Happ'Y'ness in a book..
At Medall, I was told to create a graduation backdrop for the Management Trainees of 2012.
Well you know for the stages. Apparently there is a big graduation ceremony planned for these guys and they are doing lots for it.
'Hey Sada, make it a little more colorful no?'
'Oh, but you were the one who asked me to make it black and white!!'
'Ah, that is ok, a few more colors will make it better'
I told them I did something similar in DoMS. The Yearbook.
I just showed the cover page and they all started that I have to use the same as backdrop. I vehemently said no.
They were persistent. But I was even more.
I plainly refused saying 'It is an insult to my creativity'. I, as a policy, do not repeat my creations. I avoid using same font twice, albeit it's a little difficult.
I was heading kcab home and thoughts of Yearbook flooded me.
I had bragged about it to my friends, went to every faculty to show it personally, spoke about it in farewell party, sent it to juniors, seniors, alumni.. Still there is a lot more to it than that was covered in the book.
Initially the design was sober. Very sober. It was more reflective of my mood.
I had designed the 4 main layouts and was heading to faculty page. I was looking at some good layouts and accidentally dropped some colorful vectors.
Ram, a junior guy, chanced upon it and said the colors look good. I liked the colors too. But Kumar (the editor-in-chief) and I felt it was going against the sober colors which we had used for student pages.
So what to do?
We replaced the entire layout for student pages.
Suddenly the book looked like a sea of colors. This is interesting too. It went well with our Kites theme. The theme was chosen to represent that you fly high after MBA education at DoMS. So, it gave r o o m for a lot of colors.
I designed everything and was getting late for print. Headed to the printer guy.
What he told brought me to tatters.
'A part of the border will get cut. You will have to redesign'
Those are the nuances with printing. What you design is not what that comes in print. You have to make a few adjustments to layout and then only design. I had left gaps on all sides except on the side of the name.
So how to correct it?
I had to rework the entire portion which had the photo.
The only software that I know is photoshop. So working in it is like 68 separate JPEG files which are joined together atlast. Took me 8 hours to rework 68 pages. Had I used a book designing software, the work would have taken less than an hour.
So much for a software!! Well, I couldn't complain. It was my teeny tiny mistake.
The only thing I had in mind was the purpose of the book. It is something for the future. Something to ponder about. Something to get you back to your roots. At that time these space issues shouldn't put a frown on your face.
So, I printed a page and saw a copy. I felt that the photo part could be moved a little bit again. Currently the view was not symmetrical.
So what did I do?
I reworked again. This time on 52 pages.
Time just flewwwwww by.
One another problem with me is that the l o n g e r I work on something, the more frequently I keep opening the file and see what more updates can be done. I was getting more and more obsessive. Time to head to print!!
At the same time, we also had budget constraints.
I saw it as a hindrance at start. It would be just simple if department gives money. Going behind students to collect money looked to be a uphill task which I didn't want to do.
Later truth dawned upon me. The entire class should be involved in the activity na? If they seriously wanted it, they would definitely give it without a question. So, before class meet we decided to collect 200 from each. And when I spoke, I said 300. If extra, can return anytime later. And, boys, that was the easiest collection I had ever come across. I was delighted. There was indeed a purpose!!!
Went to printer this time with the third design. He said it looks perfect now and asked 'How should the print be?'
I just told him 'Sir, I want the book to be kept in pooja room and worshiped. Even after 10 years, the book should be the same. Pls do what needs to be done to match it'. Only a hard bound book can match it. Then so be it!!
The printer said the copies will come in a week. That was the week I took a break and relaxed. It took a lot out of me and I was happily exhausted. The class was too eager to get the copy. Wow!! Marketing at its best!!
On a sunday morning at 8 am I am disturbed by my mobile ring. It was the printer.
Why is he calling now?
'Sir, you had given red color for the text Yearbook in the cover page. Red is not good. Gold will suit.'
I am very touchy about colors. And I had no clue how gold will suit it. I was a little hesitant at first. But later conceded and said 'Sir, you know it better. Whichever is good, please go ahead with it'. And that is how the gold foiling came in front.
A few hours before the farewell was about to start, the yearbooks arrived.
I was the first to see the copy which came to dept. I just took it straight to pantheon and opened a copy.
I was stunned. With no one around, I just looked at it like a kid secretly holding his first candy in hand buoyed to get the taste of it. I turned every page and saw. It was divine.
I went straight to TTN sir to show it.
'Sir, when I came up with the idea of yearbook you had told me 'Let it see the light of the day'. I didn't understand what it meant. Now I did. The book had seen the light of the day. Here. See how it is!!'
Went to ATR sir's room. It was locked. So headed to Kumar's room and shared the experience.
And then what transpired at the farewell was beyond my comprehension. That was when I realized what does 'purity of purpose' means.
The happiness made be float and I felt I became lighter.
