Portfolio ~ Anusha IyerProjects from

Nokia and other courses at

Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore, India;

Academy of Architecture, Mumbai, India and

Current work at Laurea SID University of Applied Sciences, Espoo, Finland.

Concept of doodling on phone surface along with the currently playing track to record a visualisation for the song.

+ + + + +Music Masala

My final thesis project with Nokia.

Nokia wanted to understand the Indian music market market better and obtain some concepts to improve the user experience of music in India.

I concluded the project by generating four concepts, of which two were based on touch-screen technology and the other two on radio.

The radio concepts have been excluded due to the Non Disclosure Agreement.

Nokia > Srishti

Concept of drumming one’s fingers on the phone with a track. More than two phones can be networked and used for percussion jamming.

Music Masala + + + + +

Some of the various concepts that emerged

Music Masala + + + + +

The process to arrive at the concepts involved participatory group sessions with specifically targeted users, gathering insights, identifying themes, creating personas and scenarios.

1: Two personas representing two age groups1:

Music Masala + + + + +

1: Interface for searching music

2: My hypothesis of radio usage across various sectors of the country

3: Chart showing music usage information gathered during user research

4: Chart showing the classification of popular music, the various influences and other processed output.

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Music Masala + + + + +

Initial part of research involved studying about Indian music styles, learning about the music industry from industry experts and internet resources.

I tried to understand the views and usage patterns of the masses by interviewing as many people as I could from various socio-economic groups.

Based on the information gathered, I classified popular music and also created a wireframe for searching music. The classifications in the search interface were also based on user viewpoints.

Laurea is starting a new Master degree program in Service Innovation and Design from Sept ‘09.

I’ve been designing and planning the e-learning website for this course.

Observed students in their classroom, to understand them better.

In addition, after going through internet resources I sketched how the learning should ideally take place.

The idea is to create a community of experts, students, teachers and others to create and share knowledge in the field of service design.

Research and analysis

E-learning SID + + +Laurea SID

Conducted a design process workshop, where two groups were asked to carry out a small design task. The research and ideating was done online, as a prototype of how it might work in future.

Tools, features, modules and sections were charted out, grouped and organised.

After which all the modules were detailed out individually and the integration of all the modules was planned.

Design process workshop; Grouping modules and tools; Initial sketches of wireframes

E-learning SID + + +

As it stands now, the visual design and other detailing is close to completion.

Some of the sample pages are shown here. The basic colour scheme and the overall template is seen here.

The modules and tools are still seen as wireframes within the template.

The design of this e-learning system is based on web 2.0 and social softwares, where the users are the main creators of content.

Seen here, are the discussion forum and home pages.

+ + +E-learning SID

Poster + +Srishti

This was a school project in designing a poster for our department of Visual Communication Design.

The final artwork was done using paint on OHP sheet, which was scratched out to form the word visual communication.

My screenprint work was used as the background image.

1: Trials and errors of methods

2: Steps of getting the desired effect

3: The background image

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Poster + +

The final poster finished digitally.

An exercise in information design, where we had to map our life on two axes - time and space. Single words were allowed only for labelling.

I chose to depict my life using the theme of sound. The information has been divided into sound types and the information under each is represented in the form of a sound timeline.

1: Designing symbols

Life - Time - Sound + +

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Srishti

Life - Time - Sound + +

A journal that visually (with absolutely no words) tells the reader the objective and subjective facts of 4 days of our life.

The process for this exercise included gathering information, sorting, planning, visual information iterations and symbol design.

1: The face shows whether I liked the food and the plate shows what time I had the food

2: Event module: ~ activity, ~ emotion, ~ associated thought, ~ music at the time of doing the activity, ~ details and progress of the activity

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4 Day Journal +Srishti

Mood boards depicting the values for the themes (created using a combination of sketching and photo-documentation done on the streets)

Left to right, clockwise: Society, Culture and Street/commercial

Taking the ancient Indian concept of astrological palmistry, I devised a machine for Nokia’s Only Planet design project, that would scan a person’s hand to give out astrological information, using algorithms.

