A BIG THANKS TO.....

My Guide, Prof. Anil Sinha, for helping and supporting me at every step of my project.

“No matter what the project leads to, whether is gets selected or rejected, the most important thing is the LEARNING you gather from it.”

Your these inspiring words kept me going till the end of the project and helped me overcome all the obstacles on my way. The first priority that you give to students, never let me walk out without yet another bunch of inspiring words. Thanks a lot for your time and patience Sir.

I would also like to thank my other Professors. Prof. Tarun Deep Girdhar, for giving me a direction to move, Prof. Chakradhar Saswade and Prof. Immunal Suresh, for giving me valuable inputs and feedback about my work. The knowledge that you shared with me, not only helped me in my this project, but will also guide me throughout.

I would also like to extend my warm thanks to Mr. Dilip Oza, for giving me an opportunity to work on the Convocation banners. Working in the field helped me to gain a lot of knowledge about large-scale printing, which I can now apply for my future projects.
Liyakhat Bhai, helped me find the right place to select the best material. I would like to thank him warmly for the field experience and taking patience to explain me the process of screen printing at his workshop at Behrampura.

A big thanks to all the Kakas and Bhaiyas of NID, who helped me to manage and display the banners.

Varsha, Mridu, Charu, Xavier, Vinay, Ayush, Abhay, Shubho, Utpal, Seniors, Super-seniors and juniors.......and all those that I missed to mention, thanks a tone for helping me every time I was in need. ......U guys rock!

And, of course, for the caring presence and support, of MY FAMILY...... :)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Visual Language. The Hidden Language of communication
By Peter Bonnici

Branding - Logos and Marks
Elements of Branding Design

Beyond Logos - New Definition of Corporate Identities
By Charls Dowdy

Visual Transformations
By Walter Dilehelm

The Best of Environmental Graphics
By Akiko Busch

Roots of Art
By Andreas Feninger

2000: Reflections on the arts in India
Edited by Pratapaditya Pal

First Under Heaven - The art of Asia

Live Events - Promotional Graphics
Compiled by, Jim Cowen

The art of Graphic Design
By Bradbury Thompson

Design Basic Index
By Jim Krause

Indian Design
By Daab

The Elements of Design
The development of design and stylised elements from the Renaissance to the Post-modern Era
By Noel Riley

P.S.

Like any other design student, I too had expectations of my project being implemented and was initially disappointed when it got rejected. My be, I had to work a little bit harder in terms of my design delivery, concept generation and presentation skills.

Nevertheless the reasons for rejection, as my guide said, it was LEARNING from it that was important to me being a student. This is what inspired me and kept me going during the live execution of the banners for the Convocation. And I did learn a lot, in terms of handling live projects, dealing with the people, getting the right information from the right source and analyzing it, so that it can be applied in the right way.

Mid-way during the project, there were so many people involved that, it became rather difficult for me to take the right decisions. Every person, being a designer had a totally different outlook towards things.

This was my state then...

But, then I realized that it is necessary to take only that what is right at that time and ignore the rest. Making the right decision at the right time is skill that needs to be mastered.

At the end, I did fulfill my initial interests of undertaking this project. I did get involved in very active tasks and had a whole lot of responsibilities, which I did manage very efficiently. And also got to learn a lot from this Institute: NID.

STAGE 5: STAGE 5

And up went the banners!
Once, the screen printing was done, the banners were displayed at their decided strategic locations.





That's me getting the banners up.

SCREEN PRINTING

The next stage was to get the banners screen printed. Separate Art works for each banners were prepared and sent to the printer for exposing it on to the Screen.

Most of the small scale screen printing jobs are done at NID. But due to the large scale graphics of the banners and the huge quantity, they were sent for screen printing to a printer at Behrampura.
Once, each screen was prepared, retouching needed to be done in order to block out all spaces left accidently and to give maximum finishing.

