I have always had a fascination for horses. This could be coz of my dad. My dad a fantastic artist that he is has this obsession with these equestrian beauties which also feature a lot in his work. Growing up seeing him paint these creatures some of it must’ve rubbed on to me. Though I cannot even imagine trying to paint like my dad, here is something that I did manage to create. Tried my hand at a Friesian stallion
It’s all about Design. Now this is my favorite subject so obviously I’m going to be sharing a lot of my views on the subject in my forthcoming posts. To begin with I would like share a few things that one must know as a designer.
The Muse
Say you have chosen the right career by hopping on the creative bandwagon, you will be having your share of high tides and low tides. (And a low tide does not mean you’ve chosen the wrong career.) It’s just the way it is. Part of any creative job. But I do believe that every creative person has an inner muse within. All one needs to do is tap into it.
There is this three‘I’ rule I feel a designer should always follow: Imagination, Inspiration and Improvisation
Imagine
Einstein himself once said that Imagination is more important than knowledge. What it basically means is that you can embrace the entire world just with the power of imagination. There are no limits or boundaries to what you can do. Don’t restrain yourself when you design. Just let go and you will be amazed with the results you see.
Get Inspired
You can just stare out of the window or surf the web or do whatever it is that can get you going. The internet for example has like a zillion things that you can actually get inspired by if you are a little observant. It can be an interesting layout or a cool application or just the simplicity in which something is communicated. Figure out why you find something interesting or inspiring and make a note if it. But one thing that you need to remember is that plagiarism and inspiration are not the same. Do not copy ever. It’s a thumb rule. It’s equals to insulting what you do and what you are passionate about.
Improvise
There is never an end to the learning curve and nobody is perfect. There is scope to improvise always. You might come across a lot of criticism in this field. Something that comes alongwith any creative job. People may not think like you to understand your work. Your design should speak for itself. Most importantly learn to take criticism well. Design for yourself and make sure that with every new design you outbeat yourself to the previous one. That’s Improvising.
Sweat it out
Designing is not as easy as it may seem and as many ignorantly assume so. It involves a lot of work. Now the thing with designing is that there is no physics to it and no fixed mechanics to go about it. Yes there is logical reasoning behind how you pace out your layout, the selection of images, colors and typo, but no designer can say that I always have 5 tabs on the top 1 on the left and 1 on the right. It just does not work like that. Now if you are the kind of designer who can just stare at that blank screen at your workstation and come up with a kickass layout. Go for it! But if you do not belong to that clan (and its not a crime if you don’t) then do your groundwork. You cannot create anything out of thin air. There needs to be a thought process to everything. So before you take up any task, think about what you need to do, how you plan to go about it and do some research. Designing is not just about splashing a few colors on the screen. You have to look out for layout, colors, communication, usability, accessibility, and the over all feel. So if you thought that designing was for dummies, think again!
Its an overwhelming feeling that takes over when I think about how I began and where technology has brought me today. My first digital painting was on Windows Paint and a time when learning DOS commands could get me going. Luckily got over that phase quickly.
The big D. Why I picked designing? Well thanks to my dad I have artistic genes somewhere in me hence the creative inclination. I love drawing, sketching, painting. Its something that can get me excited and help me relax at the same time. So when I was introduced to computers, my step towards designing was inevitable. I remember there was a time when PageMaker 4 and Photoshop 5 were my favorite softwares. Yeah those were fun times when everything was so new, refreshing and thrilling, well at least for me. Not that I’m complaining now but hey it’s my flashback scene.
And along came the spider…
No I’m not going to talk about the genesis of internet but yes will talk about the time that I was introduced to it. Now that I’m on memory lane might as well go on to the time when the concept of the web was just sinking in and Google didn’t exist. WoW imagine that! The days when filling up the registration form and opening an email account excited me and my favorite pass time was chatting on Yahoo.
The internet today has become my life. If I wake up tomorrow and the internet ceased to exist, I’m not sure what I would do. My inclination towards designing and the web opened up a whole new world. Something that began with graphic designing branched out to web designing to a world of multimedia to usability, accessibility, information architecture and hopefully will continue to head on in this direction. And that my friends just about sums up what I do for a living. More about that in my next post.
The Z factor definitely has nothing to do with the HTS parameter to measure the quality of assays. The Z you see all around is not because I like the alphabet or because I enjoy sleeping (which I really would if I could). Anyway there is a story behind it and basically it all starts with my name. Well it’s a nice name, short, sweet and unique thanks to my mom and dad who thought about it, but sadly not many get it right. B-l-a-i-s-y, ok now how hard is that, Blaisy rhymes with Daisy. I must’ve a heard at least a hundred variations of this simple 6 letter word. Blessys, Blaasys, Plaisys, Balisys…. This can go on. And I can swear that a priest actually called out Blaisy Rufus as Bolicy Refuse while announcing my wedding bands. Sigh!
Oh and the irritating part; almost 90% repeat ‘Lazy what’ after I mention my name. Lazy? C’mon why would anybody name their kid Lazy. And don’t even get me started on the trauma I go through everytime I try to give out my name over the phone.
Anyways at the end of the day what I realized is that, the only thing people actually get out of my name is the last syllable and that’s Z. So Z it is and you will probably be seeing a lot of this element around here.
This blog is my space. I do what I want, I write what I feel like and I like it that way. What I plan to do here is, to write about any whacky thing that comes to my mind. Write about what I enjoy the most, about what I do to earn my moolah, what I believe in and so on. You’re welcome to indulge yourselves and please do write back.
