This is my definition for Design – It is a process & not the end in itself. The designer is a creative problem solver no matter which art institute he passed out from, he has a role to play in the everyday functioning of the organization. Unfortunately for some reputed institutes the designer is just another academic slave who should be subjected to that cruel system & judged by that single ingredient called ‘Marks’.
Design is not a regular stream of education and not all people are gifted to think creatively on paper or the computer. That is why the lucky ones are called Designers. Some of the more immortal beings like me, get a chance in their lifetime to go to a Art school and study designing from the market perspective. This is one academic stream which is quite different from the rest in everything. No other stream uses colour as a medium of expression. No other stream gives more emphasis to pencils & paper. Here the student is taught to think creatively rather than calculate theorems & formulas. The mark system sounds very vague for it to be implemented here but it must be there because the government felt it can’t be seen as treating Design as an exceptional case. Come to think of it, Design has no limits & it has no boundaries. The more you think and work on your ideas the better it gets every time. Sometimes ideas come so fast, you might even get results very soon. There are no set limits or rules to what can be done in designing. But what is loved by one and all might turn out to be bad for some. Therefore in my college exams, when I jumped up and down over a great idea for a product ad (according to me), the professors felt my fonts weren’t good or the finishing was not to their level and I got less ‘marks’. The designer has always faced this discrimination in every walk of his life – from being a student to being a professional.
Very recently a close friend of mine applied for the IIT IDC exams and scored 99.29% in the Common Entrance & Examination for Design (CEED). He was ranked 6th All Over India! This was surely a moment of joy for everyone close to him. He had never expected to score so much and his dreams of securing an admission in the most prestigious institute of the world was going to be true. But the fight was not over as yet. The CEED score merely suggests that one has qualified to appear for the aptitude test and the interview. He was so confident after the CEED scoring, that he left no stone unturned in preparing for the next challenge. The test and the interview went very well and he was expecting the result to be positive. By the way, this friend of mine works for a very good company and he’s got an experience of 7 years in the IT industry. There was no way he was going to be rejected he must’ve said to himself but he was left cold when he did not get selected. The reason being that he had not scored 55% in his academia. Ha!
The message was loud and clear – no marks no admissions. In fact it also goes to prove that IDC as the rest of the so called institutes are not in tune with the present day scenario. If they were they would have realised how marks don’t count at all in that battlefield they call the marketplace. The thumbrule of this war is only good work and performance. It also makes a farce out of the CEED exam & the subsequent interviews and the tests. I promise I won’t ask good designers, who are willing to put their blood and sweat in learning serious design to go to IIT IDC because they have shown complete disregard towards the designer’s creativity.
Just to give the IDCian gods a brief overview of the market arena. I have been working as a professional for close to 8 years now and I have had a chance of working in all sorts of environments and media. None of them have ever asked me about the marks that I have scored in my art college. Moreover, my work has always gained precedence over anything else which was associated with my academic performance. The designer in my sense should be tested for quality through his work and not through his marksheets. I believe that the marksheet is not even half the story of what he’s capable of doing. It’s only projects what he/she did in the last 14-15 days of the academic annual examinations. Check out what my friend (a brilliant commercial artist from Amaravti) Shyam Shriram’s work & decide his quality for yourself. He’s told me for a fact & without keeping any qualms that his academic record is nothing to sing about. If he was to appear for IDC and score 99% would the IDC immortals reject him because of that? The answer is obviously YES. How many illustrators do they have at IDC who can do quality work with a WACOM tablet like Shyam Shriram? Now imagine the amount of experience that they will share if people like Shyam or my friend who got rejected were to be enrolled in your esteemed institute? Just think of the immense knowledge that they will share amongst a greenhorn class of freshers and ask if marksheets are indeed a way to judging quality.
I face stiff competition from non-designers (pardon me for saying this folks) or people who haven’t had time to spend on costly art college material and obviously didn’t attend one at all. These guys are now after the designers job and they are winning. I would challenge an M.Des graduate to code in Flash actionscripting the way Riddlerr does or conceptualize & execute digital art like Ryche does and yet none of the guys that I just mentioned can boast of attending art school. Technology & systems have successfully diminished the barrier that once existed between the designers and the non-designers. IDCians will have to face this growing breed of non-designers when they enter the arena and this competition will not be so easy. IDC, by turning blind towards our apathy & by giving marksheets more prominence over portfolios, has successfully killed the designer.
THE DESIGNER IS DEAD. LONG LIVE THE DESIGNER.
PostScript
Please write to the respective institute for more information and guidance on CEED examinations. If you know Google you can search for the term yourself. Much as I respect the institute and the aspirants gunning for a seat, I have no resources/influences whatsoever to help the candidate enroll in IDC. Hence, please do not comment on the blog and/or mail me asking for information on such course material and/or training classes. Rude as it may sound, such comment/mail bothering me for information would be considered as spam from here on and obviously be deleted without giving it further thought.
