Why design sometimes its glamorous and sometimes not ?

Foreign welcome to this Design for Change podcast. So today there is no topic as such which we are going to see. There are a lot of questions which has come from my students and other listeners, like why is this Design for Change really coming in picture and what is the reason and the thought process behind it? I want to just be genuinely sharing this information because a lot of listeners are like listening over nine countries, it's more than I would say 10, 11 countries. Exactly. So it's been a journey of my career in design for the last four or four and a half years, I would say. Before that I used to be a mechanical engineer. There were a lot of interesting things which has happened in my career and because of that perspective I really shifted to design. It's not like somebody is really interested when they are born and they are coming to the design field. Lot of people get this realization through different, different circumstances. And also there has been a honest moments where I will have to really quit this design feed because of many reasons, like because of family, because of financial situations. And above all these things, like I can keep on saying what are the problems? But to cut short, situations are not favorable in terms of what you call money, in terms of support from the family, in terms of psychological pressure. I was about to get married also when I was making this transition in my career, which is a very big transition because I took this risk at the age of 28 to 29. So a lot of people play a safe game. They wanted to choose early career, they wanted to not switch, they wanted to switch in design, but they won't take that decision because they are very much comfortable and settled in their career. So when I switched this career, it was really like I'll have to pay a lot of fees for my college, I'll have to quit the job. Family dependency was there and I have to really go hard on the decision. I should not be giving money for three years for my family. Where my father was a pensioner, my mother was a housewife and my brother was studying. Right? So you can imagine the situation like whatever I had saved for my PF money and my uncle all helped to really make it to the design education. So when I came to the design education again, the situation was not very favorable I would say in my perspective. See, design was good only always. Like it took a lot of time for me to really understand this because nobody will teach you anything directly in your college or your design schools. Wherever you are studying, if your design school is teaching you something very directly, I would suggest that's not a proper design school. You have to switch that you're again going into one more engineering college or medical college where you're going to learn, remember, write, pass the exams, forget everything and do whatever you want. And there is no absolute correlation on what you studied and what is the work you're doing, right? So if there is something really different which is happening in your design institutes, I would say you are in the right track. Jagdish, what is this Contrary stinks what you're seeing. Every designer is listening to this podcast, right? Every, every design faculty across the world, professors, everybody will be listening that I hope everybody will be resonating with what I'm saying. Design is something which needs to come within, right? The word education means educary actually that's the meaning of it. Which means from within. Nobody can teach you some kind of a syllabus where you by heart that where you write some exam and then what is the fun or what are the innovation out of it, right? When a real time problem comes or when a situation really tackles or arises, how you are able to manage that, if you develop that inherent within that kind of talent to take a decision, to take a strategy, to think upon that particular situation to solve the problem, you have evolved as a person. I would not say designer. You have first evolved as a person because people have evolved with this strategy only. Nobody has taught anything which is formal for the human sustenance or human evolution or something people have learned by their mistakes and improve, right? So design, when it comes to that education paradigm, there is no particular syllabus which have been taught or no particular curriculum, or no particular what you call exams or something like that. Particularly if you go to design education system colleges. A good design college will not have any kind of an exam. It will be just a presentation of your final work, what you did and then there'll be some jury panel who can assist. That's it, right? So what's the point in learning, spending so much of money to learn for this much of how do you really learn the skill then? Right? A lot of people get this, what you call this thought process and people who are standing from outside it will see, it will. It will seem like more glamour. Oh, there is no syllabus. Oh, there is no teaching how what's happening? People are inside like they're clueless what's happening, right? So how do you really draw that boundary? This is one of the major, major things which is not talked upon in many platforms or not much designers are even willing to talk about it. And let me tell you the flip side also. Lot of designers have really gone mad because of this kind of career. They have not found their path. I would not say mad. I would say some people