Selecting the right yellow
Though, sample prints are sent to the printer for colour suggestions, it becomes still necessary to personally go and get the right colour selected, as the colour looks different on paper and more different on cloth.

Once the colour is finalised, the screens are laid on the cloth, and the colour is spread across the required areas.

STAGE 4: PRODUCTION

Though my concept was not selected for the final execution, I did get an opportunity to work on the actual Banners. This identity was designed by Mr. Dilip Oza and Prof. Chakradhar Saswade (both faculties at NID).

This experience taught me a lot as now I had to think on a much larger scale, having much more limitations and restrictions.

Here again, I divided my work into stages,

1. VISUALISING and EXECUTION
2. PRINTING
3. DISPLAY

This was the identity that was designed, which I had to use and design banners for the convocation. As, I had already worked on the banners for my project, the task became simpler.

I could make use the map that was sketched for the display of the banners.
PRINTING

As it was decided to SCREEN PRINT these banners too, the printing specifications remained the same.

SIZE: 3” by 8”
NO. of BANNERS: 47

COLOUR PALETTE
Here again, taking inspiration from the ‘Angawastra’ (the garment worn during the ceremony) the colour palette was decided. Instead of having colourful banners like they have every year, we decided to have gradation of yellow to orange to brown.




Once the colour palette was selected it was necessary to check the availability of the material of that particular colour in the market.
And we did find, though not the exact shades, but shades very close to what was expected.

MAIN ENTRANCE BANNERS

Rather than the same rectangular banners at the entrance, this time I thought that why not give them a new shape. So, there they were the five arrows representing the five discipline branches of NID, standing upright and first seen when a visitor enters NID, as though the arrows are shooting up to touch the sky.
The banners also would help register in the mind of the viewer what each arrow stands for.
MATERIAL
As the arrows need to stand firm, the prints would be stuck on plywood neatly cut in the particular shape.

Arrows as they would appear when one enters NID.


As these are the services offered by NID, the arrows now move outwards from the center. These also indicate the direction. The type is written in the colours of the main identity.


The same background was used for these banners too, as these are also services offered by NID, and which are outsourced.

This would also help in saving the cost and time of making different screens. Only the type needed to be changed.



EAMMES PLAZA BACKDROP
The same concept of the upward movement of the arrows was carried out here too, in a very subtle way, so as to not overpower the activity happening on the stage. The semi-transparent banners would give a very beautiful effect in the light.


THE DISCPLINE BANNERS
The discipline banners as designed initially, had the main arrow according to the respective discipline in the center. But, the type with the name of the discipline didn’t fit in well for all, as all had different forms.

BANNERS PLACEMENT MAP

In order to place the banners strategically in the campus, I sketched this rough map. This also gave me an idea of the number of banners required.

PRINTING DETAILS

INVITATION CARDS

All the invitation cards would be printed in FOUR COLOUR OFFSET PRINTING.

Number of cards to be printed
Main ceremony invitation cards: 800 copies
Dinner invitation cards: 200 copies

Usually small printing jobs are done by the printing department in NID itself. But, if the number exceeds or due to the special requirements of the design, they are sent to any of the following printers.

Print Well Offset
Shridhar printers
Print Vision

Paper Selection
From the various papers available in the market, the ones that satisfied the requirements of the design the most and would be economical too, were selected.
Main Ceremony Invitation cards
The Invitation cards needed a thick paper which would give perfect edges for the cuts and folds for self sealing it. It also needed a rich feel. So, the paper selected was,

White coated ( 250 gsm )

Dinner Invitation cards
This was a simple rectangular sheet of paper, inserted in an envelope. Hence, a
White coated (170 gsm) paper seemed sufficient enough.

BANNERS
The printing specifications for the banners had to be considered prior to designing them, due to the restrictions the medium has.
TECHNIQUE

SCREEN PRINTING - 2 COLOURS + CLOTH
Screen Printing the banners seemed to be more effective as they give a more traditional, yet classic look, as compared to the flex.

