Designed this way Designed This Way

Neethi is an illustrator, muralist and surface pattern designer based out of Bangalore, India. She has illustrated for companies like Google, Instagram, WeWork, NPR, Whatsapp and Mahindra, amongst others, and is currently a Creative Partner at studio How About That!

Bright, fantastical, pattern-infused still life and exaggerated interior scenes are a recurring theme in her work. She aims to captivate and transport her audience into these worlds.

Neethi proudly carries a mononymous name, given by her father as a symbol of equality in representation as well as independence from gender norms.

In today's episode, we discuss her life, designing for spaces, the nuances of creating mural art, illustration design, and much more.



RELEVANT LINKS (Chronological)

Neethi - http://www.neethi.co.in

All India Radio - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_India_Radio

NIFT Kannur - https://www.nift.ac.in/kannur/

Ritu Beri - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritu_Beri

Marimekko - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marimekko

Noida - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noida

Tumblr - https://www.tumblr.com

Neethi’s Tumblr - https://kneethee.tumblr.com

WeWork - https://www.wework.com

Neethi’s Blog with WeWork - https://www.wework.com/ideas/workspace-solutions/flexible-products/how-wallpaper-can-enliven-a-space

Anant Ahuja - https://www.instagram.com/typethug/

Podcast with Anant - designedthisway.com 

Jeremiah Britton - https://www.jeremiahbritton.com

Aarey - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aarey_Forest

Kabootar Khana - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabootar_Khana

Maruti 800 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maruti_800

Hornet - https://hellohornet.com/home.html

WhatsApp Pay Stickers - https://www.instagram.com/p/CVX21FkPRrK/?img_index=1

UPI - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Payments_Interface

Global Diwali Stickers for Instagram - https://www.neethi.co.in/Global-Diwali-Stickers-for-Instagram

Google Doodle for Indian Independence Day 2022 - https://www.behance.net/gallery/150517181/Google-Doodle-for-Indias-75th-Independence-Day

Mural for Ukkadam Arts District - https://www.neethi.co.in/Ukkadam-Art-District

St+Art - https://www.instagram.com/startindia/

Hanif Kureishi - https://www.instagram.com/hanifkureshi/

Giulia - https://www.instagram.com/giulia_ambrogi/?hl=en

Kashmira Sarode - http://kashmirasarode.com

How About That Studio - https://howaboutthat.in

Pulak Bhatnagar is the founder of PulakB Design, a studio that specializes in Branding, UI design and Storytelling.

Over the last 11 years of his career, Pulak has worked with various brands and renowned design studios. Pulak’s client list has gone on to include art festivals, fin-med-edu-tech startups, hotels, healthcare and wellness brands, paper companies, magazines, contemporary artists, street culture brands, FMCG brands, alcobev brands, architecture firms, sports organisations and more.

On this episode, we talk about Pulak’s journey of continuous learning and creative pursuits. We delve into a variety of engaging topics, including the delicate art of work-life balance, nurturing mental well-being, and the insights Pulak has gained while navigating the intricacies of running a design studio.


RELEVANT LINKS (Chronological)

PulakB Design - https://pulakb.com
Orkut - www.orkut.com
Indore - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indore
NID - www.nid.edu
DJ Academy - djad.in
Prof. Balaram - https://soundcloud.com/designedthisway/singanapallibalaram
Coimbatore - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coimbatore
Kriti Monga - kritimonga.com
Turmeric Design - turmericdesign.com
Kyoorius Design Yatra - designyatra.com
Irma Boom - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irma_Boom
Typervention - typerventions.com
Codesign - codesign.in
ClearTax - https://cleartax.in
The Brew House - thebrewhouse.in
Serendipity Arts Festival 2018 Branding - pulakb.com/portfolio/serendipity-arts-festival-2018/
Andaz 401 book - pulakb.com/portfolio/andaz-401-reasons-book/
Clockwork: design your business to run itself - mikemichalowicz.com/clockwork/
Toggl Plan - toggl.com/plan/
QShala - pulakb.com/portfolio/qshala/
Adopt a Rice Seed - www.adoptariceseed.com
SerendipityArts Org - pulakb.com/portfolio/serendipity-arts-org/

Nidhi is a multi-disciplinary creative based out of Washington, D.C. She applies design methodologies to reimagine civic infrastructure. Her value centered practice focuses on deconstructing nebulous concepts, bringing people together, and breaking down complex problems—for better and equitable services. She has spent the past four years in the local government. She has collected a range of partners, collaborators, and clients in the last few years, starting from ArtCenter College of Design, City of Los Angeles, Cedars-Sinai Cancer Research Center for Health Equity, Stanford University, Stanford Impact Labs, to Montgomery County Government. The few hours she has left in the day she uses to mentor design students through Designmatters at ArtCenter or Coding It Forward during the summer. She holds a master’s degree from ArtCenter College of Design and an undergraduate diploma in Visual Communication from the National Institute of Design.