have gone. But some people have really taken a decision that colleges are not teaching me anything. What would I do? How can I take an initiative on something which I have not been exposed for? They are still in that old schooling system and they won't make any kind of a significant difference. So there'll be a design laborers doing just what is given, and then they'll be. They'll be delivering and they'll be sustaining their life. Good, fine. I'm not saying that's correct or wrong or something. It's also a perspective. There is another category of people who get really frustrated. What is this happening? How do I really come out of this creativity? And how do I create something? And how do I solve problem? How do I create something visually good? Aesthetics, functionality, user needs. They're talking about sustainability, everything, right? So who's going to teach me all these things? There will be in a constant frustration. What is this education going to teach me? How do I learn? Where do I learn? Can I refer YouTube? Can I refer AI, generative technology, software, something like that? Right? There is another group of people who would be taking action. They also don't know what they are doing is right or wrong. Or maybe do they need improvement? Do they need validation? Is that concept right? Or is it really solving the problem? Or is it really visually appealing? They don't know. Absolutely no idea, right? But they keep on moving. What happens is people who are in this zone, they definitely get to a point where they would have cracked the code. Again, don't ask me what is that code. It's not a formula. Like we have a gravity 9.8 meter per second squared. No, that's not the formula, which I'm trying to say. You will have to crack that code to find that within capacity, how you can solve a problem. Like let's say if I'm giving a problem, imagine there is no world. There is no pillow in the world of our living, right? Imagine there is no bed or pillow or cushion, something like that. So a lot of people get neck pain. A lot of people get a lot of problems when they sleep in the floor or cot or something. So imagine there is no bed or no pillow. Kind of a concept which has evolved, you have not seen and nobody has ever seen. So as a human being, how do you really solve that problem? Right? Let's say this is a collective problem happening. And because of neck issue. Neck problem, or maybe a kind of real situation is happening where nobody is able to really solve that. Everybody is having the problem because everybody has to sleep six to eight hours, right? There has been a big pandemic, kind of, what do you call issue happened with almost everybody. 99.9 Percentage of the people are really suffering, like, let's say imaginarily. Okay, understand that I'm not saying this will happen or I mean, I'm just imagining if that kind of a situation is prevalent. Government is also taking some initiative. A lot of physiotherapists, doctors are suggesting do this neck exercise, do this, do that, sleep in this position, sleep in that position. But nobody has that kind of a solution which can make the people problem solved. So now tell me, if I have to really teach somebody to solve this problem, what do I teach? How do I teach? How do I make this guy prepared to solve? Okay, let's say today neck problem is there, he's trying to find some solution. Tomorrow something else comes. Like let's say toothache problem comes and everybody is having dental problem. And imagine there is no world of paste or toothbrush or any kind of a brushing kind of a habit is there in our human habitats. What would you do? I've told you two scenarios which you need to really think of. Really. You have to imagine and empathize. You should not question like, hey, no, no, no, this kind of situation will not happen here. And that's not the case. I'm just. I'm just asking you to imagine there is no world of pillow, no world of toothbrush, something. How do you really solve it? Right? Somebody will really come up with solution, maybe. Okay, can you keep your sleeping position? Something like Ulta, instead of sleeping this side, can you sleep that side? Maybe. Can you sleep on soil? Can you sleep on grass? Okay, maybe grass is good. It looks little softer. Yeah, I would see. People will grow grass in their house and they will put like a bed and they'll keep and sleep there. People might get solved a problem. Somebody will find out. Okay, we can have something like, what you call, something like a kind of what you call rope which we can tie to our neck. And then we can try to put it in a. What you call a position where that rope is really what you call positioning your body towards it. And this rope should be also not strangling your neck because that will become a problem then. So you design some mechanism to. Or maybe you design something like, which puts your Position of the neck not too steep so that you sleep comfortably. Or maybe somebody else can come up with the positions. Or maybe somebody else can see. Why do you always lie down and sleep? You can even sit and sleep. Yeah. Entire world of sleeping would be totally different. Right. Somebody else would suggest something. Somebody else would come up with different solution. But again, do you see a commonality in it? Do you see a pattern in it? Absolutely no. Right. Everybody is able to come up with a solution. Everybody is able to come up with their own way of solving it. This is the beauty of design. If any kind of a formal education is