The Bus conductor - A innovative solution

Many of us travel in bus, but how many times we see the pain of the bus conductor. Collecting money in a crowded Indian city bus is tiring. Mr. Murli from Bangalore, had traveled in BMTC buses. He got his own opinion about the discomfort of BMTC bus conductors. He had also propose one possible solution. Please have a look.. comments are encouraged.

Design of Newspaper

In Ancient Rome, Acta Diurna, or government announcement bulletins, were made public by Julius Caesar. They were carved on stone or metal and posted in public places.

In China, early government-produced news sheets, called Tipao, circulated among court officials during the late Han dynasty (second and third centuries AD). Between 713 and 734, the Kaiyuan Za Bao ("Bulletin of the Court") of the Chinese Tang Dynasty published government news; it was handwritten on silk and read by government officials. In 1582 there was the first reference to privately published newssheets in Beijing, during the late Ming Dynasty. [Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspaper]

In 1556, the government of Venice first published the monthly Notizie scritte, which cost one gazetta. These avvisi were handwritten newsletters used to convey political, military, and economic news quickly and efficiently throughout Europe, and more specifically Italy, during the early modern era (1500-1700CE) — sharing some characteristics of newspapers though usually not considered as fully being ones.

The printing press, invented by Johann Gutenberg in 1447, ushered in the era of the modern newspaper. Manuscript newssheets were being circulated in German cities by the late 15th century. In the first half of the 17th century, newspapers began to appear as regular and frequent publications. The first modern newspapers were products of Western European countries like Germany (publishing Relation in 1605), France (Gazette in 1631), Belgium (Nieuwe Tijdingen in 1616) and England (the London Gazette, founded in 1665, is still published as a court journal). These periodicals consisted mainly of news items from Europe, and occasionally included information from America or Asia. [Ref: http://www.dayafterindia.com/may206/media.html]

The technological revolution of today is creating new challenges and opportunities for newspaper. Never before has so much information been so accessible to so many. Soon newspapers adapted to radio and television (TV). But TV’s omnipresence did not render the newspaper obsolete.

The basic advantages of news paper over radio and television is “it doesn’t run on electricity”. It’s portable, foldable and readable. Here is a futuristic design of modern news paper which will enhance the usability and readability of News through Paper medium.

Design: Mr. Arjun (M S Ramaiah School of Advanced Studies)

Guide: Asst. Prof. Manas Mishra

Visualization using Catia : Contest

Visualization Contest Winner :

We have here 2009 Design Visualization winner and other entries

Packaging Design Platinum Pentaward 2008

Platinum OTHER MARKETS is awarded to Aekyung of Seoul for the Spark laundry detergent box. In the shape of a washing machine, this box speaks a universal language.
No need for further explanation to the consumer. He instantly understands the type of product and its use and furthermore he can see how much product is left in the box, making re-purchase easier. This package is multi-use as it can be filled again with a refill.
Best of the Category: Other markets
Brand: Spark
Entrant: Aekyung
Country: Korea
Website: http://www.aekyung.co.kr

Vegetable Cart Design

Vegetable delivery today is such a mundane and tedious task. Our project is aimed at creating a social impact and we have chosen “vegetable delivery using carts” as our scenario.Vendors face hordes of problems ranging from pushing the cart to keeping the vegetables fresh. Our endeavor is to take into consideration all these problems and solve most of these, if not all. In effect, we wish the vendors to have an enjoyable experience.

“Extreme” is a term often applied to product forms that stand outside the ones usually associated with other products of the same or of similar types. A designer may use form deliberately in order to make an ‘extreme’ statement- as with Starck’s juicer- but sometimes, however, a product that says on the market unchanged while the style of the rest of the product on the market moves on an extreme almost default.

Redesigning of vegetable cart is done by following the systematic way. First user study was done from users by directly approaching them in their working environment and absorbing their usage of existing vegetable carts, snaps were taken and problem they are facing in using carts are absorbed. Next to that direct interaction with user is done and more questions were asked to them and problem in existing usage of cart is listed. Problems which we got through customers are changed in to technical voice. By using QFD chart we gave priority to the features that has to be incorporated and using that product specification chart is prepared, in this chart specification of the features are made and keeping those specification in mind concept generation is made and final concept is selected using PUGH’s method. Detailing of final concept is done using software and final mock-up was done by fabrication process.

