the name of Foradian has also released a font for the same where the keyboard key ‘`’ to the left of the ’1′ numeral, types in the Indian Rupee Symbol. The font hasn’t been rendered well and needs polishing – probably in collaboration with the designer, Udaya or someone who is a type-designer.
The typeface definitely needs work – apart from that, the identity itself is fantastic in terms of concept as well as basic execution. While the double horizontal bars might seem redundant to some, it helps tie the identity in with the rest of the world currency symbols, many of which have double bars – either vertical or horizontal. Identity design isn’t just about a glorified concept, it is also about practical use and international implications – it would be foolish to think that identity design, at any scale, is local or even national. Traveling tourists that capture Obama’s photograph on hoarding advertising a restaurant, make the identity-world quite flat.
I’m actually quite taken in with the new identity and am pleasantly surprised that the Indian Government did not pick something irrelevant, stupid, political or downright disgusting. If we could glean more information about the selection process and who were the people involved in this decision, we might be able to identify a design champion hiding in the Parliament.
Her’s a slightly more refined version in my opinion – one without the top horizontal bar as well.
I’m no type designer but the EPS files for both these symbols are available for download here. Right click and save.
There’s a comprehensive listing of world currency symbols on XE.com here http://www.xe.com/symbols.php and some of the major / top world currency symbols like the Euro, the Dollar, the Yen/Yuan and the Pound, all have two parallel bars. And yes, an identity does need to ‘fit-in’ at some level. Doesn’t mean you can’t get innovative with it, just means that it needs to be recognizable without alienating the majority.
The following two wallpapers are also available for download : the 1400px x 900px versions.
Popularity: 4% [?]
July 19, 2010 at 1:38 pm · Filed under Design Industry, Redhu
This microsite : http://pentagram.com/what-type-are-you/ is by @pentagramdesign and the following is supposed to be my Type : Cooper Black Italic.
I picked being emotional, progressive, assertive and relaxed. I’ve never used Cooper Black Italic but maybe I should! Nifty little engagement on the microsite – not much of a time waster either.
Popularity: 2% [?]
July 19, 2010 at 1:08 pm · Filed under Blogging, Icons & Web Design, Personal, Redhu, Twitter
Found via @tweetmydesign and made by @clickservernet – this thing is cool. Now if only I could figure out how to change the design and include this on the sidebar someplace. It need to be more compact and I would like a better typeface. Till the time the design can’t be figure out, I could use this on a Sticky Post so it always shows up on page one of the blog.
Popularity: 2% [?]