RELEVANT LINKS (Chronological)

Nidhi - nidhisinghrathore.com
Jawaharlal Nehru - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jawaharlal_Nehru
Uttar Pradesh - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uttar_Pradesh
Allahabad (Pryagraj) - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allahabad
Triveni - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triveni_Sangam
NID - www.nid.edu
NIFT - www.nift.ac.in
Art Center College of Design - www.artcenter.edu
Network By Desire - https://nidhisinghrathore.com/networkbydesire
Ethnography - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnography
La Fabula De Las Faldas - nidhisinghrathore.com/la-fabula-de-las-faldas
IAS (Indian Administrative Service) - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Administrative_Service
Designmatters at ArtCenter - designmattersatartcenter.org
Los Angeles Innovation Team - losangelesinnovates.com
Mayor’s Challenge - bloombergcities.jhu.edu/mayors-challenge
ADUs - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_suite
LA ADU Accelerator Program - adu.lacity.org
Project Page - nidhisinghrathore.com/making-housing-affordable-in-la
Covid in LA - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_California
Montgomery County - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_County,_Maryland
Federalism in the United States - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalism_in_the_United_States
Article I mentioned in the podcast - ‘Design thinking was supposed to fix the world. Where did it go wrong?’ - www.technologyreview.com/2023/02/09/1067821/design-thinking-retrospective-what-went-wrong/
The Takshashila Institution (I accidentally said ‘Takshashila Foundation’ in the episode, which is different organisation) - takshashila.org.in

Somnath Bhatt is a designer, artist, and writer who lives between Ahmedabad and New York City. His work has been shown at MoMA PS1, Art Week Dubai, India Art Fair, the ICA London, and Mécènes du Sud Montpellier-Sète, among other venues. Selected clients include Instagram, the New York Times, The New Yorker, Reebok, HYEIN SEO, and the musicians Nicolás Jaar and Mitski. Currently he is an Art Director at Bloomberg. He also works as a contributing editor at MOLD Magazine and AIGA Eye on Design. Somnath believes in the power of the unseen, the chaos of myth, and that labor has the right to all it creates.

RELEVANT LINKS (Chronological)

Somnath Bhatt - somnathbhatt.com
Bloomberg - bloomberg.com
Ela Bhatt - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ela_Bhatt
Ahmedabad - /en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmedabad
Dashrat Patel - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dashrath_Patel
Parimal’s Episode - soundcloud.com/designedthisway/parimal-parmar
Montessori - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori_education
BV Doshi - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._V._Doshi
Rabindranath Tagore - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore
RISD - www.risd.edu
Baul Singers - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baul
The White Pube - thewhitepube.co.uk
Mohenjodaro by Somnath - www.printedmatter.org/catalog/51003/
Walker Arts Center - http://walkerart.org
November - instagram.com/nvmbr_in
Steven Heller - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Heller_(design_writer)
Mold Magazine - thisismold.com
AIGA Eye on Design - eyeondesign.aiga.org
Hyein Seo - hyeinseo.com
SSENSE - ssense.com
Shesh(Naag) - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shesha
Tyographics - 2022.typographics.com
Thanks to Type@Cooper http://coopertype.org , The Herb Lubalin Study Center lubalincenter.cooper.edu and The Cooper Union cooper.edu for the Typographics conference audio section.

Parimal is an Indian Type and Graphic Designer. Parimal has designed some retail typefaces with ITF i.e Indian Type Foundry and Typotheque. Some of the notable typefaces he has designed are ITF Gujarati, Lava Devanagari and Katana. Katana is one of my favourite typefaces. He is also working on a typeface for Sharda Script. Sharda is a script native to the Kashmir region.

