D'square

Chess set for Blind, This is my personal project. My aim was redesign the existing chess for better user experience. The simplicity of the play pieces is the main feature of this redesign. The shapes I used on the round tokens are very simple so it is easy to print in a paper as Braille. It will help a starter to learn chess very easily through self learning manuals and also have the common features like usage of noisy materials instead of black and bumped horizontal and vertical guidelines for better UX..

This project was part of the elective course during our first semester conducted by Prof.Nina Sabnani.The task was to redesign the poster of some film that have inspired us.The film poster which I re-designed was  for Anbe Sivam (tamil)

The whole idea of splitting the poster into two was to depict the contrast between the lives of two men who meet each other during a disaster struck journey from Bhuvaneshwar to Chennai yet how each of them respond to the life.Following is a hand painted poster of the original poster.

Students with Learning Disability often experience greater success and sense of achievement when they are allowed to use their abilities (strengths) to work around their disabilities (challenges). This project is aimed at bringing independency, spontaneity and smooth communication to those with learning disabilities like autism and dyslexia.

Apart from being intellectually delayed, children with learning disability can also be non verbal. They face social detachment which often leads to frustration and sometimes violence. Teachers of such students need support developing special teaching strategies and technologies while dealing with stress and understanding things from the students’ perspective.

An aid using assistive technology can help the teachers maximize their students’ potential and make them more productive and independent in as many ways as possible.

With this project I aim to develop a modular tool that can be used for different subjects and disciplines, which will help the teachers communicate the concepts better and make learning and revising an enjoyable activity for the children.

Design Resources
Festival Patterns
Design by people
by
Sheetal Alreja

In India, design has always been a part of everyday life. Indian Festive Decoration is very diverse and rich in terms of its graphical elements and patterns. Its found everywhere, on objects, artifacts, environments, religion, occasions and events. Decoration has evolved through centuries with the influence of new materials and techniques.

For example, Rangoli was used to decorate the entrances of homes, a floor-painting which provided a warm welcome to visitors. Every region in India has its own interpretation of Rangoli. With the help of technology, this art has been reproduced in the form of stickers. Though the technology has helped to reproduce the traditional art form, but because of mass production, the creative variations of forms that were inherent to these art forms have beenlost.

Here is an attempt to document decorations that are readily available in the market, with varied forms and patterns. The main area where almost all kinds of decoration material is available in Mumbai is around Dadar station. Before every festival the area has lanes filled with decorations, which come from different parts of the country. The festivals covered were – Ganesh Chathurthi, Navratri, Durga Pooja, Dassera and Diwali.

The documentation consisted of lamps, lanterns, torans, pots, rangoli stickers, garlands. These were then visually analysed on the basis of shape, colour, level of intricacy, repeated patterns and motifs. The major recurring decorative elements were graphically reduced to basic elements. These were further used for creating patterns of various kinds.

by Ujjwal Likhar, M des student in Interaction Design, likhar.ujjwal[at]gmail.com

‘Robotic Kit for Children‘ - learn by doing and playing

Robotics is a subject through which kids can learn many things. It has electronic, mechanics, software, problem solving, team work, etc. which provides a broad perspective and a huge scope of learning for the kids while they play.

Robotic toys fascinate kids a lot. There are many robotics toys available in market which are getting very popular now a days. These toys mainly come in human or insect form, but now a days company like wow-wee are exploring various animal forms also. The toys can be a
pre-assembled or in form of kit which kids can assemble themselves and play. To make a robot from a kit needs more knowledge and learning for the kids. In Indian market the robotic kits that are available are not only very difficult to assemble but also the robot lacks the outer form.

The main objective of this project is to design a robotic kit that can involve kids or make them participate to develop a robot. The kit is designed to be very simple and attractive so that it arouse interest and makes possible for them to assemble easily and to play in an environment created by themselves.

Robotic Kit features:
• Assembled from Components
• Environment Creation
• Introduction to sensors
• A playable toy at the end