Hi,I am UJJWAL GAWAND from L.S.Raheja school of Art,Bandra.
I collect imformation about IIT-IDC,but one thing i cant understand,
that they specified in admition process “bring all original documents[higher secondary onwards].And actual problem is
that many students came in G.D.Art[App/Fine] from 10th basis.
Therfere they qualified or not for IIT admition.
please give me advice.
I think you should refer to the CEED brochure for the same. Otherwise they clearly specify that you should have completed or be expected to complete your G D Art or BFA. Kindly get back to the GATE office for some clarity.
Hi, I am UJJWAL ,thanks for good advice.please give me information about “Preparation material for CEED’.Any books,website,auther or coaching classes.Can IIT-IDC give any MQP for preparation. I am waiting for your messege
There are no coaching classes available and it would be fruitless even they did. Just prepare yourself as per the sample questions given in the CEED brochure and practice sketching a lot.
Hi, I am UJJWAL,
Thanks for suggetion. Dont mind,but i asking you one
personal quastion,please inform me about your
educational qalification.and please suggest me for
regular exercise [for CEED exam].
I am waiting your answer.
You can read more about me in the ‘About’ section.
Hi,
I am Sachin (B.E.Mechanical)….
I have fil form of CEED2006, But i can,y get the previous question paper of that exam…. Other then what given in brochure…
If u have any material regarding CEED exam… moslty question paper then please send it to me on my ID.
Waiting for your kind rply.
CEED papers are not given back to the examinees. You’ll have to appear for the exam for that. I do not have any question papers with me.
hey booshan! thanks for sharing such valuable information in your “THE DESIGNER IS DEAD” blog. i’m appearing for the CEED ’06 and have been preparing for the same. interestingly preparations limited to sketches… but whatever you have written here amazes me cause i am one such student who has scored 57% in my engineering and was hoping big time to get an admission in one of the four colleges. i am artistically creative and have pretty good sketching skills, and have been working with a couple of Art students to make it better. i have also been trying to get as much information as possible to make my portfolio as impressive as possible. but after reading your blog, i jus dunno what to say… cause its not i was expecting to hear….
Firstly, when I was penning the article, I never thought it would evoke such strong reactions.
I don’t get you. You already have scored 57% as you’re saying. Then what’s the worry about? Apart from this you also admit to good artistic & creative skills. The only hurdle which you would face is the CEED then. The point I was trying to make through this article was that art and creativity can’t be made slaves to mere marks, percentages and marksheets. Then there is no difference between IIT and the rest of the Indian education institutions.
IIT was supposed to acknowledge & respect the talents of the brightest through it’s own system. Not their marksheets.
Hi Bhooshan,
Nice article, it does say a lot about the selection process at IIT, as well as IDC.
I’d like to add to the discussion a bit…
IDC does not teach how to code in flash, or how to use photo-shop, so despite your mention about “Technology & systems have successfully diminished the barrier that once existed… “. I disagree completely.
The technology is just about the execution part, that way anybody having known the colors, and having been introduced to oils would’ve rendered a nice painting…there comes a point about “skills” which come through exposure and with experience.
you’ll be surprised to know that IDC does not concern with these either!!
In fact IDC is not a graphic design finishing school…ppl there would gladly get guidance/pointers/help from a Graphic designer from JJ, or abhinav.
And dear friend, IDC have sufficient ppl who are from engineering side, they have absolute zilch graphic skills, so your comparison and friendly warning to IDc about them facing competition is not necessary, however well-intended.
Actually IDC is indeed facing competition from so many design schools, or shall I say “Industrial design schools” coming up all over, most IITs, and some private colleges have came up with graduate and undergraduate courses in “Industrial Design”.
The term is significant, because “design ” is slightly more than creating a good visual. I’d suggest you look up at some of the projects done at IDC to get an idea about how the design at IDC is non-graphic-design, or probably extra-graphic-design…
well, my point is there is something beyond realms of “graphic skills” that ought to be considered while judging IDC.
and about the marks, yes that is unfortunate, but then there are bureaucratic rules, I hope your friend can get into some other reputed design institute as well. and nobody says a maths prodigy can be given waiver from the IIT-JEE selection process just on the basis on spectacular maths genius…on other note do you know Amol Palekar was turned down for a post for professor some 15-20 years ago, by you guess whom?, and at such times we know whose loss is that and whose gain.
