We were all having our dinner two nights before our departure from Panchgani when Nitin Sir mentioned that we may get a chance to visit a UI/UX design firm. All of us were quite hopeful that we could make the visit happen because, let’s be real, how often does one get to have an insight into their future career choices?
(That does sound very ‘grown-up’ of me.)
Our cars left the apartment we were staying at and I’m pretty sure it barely took us 30 seconds to reach the studio. For a moment there, we all got quite confused as to how we never saw it on the way to and fro from the house.
I don’t think any of us really even got to ask sir what the name of the design firm was since we were all busy with our Dhokra sculptures at Devrai. Now personally, I think it made the visit to the studio even more exciting because DAMN, what a design studio that was!!!!!
It was called NOCT “Network of Creative Thinkers” (www.notc.in). It was a cool bungalow turned studio with a fantastic view of the hills. As we entered the studio, the Led Zeppelin poster at the entrance won us over completely. Inside, there was a ladder where you could climb up and it led to a net where one could just chill and work. There were so many cool things around and the space looked fun and cozy to work in.
We were guided by the amazing co-founders of the firm, Neha and Rudransh throughout the entire visit. When they asked us initially if any of us have any questions, my reply to that was, “Not really, but can I just say, this place is sick!”
NOCT has worked with companies like DMart, Mapro, Kaleidoscope and Exotel to create significant branding and packaging and redefine and redesign their digital presences.
Neha and Rudransh showed us their work to give us an insight into the kind of thoughts, ideas, interactions and tools that go into the creation of designing e-commercial ecosystems and interactive branding. Their most recent project was for an upcoming spice candy brand. They created the spicy candy’s mascot with numerous variations. The branding involves a lot of eye-catching colours to represent the zest of the product. We also discussed about the various misconceptions and aspects of having a career in art and design and how observation and quirkiness works best in a field like this.
We all left with a feeling of contentment and relief since we were assured of the fact that not knowing exactly what we were going to do in the future, as of now, was OKAY! We may not end up doing what we were trained to do and that was fine. It opened up our minds to various other options one can choose as a designer.
Thank you to team NOCT for having us at their studio!
- Pallavi Nayanar (An Art & Design Mentorship student at Design India Collective. Pallavi studies Design at United World Institute of Design now.)
www.DesignIndiaCollective.com
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