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The talk by the great man would definitely change your perception about life.

Very inspirational talk - The Last Lecture - by Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch

This is a great talk on creativity and education system. A must watch. Here are some of the notes of what he says and what I think.

In this video, Sir Ken Robinson talks about why we need to rethink our traditional education system. He says that there are some common issues in every education system. According to him industrialization is one of the core reasons for structural changes in public education systems. And I think that is why our education system is driven by what is more important for the industry than what is for children and future of mankind. Hence subjects like mathematics/science are at the top and arts and humanity at the bottom. Certainly not every field in education earns the same amount of income. But that does not mean that education should leave less earning but creative subjects out. Mathematics and science are very important, but I think arts and humanity is important as well. If it’s just all the brain we focus on what will happen to human values?

Sir Ken Robinson talks about how children are not afraid to make mistakes and as they grow they lose this ability. It is also a part of education system that creates this fear, snatching away the opportunities to foster creativity. He says that we should be prepared to be wrong and that’s the only way we can come up with original ideas.

We all know that every child is special and hence we should let children explore their own abilities and and let them do what they enjoy the most (of course not anything bad). Then there are trends in societies that parents think their children should be diverse so they send their children to learn music or painting even if they might not be as interested in them as in playing games. So what is important for parents and the education system is to provide a platform for children where they can not just learn subjects but explore them through creativity and find what they enjoy the most. And one thing is for sure that if you can do what you enjoy the most you will become really good at it.

Another good point he makes is that because of the way education systems work many talented, brilliant and creative people think they are not. And I think that is really sad.

DESIGN

Design to most of us is the beautification of objects/elements in the system around us.

Though this forms only a small part of whole definition the perception about design needs to change. It’s become so much a lingo in our everyday life that we unknowingly use this word.

“Arey ye chair ka design sahi hai !!!”

“Is web page ke design me color thik nahi”

“Is rangoli ka design (?) maine kiya hai”

Above are some of the common phrases you might have overhear/heard sometime in your life. Now read my comments on them.

“Chair ka design sahi hai but are you able to sit on it properly or is it poking your butt ???”

“Web page ka design ? are you able to find the required information even with that color ???”

“Rangoli is an art not design”

Well you must have inferred something from my comments. If not let me first put before you the definition of Design in my own language.

“Design is a process in which you try to make/modify something to which is aesthetically good, functions to ease the life of it’s users/non users and helps them to get their work done in effective/productive way.” You may find different definitions on web. It’s because there is no unanimous definition of it. You may find all of them relevant in their context, though different. Well this may sound similar to the software development life-cycle or product life-cycle, it varies majorly on the medium and effectiveness. Designers mostly follow a visual medium so that it’s easier for human brain to understand the intricacies better and produce effective solutions.

When I say design is a process, it follows a proper step by step methodology to arrive at the final solution, which we many a times consider as one shot result.

Research

Design starts with research and understanding the system and context of the solution/problem. It may also be called “data collection” stage. Many a times it happens that you don’t have a problem at hand, but you are given a system/domain which you need to study and figure out the location of breakdown. You need to study about that system first and then draw mind maps and bubble diagrams (peculiar to a designer, though engineers also like it they seldom use it). Several such mindmaps of the system are created and put side by side. Visual representation of the system helps human brain to understand it in a better way and it’s possible to make interconnections between different parts of it. These interconnections may not be visible otherwise. An example of mindmap is show below. The mind map is a result of brainstorming on activities and objects surrounding TV.

Apart from studying system you also study parallel products/market/business of it. Well this part may be quite optional it assumes an important role when working on large projects. You study how things happen in current scenario and may depict major breakdowns by a brief story board by scribbles. Keeping this aside for later reference helps a lot to align final design with goals.

Analysis

Once you have cracked down the system comes phase of ananlysis. With whatever data you have collected you try to see where the problem lies or if you already have problem at hand you see what parameters are causing the problem and analyze the reason for it. As a designer this is mostly done using sketches and doodles and whiteboard scraps (though this is not their legacy). All the analysis is presented in form of “Visual Representation“. Infographics/Information aesthetics is one of the commonly used term with us wherein we present data in a way that is simple and quick to understand and looks good too. Information aesthetics is a site that has huge collection of wonderful representations of data. Some quick examples can also be found at Smashing Magazine.

See how beautifully is the data represented. Had this been in figures it would have taken years to analyze and you would be scratching your head, unless you have a Beautiful Mind .

