Success Story : Labeeba (IxD at IDC-IITB)

Hi prasanna sir, this is my experiences in reaching Ixd at IDC.I have attached few of my works to the mail - LABEEBA

Hi everyone, I am Labeeba from Calicut,Kerala and I graduated as an architect this year, few days back from NITC. Being from this background, design has been there as an enjoyment as well as nightmare throughout the five years, as we have 2 to 3 design projects(building design) every semester. There were also few design subjects like basic design, interactive media design lab, theory of design, mechanical workshop etc. I think that these exposures to designing and model making (even though in the architectural way), might have helped me in getting admission. I liked the initial designing part of architecture but not the model making part.

I used to sketch and paint for projects only, and not as a hobby, because I take a lot of time to make a good sketch and it requires a lot of patience.

CEED EXAM

I had heard about CEED exam (in my 3^rd year or so)as a very tough exam to crack and one only for people who sketch and paint nicely( which was a very wrong concept). I didn’t know anything about what happens after the exam or about m design course. Even though I was interested in product design and as it was one of the very few exams/courses b arch graduates can take( and it’s the first thing that pops up when you google ‘what to do after B arch ??’ :D ),I couldn’t do any preparation due to academic workload and gate preparation. The only exam preparation we (me and friends) did was going through the question papers in the train to the exam Centre. Solving the previous years question papers as a group is the best for last minute preparation, as it brings variety of ideas and infos and more teachers(boys are very good teachers when it comes to cameras,technologies etc.). Even though preparation was bad,I spend that 3 hours of exam very effectively with the right attitude and was tension free.

1.for part A, a general awareness on arts, architecture,print making,modern technologies etc etc is enough to pass. Till now the questions follow similar pattern as previous years. For the safe side ,one can prepare on all topics mentioned in teacup blog which covers almost everything. Unlike other exams, you ‘ll have enough and more time for part A.

2. for part B, more importance is to be given to  the design question(50 marks and lack of time). As I was more in to PD, attempted the waste-bin design question.It is very important that one should have a specific style of designing. And from my experience, I would say that the attributes/reasons u list, steps or the path to the design u follow(write it down in bullets or as sketches)  is much important than the final product. 

• Elementary sketching is enough to clearly show the parts of your design.Do not waste your valuable time shading or beautifying the sketch if u dint finish explaining your design. You can use colors to explain your design (take only 1 packet of crayons or 5-6 pencil colors to the exam center)
• Do not limit to one product or solution. You can provide 3 or four alternate solutions.
• Ideas(existing and new) and how you implement it is given more weightage than the presentation.

When the results came, I luckily got a good rank(AIR 30 – marks 49), and it was then onwards that I started learning more about m design course through sites like

Teacup blog

http://12bubbles.com/2012/04/06/how-i-get-in-at-the-industrial-design-centre-iit-bombay/

http://www.dsource.in/gallery/index.php

ceed 2014 group – facebook.

Thanks to teacup blog and these sites, I started studying all those things that was supposed to be studied for CEED and I was inclined towards product design more .

IDC APPLICATION

I applied for 3 fields PD, IN,VC in the order of preference ,inorder to increase my chances of getting in,even though I was interested only in PD.

• For task a , I wrote a critique of newspaper article not anyway related to design (Hindu op-ed page ‘The population conundrum’) and gave the same for the 3 disciplines.
• for task b, for pd, I did a critical analysis of mechanical chappathi press, lpg cylinder , public tap. Only in pd interview, they asked about the tasks, and why I selected these products.
• for task c, keep your designs that are best or that on which you have worked a lot.

DAT AND INTERVIEW

1. I prepared for DAT and INTERVIEW in a time period of 2 weeks for pd and a little for interaction design too. Eventhough ,none of the things u read about might not be asked ,but still it improves your confidence.

2. My portfolio had mainly architectural works and models and it was intended only for product design. Along with it ,I had a sketchbook with random designs,and product sketches mainly focusing on public service designs.

3. Preference will be asked in all interviews, I have clearly told it was pd.I think it is better to be truthful about your preference in all panels.

4.For pd aspirants, I would suggest you to go through how various products are made, pencils,staples,bottles,safety-pins, nails etc

5.For pd aspirants,the material test plays a major role in your selection. Mine went awfully bad.Make sure that you can make neat and stable models, even if the design is bad.

6.From my selection to IN , I concluded that , portfolio need not have designs related to that particular course. But whatever projects you are showing ,you should be thorough in it.

7.For all interviews its important that you should maintain a cool and tension free  attitude,coz u might random questions like…I was asked in detail about my name ,its meaning and origin etc. Some one was asked,what is middle child syndrome etc.

8.My IN and PD interview lasted less than 10min and I wasn’t fully happy about it,so  I was sure I wouldn’t make it to IDC this time and started preparing seriously for gate after that. But when the list finally came,I was selected in to IDC through IN and was really  trilled and surprised at the unexpected result.

All the best to the m design aspirants and teacup blog readers.

Thanks to teacup blog, prasanna gadkari sir , Trivikram Annamalai sir, Aditi deshpande ma'm,anshumali barua ma’am etc who have helped me a lot about decisions related to m design and interaction design.

You can contact me on – labeebakothur100@gmail.com for any design help.

With regards

Labeeba