RELEVANT LINKS (Chronological)

Parimal’s WebSite - parimalparmar.in
Stefan Sagmeister - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Sagmeister
Swastika - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika
Surat - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surat
Gujarati (Language) - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gujarati_language
DJ Academy of Design - djad.in
NID - www.nid.edu/home
Professor Balaram’s Podcast - soundcloud.com/designedthisway/singanapallibalaram
Indian Type Foundry - https://www.indiantypefoundry.com
White Crow Design - whitecrow.in
Ek Type Foundry - ektype.in
Devanagari - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devanagari
CJK characters - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CJK_characters
Codesign - codesign.in
Rajesh Dahiya’s Podcast - soundcloud.com/designedthisway/rajesh-dahiya
Unbox Festival - http://unboxfestival.com
Design Habit - designhabit.com
Satya Rajpurohit - www.indiantypefoundry.com/about
ITF Devanagari - indiantypefoundry.com/fonts/itf-devanagari
Akhand - indiantypefoundry.com/fonts?search-term-submit=&term=Akhand
Katana - indiantypefoundry.com/fonts/katana
ITF Gujarati - www.indiantypefoundry.com/fonts/itf-gujarati
Rocky (Hitesh Malaviya) - www.instagram.com/rocky_sandboa
Peter Biľak - peterbilak.com
Kohinoor Devanagari - indiantypefoundry.com/fonts/kohinoor-devanagari
Lava Devanagari - typotheque.com/fonts/lava/devanagari
Glyphs App - glyphsapp.com
Ramakrishna Saiteja - typotheque.com/authors/ramakrishna_saiteja
Sharda Script - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharada_script
Kashmiri Pandits - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Pandits
Our Moon has blood clots - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Moon_Has_Blood_Clots
Brahmi Script - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmic_scripts
Siddhaṃ script - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siddhaṃ_script
Gurmukhi Script - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurmukhi
Takri script - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takri_script
Sharada Peeth - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharada_Peeth
Anshuman Pandey - pandey.github.io
ANRT - anrt-nancy.fr
Article 370 - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_370_of_the_Constitution_of_India
Ladakh - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladakh
Dogri - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogri_language
Economic, social and cultural rights - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic,_social_and_cultural_rights
eGangotri - egangotri.wordpress.com
Delhi :* - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi

Anurag is a product designer based out of Bengaluru. He worked at Uber India as a Senior Product designer for over 5 years. He is known for his work on Uber Lite, Uber Bus and Phone call to ride. Before Uber, he worked briefly at Twitter and Microsoft. Now, he’s a co-founder of an on-demand interviewing platform called Intervue.

Besides Design, Anurag also has a strong passion for Food. His love for food landed him at Le Cordon Bleu in London, where he pursued a professional culinary course. And he has also worked briefly in professional kitchens and Michelin Star restaurants.

On this episode, we talk about Anurag’s interest in design and food, and about how he balances them both.

SECTION TIME STAMPS
Old Delhi Food Crawl : 00:02:00 - 00:19:30
Childhood, School and Design Education : 00:19:30 - 01:06:00
Internship at Microsoft | Work at Twitter : 01:06:00 - 01:20:00
Work at Uber : 01:20:00 - 02:06:00
Culinary Arts | Le Courdon Bleu | Food (Basically) - 02:06:00 onwards

RELEVANT LINKS (Chronological)
Anurag’s Site - anuragarora.com
Le Courdon Bleu - cordonbleu.edu/home/en
Old Delhi - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Delhi
Nihari - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihari
Offal - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offal
Kulfi - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kulfi
Harees - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harees
Punjab - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punjab
Tadka - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempering_(spices)
Kashmiri Wazwan - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wazwan
Moga - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moga,_Punjab
Sikhism - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism
Langar - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langar_(Sikhism)
Jalandhar - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jalandhar
NID - nid.edu
IDC - idc.iitb.ac.in
DoD, IIT - design.iitd.ac.in
OCAD, Canada - continuingstudies.ocadu.ca
Travis Kalanick (Uber) - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_Kalanick
Uber Lite - www.uber.com/in/en/u/uber-lite-app/
Uber Transit (Bus) - www.uber.com/us/en/transit/
Uber Rebrand - wolffolins.com/case-study/uber
Wolff Ollins - wolffolins.com
Brand New Conference - bnconf.com
Neapolitan pizza - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neapolitan_pizza
Punjabis making cheese in Italy - www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33149580 & www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Cheese_makers_of_Italy
Ciabata - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciabatta
Balsamic Vinegar - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balsamic_vinegar
Cuisine of Sardinia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuisine_of_Sardinia
Risotto - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risotto
Honeycomb toffee - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeycomb_toffee
Anthony Bourdain - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Bourdain
Atul Kochhar - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atul_Kochhar
Kricket, London - kricket.co.uk
Pidgin, London - pidginlondon.com
Burrata - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burrata
The Soul Company, Bangalore - thesoulcompany.in
Miso - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miso
Intervue - intervue.io