Design Intent

After analysis it may happen that you want to rephrase your focus/problem statement/domain. This is the time when you do so. And with this you also set some goals for your final product. The goals may be in terms of usability, aesthetics, market value, consumer base capture etc. At the end of any project (small/big) you crosscheck whether your final product meets these goals or not.

Concept Generation

The designer phase. With all those stages toured our minds would be filled with all the data of the system. Now comes the time when you feel free and jot down ideas pertaining the problem. Withough hindering the imagination with technology, economic feasibility and constraints you sketch down the concepts. However the problem and its system and relevance of the concept should always be kept in mind. The end result of this stage may be doodles and story board of how the concept is going to handle the situation at hand.

Design Evaluation

Rough paper prototypes of the concepts are prepared and taken to the actual users.  Paper prototype help reduce the cost and time that might go in wrong concept. This is an easy method in which you draw low fidelity screens (with minimal details) of your product, number them as if you have drawn each box in the flow diagram of you concept system on a big paper. If it’s a physical product say something like cellphone/keyboard you make a physical model of the concept with some details to it and again paper prototype to show the response of the system at different point of use.

You closely watch users using these protoypes and make notes of where they are finding it difficult. You may use your goals (set in Design Intent) to monitor their actions. This phase is not about asking users whether they like the product or not. The answer would be yes in most of the case. As a designer we should be able to tell what suits them best by examining their actions and expressions while using the product/system. At the end of this stage you may create a matrix listing all the parameters that you have judged your concept for and differnt concepts. The resulting figure will give you an idea as to which concept should be taken further and detailed. Some of the parameters that I use are User liking, Personal favorite, Ease of User, Speed of learning, technology feasibility, amount change in current system etc.

Detailing

Once the concept is finalized the concept is detailed. Now this stage itself comprises of several sub stages like information organization (s/w engg. call it object modelling), navigation model (state diagram/flow chart), interface detail (button placement etc.). Hmmm this seems to be pretty close to what we have learnt in Software Engineering. Remember UML? Yeah, it’s almost the same except that all this is done keeping user in mind and not the system. Hence there is clear distinction between software engineer who cares about the software/product and a designer who cares for user first and then the software. This is an iterative process wherein at each stage of proto completion you go to the users take feedback, evaluate and come back. The duration actually depends on you and project timeline.

Though there doesn’t seem to be any end stage of the product except it’s final delivery for a designer it still continues wherein he/she studies the behavioural pattern of the usage of system and suggest necessary changes. This may also result in writing guidelines for such projects.

So here I finish looooooooong first informative post about Design. I have tried to keep is as short and simple and in the course may have missed many parts of it. The details will be taken care in posts later.

Till then happy designing.

I am a member of the same team of Aces who have already given some impressive and shocking intros! I was one of those people who didn’t care about the final marks but still worried about it. And always being distracted by my ideas I would read for exams on the last days or in some cases last hours. I have a record of never finishing writing all the answers that I knew in the exams. I was jobless when I finished engineering, but one thing I never gave up was programming and designing in flash. And thanks to that I got a contract job in a company for a huge flash based project. I loved that project because it required not just the programming skills, but also creativity and imagination. It also taught me leadership, management and communication skills. And right now the same flash experience is helping me manage my expenses while studying.

When I was in school I wanted to be a scientist and i was planning to write a book about my inventions at that time. Later I decided to become a doctor for it is the most noble profession and I thought I could serve people. But I got admission into Computer Engineering instead (because I missed by one mark) where I met my best friends and my lovely life partner. However, I ended up becoming an artist when I realized what I should be doing with my skills, what job will be more fun and what will help me do what I want to do in life. Over the time, I have found that I love working on anything that has a scope of creativity and imagination. It can be a software program (especially GUI/Architecture) or music or animation or a mathematics problem. I chose animation not just because it’s magical and cool by itself, but also because I know it will teach me what I need to learn in life and it will help me open up my imagination to understand not just myself but others as well.

My ultimate goal in life is to conquer my mind.

Oh! I just realized today is 08-08-08. And the time right now is 08:08:08 pm (EDT)

Here I come, Jigar Contractor (Jagira). I did my BE in Computer Engineering from Nirma institute of technology and now I am about to start my MS in Computer and Information Science from Temple University, Philadelphia.

I have been working in software industry since 2004. Major areas, I have explored so far are Digital Cable Television and Casino Gaming/Accounting System. I am not good at specific thing but I do my level best at everything that I have to do. Though I am the person with no aim in life, I always wanted to see myself end up doing something innovative and interesting. About success in life, I believe that “Success is Jorney not Destination“.