This project has been carried out in M S Ramaiah School of Advanced Studies as a student group project.

Co-ordinator: Asst. Prof. Manas Mishra
Students: Chiranjeevi D.V, Murali K, Akhil R.C, Prareesh M.C, Pradeep Kumar N, Kiran M, Yathish Kumar

Apogee Chair

Image Ref.: http://www.wix.com/apogee/apogee

Apogee Chair - an incredible piece of work by an Israeli designer Miran Nudell.
A mark over the conventional chair, Apogee Chair developed in pine wood with polyurethane rubber at the link points maximizes flexibility of the chair and hence user comfort. As users generally don’t sit in one particular posture in a chair for long periods of time and move about a lot, the chair too assists in their movement.

For more details, visit: http://www.wix.com/apogee/apogee

Posted by Lohit HS

Canon 10D DSLR v2

Simply awesome. Hope this widens the feeling of work, development and accomplishment of engineers.




To quote Einstein : "And everybody should be ashamed who uses the wonders of science and engineering without thinking and having mentally realized not more of it than a cow realizes of the botany of the plants which it eats with pleasure." he said this 1930...

posted by Karthik TD

150 mph Electrifying Super Bike - Mission One

Image Ref.: http://www.ridemission.com

Mission Motor Company, San Francisco, CA unveiled a truly remarkable electric bike- Mission One, which will be available for purchase from early 2010. Mission One is both aesthetically and technologically stunning. With full charge the bike can cruise for up to 150 miles, provides instantaneous torque of about 100 lb-ft even at zero rpm ( TOTALLY WILD !!!), has a top speed of 150 mph, of course with zero emission and many many many more features.

For more details, check out their webpage: http://www.ridemission.com
Posted by Lohit HS

ECO Taxi at Tabontabon, Philippines

Municipality of Tabontabon has developed its very own Eco Taxi using - Can you believe – BAMBOO as the main material accounting to 90% of their vehicle construction. The hand crafted Bamboo Eco taxi covered with traditional patterned woven mats runs on Coconut Bio-diesel. An archetypical example of traditional knowledge merging with the modern; don’t you think?

Image Ref.: http://totieco.multiply.com

For more details, check out their webpage http://totieco.multiply.com

Posted by Lohit HS

Videos about the symbols of physics and astronomy, by the University of Nottingham.

On the above link you will find very interesting videos on Symbols by University of Nottingham.
Holds one's attention and tries to explore all these symbols one learns during education right from schooling days to college....

How to be Creative

1. Ignore everybody
2. The idea doesn’t have to be big. It just has to be yours.
3. Put the hours in.
4. If your biz depends on you suddenly being “discovered” by some big shot, your plan will probably fail.
5. You are responsible for your own experience.
6. Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten.
7. Keep your day job.
8. Companies that squelch creativity can no longer compete with companies that champion creativity.
9. Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.
10. The more talented somebody is, the less they need the props.
11. Don’t try to stand out from the crowd; avoid crowds all together.
12. If you accept the pain, it cannot hurt you.
13. Never compare your inside with somebody else’s outside.
14. Dying young is overrated
15. The most important thing a creative person can learn professionally is where to draw the red line that separates what you are willing to do, and what you are not.
16. The world is changing.
17. Merit can be bought. Passion cannot.
18. Avoid the Watercooler Gang.
19. Sing in your own voice.
20. The choice of media is irrelevant.
21. Selling out is harder than it looks.
22. Nobody cares. Do it for yourself.
23. Worrying about “commercial vs. artistic” is a complete waste of time.
24. Don’t worry about finding inspiration. It comes eventually.
25. You have to find your own schtick.
26. Write from the heart.
27. The best way to get approval is to not need it.
28. Power is never given. Power is taken.
29. Whatever choice you make, the Devil gets his due eventually.
30. The hardest part of being creative is getting used to it.
31. Remain frugal.
32. Allow your work to age with you.
33. Being poor sucks.
34. Beware of turning hobbies into jobs.
35. Savor obscurity while it lasts.
36. Start blogging.
37. Meaning scales, people don’t.
38. When your dreams become reality, they are no longer dreams.

http://visualambassador.com/2009/07/02/how-to-be-creative/

Posted by Jayakumar from PDC lab

BusinessWeek Said to Be Up for Sale by McGraw-Hill

BusinessWeek, the McGraw-Hill Cos. magazine that lost 30 percent of its advertising revenue in the second quarter, is up for sale, according to a person close to the situation.