The process was a straightforward one. We went out to collect values related to the society, culture and the commerce of India and showed them visually by making mood-boards. After sifting we froze on a bunch of values which would help us conceptualize and innovate with products or services which are Indian in concept, but useful for the global premium market.

Palmystery + + +Nokia > Srishti

Some process sketches

Palmystery + + +

Final product: Detail sketch and 3D view on SketchUp

The device would chant mantras similar to the street astrologers in India. Moreover, the lights would add to the mysticism of the device.

This machine would be placed in premium public places like the airport and high-end shopping malls.

Palmystery + + +

Perspective view and sections

The concept of the store was that it would sell all things that involved bubbles or froth - from shampoos to smoothies. It would also have a console that had bubbles and froth games.

Part of the flooring (in blue) would have sea froth and micro waves simulated under the glass floor.

Another part of the flooring would be made of bubble wrap.

The pink sandwich window would have huge bubbles that float up when people walk by.

Buncha Bubbles +Academy of Architecture

We were to choose a data-heavy book and translate the contents of the book to a website using a metaphor.

My metaphor is Writing A Story.

The site has multiple ways of navigating and reaching recipes in a non-linear way.

This is done using mouse-overs and messages on the sticky notes, that navigates to other recipes based on the current recipe’s ingredients.

1: Home page

2: G: Goes back to the sub-menu; H: Goes to the Home page; V: Previous; N: Next

Web design + +Srishti

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A website created with the help of PHP, MySQL, HTML and CSS. This website allows its users to build a story online. All one needs to do is register on the site, choose a genre of narrative and either build on an existing thread of a story or start a new story (thread).

Web design + +

Each student was given a well-known character as a hypothetical client. I got Shaktimaan. The brief was to create a story around the person by which we get him/her to Mumbai. Locate him in an apt area in the city according to our story and go about designing a house for our ‘client’.

The process was simple - began with research/analysis then conceptualizing, designing and finally detailing and prototyping.

1: Character analysis

2: Abstract visuals that act as a mood-board for the design

3: Site plan

4: Story depicted in the form of Page 3 (celeb news) of Bombay Times newspaper.

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Superhero’s house + +Academy of Architecture

I designed a house on the pylons of billboards, as he had turned into a Page 3 person according to my story.

The first pylon doubles up as an elevator shaft, the third one as a pivot about which a block of the house rotates to complete the missing part of the elevator shaft.

The project was a completely fictitious one, where technical constraints were not considered.

Process sketches and the final drawings.

Superhero’s house + +

This project for Nokia began with research in the realm of branding, but for me it ended in system conceptualizing.

The research/analysis itself had an elaborate process which lead to the crux of what Nokia is all about in our country.

Above: Part of the analysis after research; group work

Illustrations: depicting the positive and negative essences and how Nokia and its phones are perceived in India.

From l to r, anti-clockwise: Imperfect match; Being yourself; Blind faith and No care

U-series + +Nokia > Srishti

Conceptualised an eco-system (product+service) to improve the mid-range of Nokia phones, whereby people can custom-order a phone based on their requirements and budget, by choosing it’s behaviour, style, functions and features.

The interface would show possible permutations and combinations of the above attributes.

This application would be available on the Nokia website, kiosks placed at important locations across cities or at Nokia stores, where personal assistance could be provided.

Once ready, the customised phone could be collected from a pre-determined location in proximity to the user.

Slide from the presentation to Nokia.

U-series + +

The client was Procter & Gamble. We had to design a modular dispensing system for their range of products as part of the interim semester project. We worked in groups for the same, coming up with at least four solutions.

The groups consisted of students from all design departments of Srishti.

Working in a group helped in picking from the knowledge, skill and idea pool to tap every group member’s potential and design a solution.

