Success story of Rohit Nambiar for IISc and IDC

My name's Rohit. I did my B.Tech in electronics from NIT calicut. I'm good at sketching and water colour. 

I wanted to choose a field in which I could use my sketching skills, at the same time put my engineering knowledge into good use. This is when I came across the masters programme in design.

Well as most of you know, the CEED exam has two parts. Part A deals with aptitude in design, gk, and few general topics like music, arts, architecture etc.
Part B is the sketching exam. You will have to attend few compulsory questions, and few optional questions. You can choose from interaction design, product design, visual communication or animation for the optional questions.

So my first step was to choose a priority field. Product/Industrial design was my first priority. Then for the preparation part.

Part A
For the Part A preparation, I'm ever so grateful for the materials provided in this blog. Prasana sir helped me a lot too. Practice a lot of question papers from previous years. This will help to an extend. But don't completely rely on them. Because each year, the pattern is found to change. But the common questions include aptitude, shape based questions etc. Make sure to practice these as speed is an important factor, and practice can help you a lot. So as far as the material is concerned, don't waste your money on any costly books or stuff. If you've got the the will and spirit, then the materials provided in this blog is all you need. Due to my tight academic schedule, I got roughly a month of preparation time. I suggest you start earlier. Helps you in planning your way.

Part B
For this, you need to practice a lot of sketching. Old question papers are handy here because the pattern is always the same.

My rank in the ceed exam was 104 and it helped me secure an interview shortlist at cpdm and IDC. I even applied for the animation course at IDC.

DAT and Interview at CPDM:
The DAT at CPDM had engineering, aptitude and sketching questions. You don't have to answer every question. You can choose which one to answer. The interview was more of a formal interaction. They asked me what design was in my view point, why I was opting for a change in field and how I would use my knowledge in engineering to good use to compliment my designs. I was also asked to speak about Mamta Banerjee for one minute.
Regarding my portfolio, I didn't have a really organised portfolio to be honest and I guess that was enough as far as CPDM was concerned. I just had a few rough sketches, an art collection, a few photographs and I had even done few concept sketches; one of my B.tech project. From what I gathered, they didn't want you to be an expert in every aspect of design. They just wanted you to be good at any one factor, and if you understood the overall concept of design.

DAT and interview at IDC
I applied for product design and animation design at IDC. I wasn't selected into the product design course. The reason I applied for animation was purely out of curiosity. I loved animation. I had a few character sketches in my portfolio. I was also involved in a few short film works (which involved animation too) and I included those in my portfolio as well.
The DAT was real fun. We were given a part of a story, was asked to complete it and also sketch a comic strip showing each scene. As far as the interview is concerned, just express yourself. Explain your sketches, and make sure you display your best works.

PS: The product design DAT involves two parts. A sketching test, in which you will be given a problem, and present a concept sketch of the solution, and a modelling test were you'll have to design, sketch and make a prototype of a product using provided materials(in our case cardboard)

Once again, as far as CPDM is concerned, don't worry much about how you present the portfolio. Just make sure you have a good attitude while attending the interview. As far as IDC is concerned, having a well organised portfolio helps a lot.

Hope you have a good time preparing. All the best :)