And, some questions…
Why do you think R. K. Joshi served on faculty for IDC so much time? well of course provided you know who he is….
and…
if indeed IDC is such decrypt institute, why fancy writing a long post on it….
and
now that you’ve written it, I hope you’ll highlight other equally good options for those who are turned away from IDC…being cynical is good, as far as it improves the situation…
Check out Sristi, MIT Pune, IIT Delhi, kanpur and Roorke, Himachal Pradesh(forgot university name) and I guess there are many more
have a nice day
few additions…
The bit about Amol Palekar has to be understood in the context that he is a trained architect, and was regarded ”highly creative” and thus was referred to IDC by some equally creative professionals.
(IDC also takes in architects apart from BFAs and Engineers)
and I forgot to mention(its been a long comment) CEED in not just for IDC, and its not final. CEED is common to most design schools, and then each institute has its own qualification in form of test/interview/both plus the governing rules of the parent institute.
———
Well I figured I’ll add these anyway as the comment is still to be moderated…ciao
It’s not the curriculum being taught at IDC that is being questioned. One ought to see things from the perspective of the market and not just the marks. You just can’t hide behind the garbs of bureaucracy and say “it’s their fault now what can we do”. That apart I agree that it needs to be fought tooth and nail.
I have always held IDC and it’s workforce to it’s highest esteem. My comments were not directed towards IDC or it’s governing body per se but towards those “bosses” who are holding its reins. I might have been harsh in my language but they weren’t out of place in the present context.
You might teach design in whatever sense that is applicable to your curriculum. The question I am asking here is are we neglecting the talented youth on the basis of their academic performance? And if we indeed are then It’s not IDC that is losing the fight but the industry which will be deprived of some good design skills.
Hi Bhooshan,Iam Manohar.That was a nice discussion on the topic ‘Designer is dead’. Well I have applied for CEED 06 ,and I need some help from you regarding type of questions given, what art material I should carry to examination , does the question contains whether to use colors or not etc.
Manohar, please bear in mind that one may not have enough time on hand to solve the questions. So be as brief and lucid in your treatment as you can. Do not attempt to ‘finish’ your artwork like one does in art schools. I doubt if you will be able to use colours but do carry along colour pencils which might be helpful for visual representations. Avoid applying poster colours since it will take a longer time for them to dry. Practice sketching as much as you can and read a lot of english magazines to improve writing skills.
HI
BHOOSHAN
Thanks for this nice discussion .I’m also preparing for CEED-06 .I’ve got a lot of information about CEED and cleared many doubts .I want to know one thing that what kind of general awareness questions are there and what kind of study isrequired for that.
Hi Atul. There are all sorts of questions being asked at CEED. They will give you a problem area and then ask for a creative solution for it. For instance, last year they asked about how the railways can improve upon the ‘kulhars’ (cups made of mud) which they use to serve hot beverages on railway stations in 5 points.
Your basic visual communication/industrial design skills will be put to test. There is no scope for fudging whatsoever so keep sharpening your drawing as well as as writing skills till the time you reach the examination hall and be confident.
hi people!
bhooshan, i was not questioning skills in my previous write-up, but more so on the fact that my graduation marks are gonna be counted for my admissions, cause my grad marks aren’t really impressive. obviously because my interests lied elsewhere ala designing… and thats what i happened to do during most of my engineering classes. all i hope now is that my admissions don’t get affected because of my grad marks!
thanks, and Happy New Year!
hi Bhooshan
your article is so nice, i have seen it so late. i have question for u by the CEED qualification can we apply for any other institutes other than iits&iisc.
please give the list of institutes who r willing to give admission considering CEED score
iam waiting for your mail……………..
baiiiiiiii……………….
M.S.PRASAD,GITAM,VIZAG.
Thanks for the appreciation Prasad. To the best of my knowledge, the CEED score is valid at IIT Delhi for Product Design and at IIT Kanpur for their Master of Design course. I have no clue about its validity at IISc Bangalore. You might want to get in touch with the GATE office at IIT Mumbai for more information or check the institute website at http://www.iitb.ac.in.
If you’re looking for alternative institues teaching design courses then you must consider National Institute of Design (NID) at Paldi near Ahmedabad. You can visit their website at http://www.nid.edu. The CEED score is not valid here though.
Hi Bhooshan. i am a new to the site and i come across your site when i am searching for some preparation material for CEED in google.
i know onesite where you can register for free and then can download soem model papers for NIFT,CEED,NID exams. more over during the month of Dec this site also conduct some mock up tests for the above exams.
Hi to UJJWAL GAWAND & Sachin. I dont know whether you are still searching for CEED materials, if so then this site will be a usefull one
http://www.afdindia.com/AFDDownload.htm
Thanks for this update Ashok. I am sure many aspiring IDC designers will find it useful :-)
Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology, Gandhinagar (DA-IICT) offers a M Des (Multimedia Design). Admission is likely to be announced on 28th March on the website (www.da-iict.org). CEED score will be used but is not necessary. Some direct admission based on CEED may be offered as well