General

Learning A Language With Duolingo

February 16, 2018 General

Duolingo - DuoThese are baby steps but I have been on a language learning spree many thanks to Duolingo. It has an iOS app that is perfectly suited for learning new languages – the human form of communication “language” and not the programmer’s jargon. Quite recently, I was being plagued by a depleting list of challenges, somewhat related to design thinking or product design. So the books became convenient alongside the odd articles for nirvana, though my desire to pick up French was still lying dormant somewhere. So why not!

This is my first time taking language lessons on an app but Duolingo’s informal approach to serious learning offered me encouraging support to train at the time of my choosing and on-the-go. With my headphones in place, I initiated the first lesson after creating my account, I was presented with multiple yet familiar visuals representations screen after screen and I had to choose the corresponding answer for the not so obvious french words. Tap, tap, done. Applying some smart judgement, I was able to advance in my endeavour to grasp the vocabulary, one phrase at a time. The words were audible which I could repeat to gain more familiarity. As I was progressing, the app consistently kept me engaged through the gamification process by showing my mastery level in French after subsequent tests and kept my confidence soaring high. So I stand at a low 13% today but one has to confess, being a beginner some of le français words are just so hard to pronounce! And if there’s one language that fully employs the contours of your delicate tongue, you guessed it. Duo, just reminded me that I am doing fantastic with my training, and continuing with my everyday streak would fetch me some rewards, so I’m off to learn some more French. Salut!

Appreciating That Life Is A Miracle!

February 15, 2018 General

Calvin and Hobbes on Life

No doubt, while Calvin and Hobbes hold an artistic value for me the little boy is also enormously gifted in dishing out lessons on life. Like in this colourful strip, where he’s innocently mulling about life’s philosophy oblivious to the bitter reality that he won’t be any closer to deciphering it even as he grows up. Or would he?

Source: Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Waterson

Matt Damon And ‘The Wait For Water’

February 10, 2018 General

It’s very rare to be completely absorbed by an obtrusive YouTube advert in the middle of an entertaining video even with the option of ‘skipping’ the commercial right there, though the minute I saw Matt Damon I was keen to watch. In the past, I have lived in a neighbourhood that suffered from an acute shortage of water and it was a frustrating experience, and this ad with its emotional appeal brought me to tears. I relived that experience of surviving with a scarce supply of resources which taught me an important lesson about survivability and adaptability, although it’s nothing compared to what Matt describes the children in developing world who miss their education because they have to walk a fair distance to access water. This is simply an amazing commercial for a good cause!

Pencils

My Creative Endeavour With Pencils

February 4, 2018 General

Last week, at a meeting with a senior executive we were discussing design thinking and digital product management when during the final moments he asked me a question quite unexpectedly – what I would do with a box of 10 pencils. And adding that my answer cannot be related to using the pencil for any writing purposes.

That question involving a ‘pencil’ evoked memories of my art school and the innumerable creative assignments. By the way, if it wasn’t for my long stint at the school I could have never identified myself with the pencil types (H, HB, 2B, 6B) and how each grade could bring a proportionate effect to my artworks using the pressure of my fingertips, sketching actually became like an addiction. I have preserved some caricatures and most recently switched to a dedicated sketching book for collecting my artworks. At the school, I was pretty average at drawing the human anatomy with a live model where some of my classmates excelled beyond imagination, but I had picked up caricaturing on my own with pencils that gave me an opportunity of applying my style to any human form, which somewhat eased my discomfort of committing mistakes in art, besides being a great way to unwind after a hard day’s work. The pencil was that friend, that helped me grow in confidence. However, my colleague wasn’t expecting this answer, he was looking for something where the pencils were used in more ways than a common writing device.

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The Mac TV Commercial That Changed The World

January 22, 2018 General

That iconic TV commercial which changed computing, the Macintosh “1984” ad, was aired this day on January 22, 1984, during the telecast of Super Bowl XVIII. It’s difficult to imagine computing before Macintosh’s GUI interaction where users worked with command-line interfaces (CLI) which required memorizing commands (I worked with CLIs once). Which also reminds me of the time when I laid my hands on my first Mac, that experience was pretty amazing!

[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“1984” was a TV commercial that introduced the Apple Macintosh personal computer. It was conceived by Steve Hayden, Brent Thomas and Lee Clow at Chiat/Day, produced by Fairbanks Films and directed by the legendary Ridley Scott. English athlete Anya Major performed as the unnamed heroine and David Graham as the Big Brother. It was first aired in 10 local outlets in the U.S. but it’s second televised airing, and the only national airing, was on January 22, 1984, during a break in the third quarter of the telecast of Super Bowl XVII by CBS. The ad was an allusion to breaking away from the conformity set by the “Big Brother” (IBM machines).[/perfectpullquote]