MATERIAL

POPLIN cloth was selected for the printing the banners on as,
The material is very favorable for Screen Printing on it.
Easily available in a range of colours.
Available in the market at an affordable cost.

SIZE
The material available in the market is 96” by 36’’(8’by3’).

But, though the length can be taken as required, the width needs to be specially considered while designing, as it is always not available in exact 36’’. It can vary between 35’’ to 36’’.

Hence, keeping the bleed in mind the banners were designed accordingly keeping the main text away from the borders, so that even if the edges are cropped, it does not effect the design.

TOTAL NUMBER OF BANNERS : 46

INVITATION CARDS

The next stage was to design the main Invitation cards. Here, I gave myself the freedom to explore with paper, as invitation cards are the ones that make the very first impression on the visitors.

Why not make the card only as the very first experience of my concept? Hence, I began to explore.




The flaps die cut to form the four discipline arrows, which when open, leads to the fifth multi-disciplinary arrow and the programme details. Though, here, I would save a lot of money on the envelopes, the die cutting of the arrows would cost a lot and also make the card look a bit complicated.

The flaps were hence reduced to reduced to simple straight angles, which still symbolised the arrows






As this invitation was the one that would set the mood of the invited guests, I tried to create the experience.So, I painted the card blue from outside, symbolising the sky, and when you open it, it shoots out the colourful arrows.
I also tried different folding techniques to see if I could find a way of saving money on Die-cutting. But, the folds were getting complicated, and would leave too many creases behind, taking away the neat look of the arrow cuts.

This is how the invitation would finally look like, from the outside.

And when opened, this is how the invitation would finally appear from the inside.

SOARING HIGH

Here, the four arrows represented the four main disciplines offered at NID, and the fifth one for the multi-disciplinary studies being the main aspect of NID. All rising high to reach new heights.

The form of the arrows were then worked and reworked several times, to get the specific disciplinary aspect in it.

1. Communication Design
A typical arrow used for signage.

2. Industrial Design
The one with the sharp straight lines.

3. IT Integrated Design
The pixillated arrow, the one used as a mouse cursor.
4. Textile and Apparel Design The decorative motif usually seen on the textiles in India.

5. Multidisciplinary Design Studies
The one with four lines in the rear end, standing for the four different disciplines.

And so was the weight of each arrow worked on to make them look visually balanced.

COLOUR PALETTE
The colours were also selected that would best relate to each of the fields. But, again the major problem occurred while visually balancing the weights, as each arrow was of a different colour.



To try and solve this problem, I converted the identity to grey scale. This gave me a rough idea of the weight and helped me in adjusting the colour levels.
To help me further, I took reference of the Olympics logos, which uses almost the same colour scheme.

Finally, this was the colour palette to be followed for the main identity. For the rest of the visual language, I gave myself the freedom to use the tints and shades of these hues.

STAGE 3: EXECUTION

Rising From the Horizon

Though this concept was not selected for the presentation, I personally wanted to experiment more with it. This symbolizes the sun rising from the horizon.


With very forceful strokes applied directly with fresh colour on paper, I wanted to show the energy an enthusiasm of the people at the institute.


FEATURING ‘YOU’

The most important part of the convocation are definitely the students. And, hence, they are the ones who deserve to be highlight. Hence. This concept here features the students. The 29 is written to from a smiley face of the students.

The word ‘CONVOCATION ‘08 arranged in different ways to find the most suitable placement. But then, I decided that the placement of it will change depending upon it’s application.

Since, the concept was to highlight the students this time, I was looking out for a colour palette that would further strengthen my concept. And what better inspiration then the elegant garments worn by the convoacting students?

Hence, inspired by the ‘Angwastra’, these were the colours that would make the visual language of the Convocation.

Further, taking inspiration from the building of NID, a bricked wall structure was designed for the interior of the Main Invitation card. This symbolizes that the students are now firmly embedded into NID and stand strong and firm. The names of the convocating students would hence be embaded on each brick.