The recession and competition from the Internet have cut into ad sales at BusinessWeek and competitors. Condé Nast said in April that it was closing its two-year-old Portfolio business magazine after it failed to meet revenue forecasts.

U.S. consumer magazines have gotten thinner with the plunge in demand from advertisers. Industrywide ad pages dropped 30 percent in the second quarter with financial, insurance and real estate marketers buying 51 percent fewer pages, according to PIB. Automotive ad pages fell 49 percent, PIB said.

BusinessWeek’s ad pages declined 34 percent in the three months through June, while competitor Fortune posted a 45 percent drop. Forbes had a 40 percent decline, PIB data show.

In the first quarter, total U.S. advertising spending fell 12 percent, led by tumbling demand in newspapers and magazines, after automakers and car dealerships slashed marketing budgets, Nielsen Co. said in June.

BusinessWeek, run by Editor-in-Chief Stephen Adler, was overhauled in 2007 and added stories on new products and personal finance in an effort to attract more readers and advertisers.

Posted by Jayakumar from PDC lab

Porsche marries Adidas…. Season Six !!!

Let the POWERS COMBINE…….. The genius behind Engineered luxury products - Porsche Design combines with the global leader in sporting goods - Adidas yet again offering a whole new range of sports collection which are FULLY AWESOMEEEE !!! (like how Rhino in the movie Bolt puts it… :P …). Their sixth season of collaboration has a series of shoes, apparels and accessories categorized into “Driving” (P’5610 – My kind of shoes –hope the price too is my kind of ….heheheh….), “Running/Fitness”, “Golf” and “Tennis” which hits their selected high-end and concept stores this month. Not only do the products look awe-inspiring they are sophisticated too; like for example their P’5140 Convertible Rain Jacket which is developed with the latest membrane technology material c_change™ is not only fully water proof but it also ensures optimum body environment for the wearer by managing breathability and moisture content to suit inner and outer temperature conditions.

Image Ref. www.adidas.com

For more details, check out their Fall/Winter 2009 collection at www.adidas.com

Posted by Lohit HS

A Thousand-star hotel in Bavaria, Germany.

I have been 5 star hotels, seen 7 stars even, but a thousand star hotel ???; that’s exactly what Monika Fritz and Otto Funck’s “Ein Bett im Kornfeld” i.e., “A Bed in a Cornfield” in Bavaria, Germany Hotel is hailed as.

Image Ref.: www.badkissingen.de

“A Bed in a cornfield "and" The Maze in the cornfield " as you would have guessed by now, is a one of its kind open air hotel in Germany. Sleeping on straw with the starry sky as the roof feels like a truly magical experience to me (of course not for someone who has hay fever …[ ;) ]….). This thousand star hotel or should I call it a zillion star hotel has a series of tents as rooms (7 Euros per night for adults and 3 Euros for kids) set in a corn field with a circus tent as a reception; quite an excuse for a nice summer escape from the city, don’t you think and romantic too. It also sports a clay spa, potato massage centre, a maze for kids, a dining area and a praying area (ah that I need .…praying - please no random summer showers pleaseeeee …..ehhehee….). Anyways, in addition to this they have evening film festivals and barbecue days on the offering too. Great Service Design !!! I guess India has potential for these kinds of services along with an additional offering of milking a cow in the morning as well !!! … lol … .whatcha think?

Image Ref.: www.badkissingen.de

For more regarding Ein Bett im Kornfeld, check out their webpage: www.bett-im-kornfeld.de

Posted by Lohit HS

Snip Snip Snip with your fingers; I mean with Finger Scissors…..

Image Ref. : www.gizmodo.com

Yep, that’s one of the coolest concept I have come across lately. Conceptualised by an Israeli based Industrial designer Effrat Gommeh (www.gommeh.com), the Finger Scissors concept is a novel cutting tool and hell yeah its cute too.
Do away with the suffering caused by traditional scissors, slip the Finger Scissors on your index and middle finger and snip away as if your fingers were the scissors itself.

Posted by- Lohit HS

Design for healthcare

Globalization has turned India as one of the technological hub’s which has enabled to create products & services that can compete with the advanced countries. With the limited resources, Indians are able to innovate products that are creating buzz words in the global market and thus the emergence of the field “Frugal Engineering”. The best example for India’s Frugal Engineering is ‘Tata Nano’ and it got hold of the world’s attention after it failed all the 'impossible' theories that were claimed by the so called experts.

