ROLE Founding team, Project lead, Editor, Designer
YEAR Oct 2022 - Nov 2023
SCOPE Writing and editing, Design, Layout of book, Leadership, Outreach, Team structuring, Writing foundational document
Few layouts designed for the first 3 editions
Dejiner Log is a publication that aims to encourage design discourses amongst the students of the National Institute of Design Andhra Pradesh. It aims to fill the communication gaps created by the unique situation of student accommodation at NID AP. Launched in January 2023, it promoted knowledge sharing between students.
Founding team: Nimal Mathew, Tejas Nerlekar, Simran Kaur, Vaidehi Shirsath, Yadu Krishnan,
Shabeer TS, Shantashree Nerekar
CONTEXT
At NID AP, the student community resides in a residential complex away from the transit campus. This means there is no physical shared space dedicated to the students that is accessible to them to discuss and share their work at length. The open and collaborative spirit of the college had dwindled post-pandemic, and students found it difficult to find like-minded peers. (Edit: the students have shifted to the permanent campus since March 2024)
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this project was to initiate a culture of conversation around student's projects and work experiences. This led to the creation of a space where students could partake in sharing their ideas and interests. This space took the form of a humble 20-page periodical. Why print? Because the pandemic had already drawn people into their own digital worlds, print media was expected to bring more people to college and out of their personal devices. There was a vision for a tangible archive (or a 'Log') of student work and growth. The long-term outcome could have been a student community that is more confident in presenting its work and more aware of its alumni projects.
Trial sizes of the publication; 4 published editions of the publication
The paper size was selected based on maintaining the publication's log-like appearance whilst keeping it within a pocket-friendly dimension. A small size meant that it could be placed for reading in a wide range of locations on campus. Making layouts for a small page size of 19.4cm by 12cm was quite a challenge when setting multiple columns and keeping adequate white space. By design, each layout in the 20-page publication was different, with its own grid and style. The type, spacing and margins remained consistent.
In the initial editions, there was more emphasis given to setting up a timeline system, hence the look of the book became somewhat secondary. This changed post edition 2 which featured better and smarter layouts.
Personal projects
Experiences
Creative interests
Exceptional coursework
Work philosophies
Retrospectives
The range of categories published in Dejiner Log
My roles as performed in the project timeline
MY ROLE
As a founding member of Dejiner Log, I was part of the team in its initial days, when we brainstormed about the content, format, team structure, and future of the project. Post-launch my role comprised of making and managing the edition timeline and content, designing layouts, outreach to students and mentoring the junior team. In the last leg of my journey I immersed myself in making a foundational guidelines document which could guide the future teams for more editons. This document is awaiting implementation.
CHALLENGES AND LEARNINGS
The biggest challenge was to learn how to manage a publication and lead a team with a 2-month goal of publishing—learning all the cliches and sensitive spots (of people and project), making a timeline, good practices on approaching someone for a feature, communicating with administration for paper and printing, etc. There was a huge learning curve for me and my team. The first 2 editions were about setting a system in place; the 3rd gave us experience on how to write to attract readers; the 4th is where our minds started to get into the visual language bits. More editions are on the way!
From first to last: The founding team on the day of launch; the Edition 2 team on our team lunch; one half of the current team; Prof. Sekhar Mukherjee and Faculties at the launch of Dejiner Log