given or any kind of a syllabus or a so called design thinking process has been taught to somebody, what the heck would happen? Nobody will be able to come up with any solution. Even if they come, it will all be same. Everybody will come up with a pillow. Yeah, everybody will come up with a different. Different cushion. Pillow, hair pillow, this pillow, that pillow. Why would even designing a pillow is a solution? Why don't we think outside of that? Why don't just sleeping like that in the bed solve the problem? Why do you, why do you really think about that? Why do we what you call pivot our head in a way so that like let's say you have a kind of a glass, right? Like a wine glass. Have you seen that wine glass? So in that wine glass, like let's say if you chop off the top head, you can even position back of your head while you're sleeping. And that keeps the position intact while you're sleeping. Imagine there is a mechanism where it can hold your head like that and while you're sleeping. And you don't need any kind of a pillow. That particular mechanism provides you a comfortable sleep through night. We can sleep without any disturbance. Maybe it's so comfortable. Ergonomic cushion. There is a most scientific way of positioning your neck and head so that nobody gets a problem of sleep. Yeah. Who knows, this could be a solution as well. I've not just thought about it, I just thinking right now. So solutions could be anything. Solutions could be n number of possibilities, what you really think of. But the point is, do you think it can be formalized or taught in some kind of a school or college? No. Absolutely no. This is why design industry is very, very different. Lot of people really what you call get a wrong perspective. Like hey, what are the design industries growth in India? Let me tell you guys because you need to understand the real side of it, right? So according to the reports, National Skill Development Corporation, NSDC design industry is expected to grow at cumulatively 8 to 10 percentage. Imagine that there is a huge growth available. A survey by Indian Council suggests that India has witnessed 20% of the growth in employee opportunity employment opportunities in the last five years. 20 percentage. Only in design, I'm saying so do not get worried or talk to a lot of people are really having that concern. Is design going to die or are we really going to have a design economy? And I'm a graphic designer, I'm a product designer, I'm a UI UX designer. Will I find a place here? Let me tell you guys, 2022 as per report, 400 design schools and institutes in India have been there. Which various designs departments like textile design, graphic design, product design, etc. And all these things are accredited by All India Council for technical education. So 400 design schools are there. Why? It is to cater the design needs of the country. Right? See, Bangalore has been called a Silicon Valley of has over 1500 design related companies making it very significant creative hub according to a report by nascom. You guys know what is nascom, right? National association of Software and Services Companies. This is in common, is it? In combination with business processing, outsourcing, we do BPOs. A lot of BPOs and consulting agencies and services agencies are there. So the overall control is with national association of Software Services Companies. So they define the norms and the companies who are coming inside India and going outside the job, what we are doing, which is going outside. So the significant improvement is there in the hub cities like Bombay, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, etc. Right. So you have to understand it. And it is contributing to 5% of the overall GDP. This is a report by Confederation of Indian Industry. You can check that. So design has been a huge significant contributor. So if nothing is taught in the college, nothing is taught in the school. Nobody is able to clearly define this is actually designed. Why would this kind of a perspective really comes in? Why would this kind of a significant contribution to the economy comes in? Right. 5 percentage to GDP growth contribution is not joke. 400 design schools is not joke. Right? 20 percentage overall cumulative job employment opportunities in the last 5 years is not joke. You need to correlate with your numbers guys. Talking abstract is fine. The first 10 minutes of this podcast was the story and the perspective I'm able to connect. But you'll have to now get the stat and data because number tells the story. People can lie, media can lie, Google can lie, YouTube can lie. Numbers won't lie. Right? So the design industry is estimated to generate over 1.5 million jobs in India which is like 15 lakh jobs in India. According to the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship MSME industries. Right? Lot of micro small industries startups. Let me tell you guys, There are over 2500 design focused startups in India with a significant presence in many many cities like Bombay, Delhi, Chennai, like Kolkata. According to a statement by your story, this is a report as of 2022 it's now 2023 end right. So we could be even encountering more. So imagine guys how much amount of scope we have. The digital design market in India is expected to grow by US$70 billion by 2024. It's just one year left and approximately it is growing at 30 percentage every single year. This was a study did by Ficci and Nascom, right? Federation Industry of Commerce and what you call there was a Ficci. I could not remember this. Ficci. Yeah. Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. So they were in particularly touch with the collaboration reports which they did with Nashcom. They have released this. It is growing at 30 percentage. That is a huge significant improvement. Right? That is why you can see the digital product design industry is growing more. Lot of product designers are flipping because of this growth. US$70 billion by 2024. It's not a joke. India Design ID one of the largest design festivals in the country. This attracts more 10 lakh visitors annually. Showcasing the interest how design organizations is showing. There was a survey by Nielsen suggest over 60% of the Indian consumers are willing to pay more for a sustainable and eco friendly products. A huge demand for sustainable design is also in place. So I've told you more than six, seven statistics and data guys. You need to understand it. See design industry in India has been experiencing steady growth. Lot of factors are there. Let me tell you the traditional Indian history of design has a different different art forms like let's say Mughal art, Madhubani painting, intricate temple architectures. We have a very good ancient tradition of design. But the post independence what happened is a lot of modern influence and blending of different what you call architects work like Charles Ray Eames and Louis Kahn. A lot of aesthetics towards the Indian work has largely changed. But it doesn't mean that we are slowly growing. It's like very steady growth. I told you right how much growth we are having. So India plays a crucial role in contributing to this gdp reorganizing the entire business sectors. And now business are really recognizing the power of design thinking, creativity, how a designer can able to really add value. So they add a lot of Employment opportunities from product design, it went into ui, UX design to graphic design, to experience design, to exhibition design to spatial design. See this, much of design departments have been coming. Strategic design, game design, toy and game design, digital game design, retail experience design. Have you ever heard this kind of a design field is there? Yes, of course it is there. So that is why There has been 1500 related startups which is there in India which is giving an employment of 20 percentage growth every single year. So imagine guys, how much vacancies you have and how much potential as a designer you can able to create it. Maybe for some reasons you could have come to design. Maybe for some reason you will be still thinking whether to come for design or not. But imagine one thing if you are able to think through this, through your perspective, how much you can contribute as a designer, how much value addition you can do through your skills by showcasing that real within your power, right? So I told you, design is all about coming from your side within. How do you solve the problem of pillow, how do you solve the problem of toothache without even getting taught by anything? Then probably you are in the right track if you are founding that solution. Yes. After that comes a skill development. After that comes colors. After that comes sketching. After that comes aesthetics. After that comes graphics. After that comes process. After that comes research. After that comes ideation, prototype testing. There are a lot of methodologies and processes which we have. These are all the ways to engulf you. They are all the ways to get you streamlined, to make sure that product is going into the market and getting profitable. But who has really seeded that thought process to find that solution, right? Who has initiated that thought for you to think through in this direction to find that problem and solution. This is what will make you as a different unique designer and a lot of great flavor for you in your career. If you find this true intuition lying in you, probably you are wasting your time in your old career. You should have already flipped it. If you are in design and you've still not realized it. Yes, maybe this is the right moment. You can now think about how you can solve a problem around you without using any kind of a tools, method, system. What people have really thought so and then creating your own will make a huge difference. So I think this podcast has gone really long. I hope if you're listening to this, you're damn serious about to hear the perspective of why this podcast is there. So this podcast is going to give you a lot of clarity and information on on how you can able to contribute to this through your design skills for our GDP to grow and flourish as a designer. If you are really resonating, if you wanted to join this community you can send an email. I'd be able to happily help you out in guiding and mentoring you. And if you find this podcast useful you can give me a best star rating in Spotify and Apple. Thank you so much guys for deeply listening to why this perspective is really important as a designer. Thank you so much and if you have any comments I would love to listen from you because a lot of times I I've been talking right so this time I wanted to hear from you your honest perspective. Or you can. You can challenge me. Hey Jagdish, what you told is not correct. What you told. I have a clarification. I have a perspective you can definitely write about. What do you think in this podcast question? I have deliberately opened that for you. Thank you so much guys. Take care. All the best. Bye bye.