Above: Many modules shown in context of small departmental stores in towns of India.

Below: View of a single module.

Modular Display + Dispenser +Srishti

Packaging + + + +Srishti

It was a two-day workshop in Package design which had a series of exercises.

The one seen here is one where we had to design a package for eggs and make sure the egg didn’t break after falling from a height of atleast 2½ ft.

I experimented with corrugated and card paper alongwith rubber bands for the same. For this, one needed to understand the materials which were paper and rubber band, both having different levels of elasticity.

I came up with two workable ideas that could rate 4 on 5 on the successmeter.

Packaging

Designing a display stand for a perfume tester.

We had to keep in mind, the minimum usage of materials and ease of production (cutting, folding etc.)

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Packaging

Some concepts on re-using wasted packaging articles and materials.

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Packaging + + + +

We were to study a typeface and show our understanding through an artwork.

The font I got was Gill Sans.

I chose to create a sculpture which was a composition of 3-D Gill Sans letters. This was inspired by works of sculptor Takenobu Igarashi.

Made out of Sunboard, it includes Gill Sans regular, italic & bold letters.

It involved playing with light, distance (juxtaposition) and position of the forms.

Gill Sans Sculpture +Srishti

Type design + +Srishti

I decided to design a font for comic books and comic strips which looks like it’s hand-written with an ink pen.

The fonts are named Striptease (normal) and StripExpress (expressive)

I chose to create the family of the fonts instead of doing the entire range (A to Z, numerals and special charecters).

The process ended with fine-tuning the kerning, weight etc.

Ultimately the font was tested and cross-checked for any minor flaws.

Type design + +

An exercise in understanding letter design and various styles of type.

Seen here are all hand drawn letters in various styles, using different types of brushes and pens.

1: San serif letters of different varieties

2: Rustica, Roman and Devanagri styles of writing

3: Humanistic variety of letters, with fine-tuned kerning.

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Illustrative Type +Srishti

Illustrating a word through type.

Words illustrated here:

Balance

Solitude

Bored

Coming up with ways to show moving type for a message or quote. This involved doing a number of experiments involving a digital camera and anything around us - the sun, water, tablets, soap etc.

Some of the many experiments:

1: using motion of ink on water

2: burning wood using magnifying glass

3: turning a tape

4: using the motion of CD-ROM tray

5: setting tablets rolling

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Looney Tune + +Srishti

Some frames from the final video.

My text:

They might say you’re looney

but you can never be sure

unless you

let go!

Finally I chose to write with foam on the windshield of a car and erasing it with the wiper. I made good use of the materials and context to communicate the message.

In the process it was a learning in video editing software, filming, planning and creating an interesting visual with type and communicating a message effectively through this medium.

Looney Tune + +

This animation was conceptualised and created for the opening of the new International Lab at Laurea SID.

It explains the working of the labs in co-ordination with companies and the university.

I used the metaphor of bees to tell the story.

Bee Lab +Laurea SID

Some frames from the animation and the concept sketch on paper.

Conceptronix

Exploring Electronics - a studio elective, in which we made a few circuits, learnt about a few electronic components and terms, but most importantly, discussed endlessly over today’s technology, science and sometimes even philosophy!

This course opened up a Pandora’s box of what’s possible today and tomorrow! Our weekly assignment, which was to mull over how our life could be improved using electronics, opened my eyes to interaction design based on electronic technology. Some of my concepts are listed below:

Wash basin with impact + hand sensors, to avoid wastage of water.

Pencils/pens which draw perfect straight lines - avoid use of drawing instruments (t-square, set-square etc.)

Emergency/instant calling from mobile to mobile - a special call that gets priority and the person’s attention!

A mic that gives a singer/speaker the power to control levels while they’re performing.

Bed that records sleeping positions on its surface and points to problems related to faulty sleeping positions like back aches etc.

+Srishti