Even before the emergence of Nano, Indians are able to create products that consumes minimum resources and gives maximum output. To find this, you may visit the houses or bazaars in any of the Indian cities. One of our student Mr. Ganesan (MSc in Product Design) was approached by a company to design a health care product. This company is manufacturing the core technology of the product and was exported to Korea, where the ID (industrial design) of the product would be built and from there it would be marketed to the rest of the world (with a ‘made in Korea’ tag).
The board of the company decided to try developing the product in India (as they lose out the market share through export and also they don’t have an identity or brand of their own). Initially the company was little apprehensive about developing the product indigenously and marketing it from India. Finally, they decided to experiment through one of our students and they hired him for internship.
Due to confidentiality I would not be able to explain the technology behind this product and so the design process. However, an introduction to this project has been explained by the student. In his own words…

“Auto ref /keratometer is a combination of two machines, refractometer and keratometer. It helps to identify the refracting errors in eyes. Errors happens at different level, some times in eye lens, some times in cornea or in retina .Both machines are used to fix the errors which depends on the patient to be checked. The aim of the project was to design an Auto refractrometer/keratometer by improving the usability and aesthetics. At present most of the Auto ref/keratometer are imported from foreign countries, to make the competitive appearance to those products with consideration of usability and ergonomic issues. In order to develop an improved design, research was done by conducting product study, market study and user study.



The user study was done at hospitals across south India to understand the user needs and their aspirations. The qualiy function deployment (QFD) and the PDS were arrived. After finalizing the technical features of the product, ergonomic simulation was carried out . With reference to the PDS concepts were generated.


The concepts are modeled and rendered in the Alias studio tools. The final concept was selected and was developed as a physical model for validation. The validation is done with reference to the aesthetics and usability. When compared to the existing product, the proposed design overcomes the usabiltiy problems. From the valdation it has been found the new design has enhanced the aesthetcs of the product. Consideration of usability and ergonomics will provide the comfort to the user.”

The project was a success and the student was recruited by the company to work for the further development of the product. In the near future the product would be launched in the market.

However before conclusion, I have couple of questions that needs to be answered…

With all the advancements in technology and awareness, Is our country still in the mind sight of pro-industrialisation era?

Why do the companies in India hesitate to consider the word 'Innovation' not just in their mission statement but use proactively in their development process?

How many companies still perceive Industrial Design as an activity of Art and not a value addition to their product?

After joining the company, on the first day of his work the student called me up and said ‘they are not negotiating with the salary’ and he was upset, I tried consoling him and asked him not to quit because there is recession out there, then he said the reason for worry is not the salary, but during some discussions the boss had mentioned “I know what is design, it is like stitching a cloth…. Your job is just to stitch a cloth for the technology given to you…” Anyone listening out there?

Posted by Jayakumar from PDC lab

e-Doot Video : Electric Bicycle for Postman in India @ MSRSAS

Electric Bicycle for Postman in India,
designed at M S Ramaiah School of Advanced Studies (MSRSAS), Bangalore.

This fascinating journey of designing for Postman in India.It covers contextual inquiry, ethnography research,technical product study and then concept generation.Finally one of the concept was designed using various tools and a prototype was made.

In the video you would see the entire design process along with feedback of the same of actual user in India.

Design of e-Doot : Electric Cycle for Postman in India

The design intent for this project was:

· To provide alternate transportation for postal delivery service by postman in India

· To replace manual effort by electricity

· To design and fabricate a postman’s electric bicycle considering requirements of postman/packages in terms of usability and ergonomics

After conducting ethnography research, various requirements and needs were identified and prioritized to arrive at concepts.
Eventually design methodology followed lead to some very useful and innovative design solution. These were incorporated in design and the prototype was fabricated. To get feedback from postman,a test was conducted at Mathikere, Bangalore as a part of project.

Team :

Arjun. J, Anoop Laxman, Bala Chandar. C, N. V. Chandrasekhar. Y, Praveen. P Somangouda. S.P, Srinivasa Rao. B, Vishnu Shankar. J, G.R.R.Varma
Design Mentor :

Prakash Unakal,Industrial Designer,Prof, Dept of Design @ MSRSAS
Project done at : M S Ramaiah School of Advanced Studies,Bangalore