Serve your soul by serving the world — Garghi Deoghare, Industrial Designer
“Serve your soul by serving the world”
Your specialization is Industrial/Product Design. Tell us more about the same and why did you opt for this field as a career?
Hailing from a creative background had simply defined me with a pencil and a paper since my childhood. As a child I felt sketching wasn’t as much fun. Probably because we had a rule: You sketch, you eat! It was a task for me. Following this rule over years, I never realised when the creative side of my brain flourished. It was pretty clear by then that I wanted to explore my creative side.
Industrial Design (ID) is one of the upcoming and promising fields in the next decade. Product design in particular has a vast scope as it applies everywhere, from a mere safety pin to a shoe to a washing machine. I think it is a great opportunity to bring life to my ideas. Hence, I decided on Product Design.
I am currently enrolled in a 5 years International Masters Degree programme at DSK ISD Rubika International, Pune. It is a French affiliated school. With a well planned curriculum of in school learnings well as 2 semesters of internships. It’s the best of both worlds.
What role has an institute like DSK ISD played in your growth as a designer?
Becoming a designer is all about being passionate, persistent and proactive. DSK ISD provides a perfect ambience for all these values. It is nothing like any other design school across the country. The stern punctuality at school has taught me to be uncompromising with my work, come what may but has also given me the freedom to explore my work style in every possible way, with the best tools and technology available. Interactions with industry experienced trainees on a regular basis from across the globe have provided me with a deeper understanding of this field. Periodical masterclasses are inspiring and a great experience with a steep learning curve. They are one week intensive classes with designers from the industry. By the time the week is over you have already learnt new things from them.
When I was about to join this school I was told by one of my seniors, ‘‘There will be times you will cry. You will laugh. You will hate it. You will love it. You will want to leave. But believe me in the end it will be worth it.’
This sentence of his has kept me going strong.
I have had the toughest and the best times of my life these 3 years. I have had not just days and weeks, but months with barely 3 hours of sleep each night and even stayed up for 72 hours straight. I have had old school rules like 50 pages sketching every month and attendance at 9.00am sharp (not even 9.01am, they mean it!). But all of this pays off. I have found every single minute of my life to be productive after being at DSK.
How would you describe your personal style? Also, how is your workflow pattern or your approach towards a project?
I am an intuitive designer and strongly believe in serving the user with minimalistic designs.
I believe in the simple process of learning-unlearning. As the user plays a major role in any design, it is essential to ‘learn’ what the user needs. To ‘unlearn’ your notions as a designer. And then to let the user ‘learn’ from your designs.
User being the centre. The workflow starts from the user and ends at the user. My process changes ways with every new project, but the core remains the same.
- I begin with the most essential part of creating a good design which is to understand your user because they say “The user does not know the problem he faces because he is so used to it.”
- Brainstorming on the problems, market research. Creating different directions to work on.
- Sketching down every bit of idea which pops up. Because you never know where the good design is hiding.
- Associating different ideas and combining them into more influential and potential concepts.
- It is a back and forth process of validating with the user, then coming back to the design, then again going back to the user.
- Developing the concept with 3D tools, colour and trim, modelling, etc.
Which has been your most challenging project till date?
After having pondered upon this question for quite sometime and scratching my brains hard, I realised all the projects have been equally tough and challenging in the beginning. I have always thought ‘How am I going to do this? Am I even going to do this?’ but at the same time I tell myself ‘This is going to look so good in the end!’ It’s like I know what the start and the end would be like, but the interim remains a mystery which I must explore.
You have received many awards for your designs. Who or what acts as an inspiration for the same?
I like to call them experiences, not awards. All awards have been yet another experience to learn from, the people I have met, the designs I have created and competing designers’ ideologies I have come across. My passion towards catering the needs of the users inspires me. When you know your design has made someone’s life better (maybe in the smallest way) it is an amazing feeling. None the less my parents’ happiness simply inspires me to win yet another award.
What are the tools/software that you regularly use as a part of your work?
One of the coolest parts of being an Industrial designer is that you never get bored. You have so many tools and you definitely end up being good at some of them. Alcohol marker renderings, post-its, cintiq renderings, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, 3D softwares — Rhinoceros/Solidworks, Keyshot are some of the tools and softwares I use for all my projects.
Well, an idea can pop up anytime of the day, so a simple sketchbook and a pen is my all-time-companion. In my sketchbook you will find random words, day dreaming sketches, doodles, smileys, scribbled words which many a times when I look back at it, I do not understand myself. But it is all a part of the creative mind which is evolving.
What skills, technical or otherwise, are needed in this field to be successful?
Techniques and skills can be taught. It is all about your will to learn and unlearn and let your creative juices flow.
Any message for the aspiring industrial designers?
ID is about serving your soul by serving the world. And if that’s your calling, then you are on the right path. There are so many things to explore in ID. The whole world is yours. It is unlikely you will be good at nothing and almost impossible to be a failure here. Every project has something to give you,something that will help you understand yourself better. Industrial design is not a profession, it is a way of life.