About the creation behind the “Silent Ideas”, I would like to refresh following quote from “Swami Vivekanand”.

“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.“

                                                                   – Swami Vivekanand

This is what the “Silent Ideas” may end up proving in future.

I am personally very much angry and stubborn in nature, however for friends and family I can leave everything aside. I may be shooting so many “hathodas” on this blog, please forgive me if they are not sustainable. This one might be a good example of it .

- Jigar

Hi Guys/Gals,

Myself Nirav aka Bhagat, did my B.E. in Computers from Nirma Institute of Technology. One of my quality/habit (good/bad) is laughing… I get immense pleasure in laughing and making others laugh. Recently I and my wife Darshana were blessed with BOY - JANMESH…So entered a new phase of life with extra i mean too much of responsibility. Thats all about my personal life…Moving onto Proffessional.. I am into software development/design specifically for Mobile handset and have worked on almost all the Mobile handsets (not all though, iPhone is missing in that list).

One and only motto of life is…”JALSA Kar (dont worrry about the result, do your karma)” and for me Jalsa is work and work is jalsa. I love watching movies, long drives, thrilling rides(Six-Flags, Vallejo,CA) and foremost is harassing people. At some point in fact currently also…people sometimes dont believe me what I am saying…

Thats it folks…rest everyone knows…and can post your queries..which I wont Answer…hahahahah…

Happy friendship Day to all!!!

I am Bhagwati Prasad Maheshwari, quite a long name, but people call me Bhagwati or Bhags. People in US call me “Baugwhati” :). This is my first blog. I have read many blogs and wanted to write one day myself, but always came up with the excuse that I dont have enough time to do so. With Silent Ideas being born, I can give it a try and stop being lazy, hopefully .

I am a computer graduate from Nirma Institue of Technology, India. I am currently working as a Senior Project Engineer in a software company in Florida. I love challenges, love watching and playing Cricket, love travelling. Reading books is a favorite pastime too. I love to interact with different people and share ideas and thoughts - not on technical concepts, but things which are related to culture, society and traditions.

Enough of this introduction - I had an interesting conversation a week back and wanted to share with you guys. I am currently working in Philadelphia for a client of mine. One of my client colleagues came to know that I am getting married. She came up to me and asked would it be a big wedding? I said yes. She said, “How many elephants?” I did not know how to react and started laughing. I said there will be no elephants in the wedding. She said, “Oh, so it’s not a big wedding”. I said what you see in movies, is not true…I dont know which movie she saw, but I did explain, we do come on horses though for the wedding. It was interesting to see different perceptions about Indian culture. She had seen Bollywood movies and was telling me and the other American guy that there is only one theme - the guy chases the girl in a garden full of trees, they fall in love. The guy comes forward to kiss the girl, the girl runs for the other tree or the movies shows 2 birds kissing. It was funny to hear all this, but she was right. These were the bollywood movies, I guess some 7 or 10 years back. We have moved on and there are better movies being made. She though enjoyed “Monsoon Wedding” a lot.

Though I am into technical field, I am more intrigued by social, cultural things. Silent ideas would be silent debates about these topics in my blogs…will see you soon in my next post, till then your comments are always welcome…

I was always wondering if I could ever get chance to write programs for a specific board/platform Something that I can use which has all kind of interface to sense physical world ….. And I found arduino This little board is fun to play with , check it out!

I am Tushar Dave,

Computer Engineer/Researcher land into machine world in 2ooo. Hacking and Tinkering (’sometimes destroying’) machines to understand mechanics behind ‘em and moreover, to get best out of ‘em is what I do/think almost every time. After graduating from Nirma Institute of Technology, I stepped into embedded field and created my first footprint as Software/System Engineer where I worked on Biometric systems for a year. Gradually the passion and desire for revealing obscure world inside black boxes became more furious hence I stepped forward to higher studies and enrolled into CSUS (California State University, Sacramento) for MS. During this time I worked extensively on operating systems, embedded (‘intelligent’) systems, and networking. Currently I work for a company and do all fun stuff ranging from writing device driver to hacking kernel – From debugging bugs to sharing “silent ideas”

I love to stay in lab till late night especially during weekends. I tend to be in workout center during free hours, (It pumps tremendous confidence in me while I pump muscles). In addition, I like to travel, have dream to travel the entire world. I do shooting and hiking for adventure. Apart from all these, sometimes I sing and continue singing until my neighbor start knocking on common wall

- Never Procrastinate