Well you know for the stages. Apparently there is a big graduation ceremony planned for these guys and they are doing lots for it.
'Hey Sada, make it a little more colorful no?'
'Oh, but you were the one who asked me to make it black and white!!'
'Ah, that is ok, a few more colors will make it better'
I told them I did something similar in DoMS. The Yearbook.
I just showed the cover page and they all started that I have to use the same as backdrop. I vehemently said no.
They were persistent. But I was even more.
I plainly refused saying 'It is an insult to my creativity'. I, as a policy, do not repeat my creations. I avoid using same font twice, albeit it's a little difficult.
I was heading kcab home and thoughts of Yearbook flooded me.
I had bragged about it to my friends, went to every faculty to show it personally, spoke about it in farewell party, sent it to juniors, seniors, alumni.. Still there is a lot more to it than that was covered in the book.
Initially the design was sober. Very sober. It was more reflective of my mood.
 |
| Initial color scheme - The sober one |
I had designed the 4 main layouts and was heading to faculty page. I was looking at some good layouts and accidentally dropped some colorful vectors.
Ram, a junior guy, chanced upon it and said the colors look good. I liked the colors too. But Kumar (the editor-in-chief) and I felt it was going against the sober colors which we had used for student pages.
 |
| The colors which I ended up using |
So what to do?
We replaced the entire layout for student pages.
Suddenly the book looked like a sea of colors. This is interesting too. It went well with our Kites theme. The theme was chosen to represent that you fly high after MBA education at DoMS. So, it gave r o o m for a lot of colors.
I designed everything and was getting late for print. Headed to the printer guy.
What he told brought me to tatters.
'A part of the border will get cut. You will have to redesign'
Those are the nuances with printing. What you design is not what that comes in print. You have to make a few adjustments to layout and then only design. I had left gaps on all sides except on the side of the name.
So how to correct it?
I had to rework the entire portion which had the photo.
The only software that I know is photoshop. So working in it is like 68 separate JPEG files which are joined together atlast. Took me 8 hours to rework 68 pages. Had I used a book designing software, the work would have taken less than an hour.
So much for a software!! Well, I couldn't complain. It was my teeny tiny mistake.
The only thing I had in mind was the purpose of the book. It is something for the future. Something to ponder about. Something to get you back to your roots. At that time these space issues shouldn't put a frown on your face.
So, I printed a page and saw a copy. I felt that the photo part could be moved a little bit again. Currently the view was not symmetrical.
So what did I do?
I reworked again. This time on 52 pages.
Time just flewwwwww by.
One another problem with me is that the l o n g e r I work on something, the more frequently I keep opening the file and see what more updates can be done. I was getting more and more obsessive. Time to head to print!!
At the same time, we also had budget constraints.
I saw it as a hindrance at start. It would be just simple if department gives money. Going behind students to collect money looked to be a uphill task which I didn't want to do.
Later truth dawned upon me. The entire class should be involved in the activity na? If they seriously wanted it, they would definitely give it without a question. So, before class meet we decided to collect 200 from each. And when I spoke, I said 300. If extra, can return anytime later. And, boys, that was the easiest collection I had ever come across. I was delighted. There was indeed a purpose!!!
Went to printer this time with the third design. He said it looks perfect now and asked 'How should the print be?'
I just told him 'Sir, I want the book to be kept in pooja room and worshiped. Even after 10 years, the book should be the same. Pls do what needs to be done to match it'. Only a hard bound book can match it. Then so be it!!
The printer said the copies will come in a week. That was the week I took a break and relaxed. It took a lot out of me and I was happily exhausted. The class was too eager to get the copy. Wow!! Marketing at its best!!
On a sunday morning at 8 am I am disturbed by my mobile ring. It was the printer.
Why is he calling now?
'Sir, you had given red color for the text Yearbook in the cover page. Red is not good. Gold will suit.'
I am very touchy about colors. And I had no clue how gold will suit it. I was a little hesitant at first. But later conceded and said 'Sir, you know it better. Whichever is good, please go ahead with it'. And that is how the gold foiling came in front.
A few hours before the farewell was about to start, the yearbooks arrived.
I was the first to see the copy which came to dept. I just took it straight to pantheon and opened a copy.
I was stunned. With no one around, I just looked at it like a kid secretly holding his first candy in hand buoyed to get the taste of it. I turned every page and saw. It was divine.
I went straight to TTN sir to show it.
'Sir, when I came up with the idea of yearbook you had told me 'Let it see the light of the day'. I didn't understand what it meant. Now I did. The book had seen the light of the day. Here. See how it is!!'
Went to ATR sir's room. It was locked. So headed to Kumar's room and shared the experience.
And then what transpired at the farewell was beyond my comprehension. That was when I realized what does 'purity of purpose' means.
The happiness made be float and I felt I became lighter.
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