DesignUp 🚀 Issue #54 > Indian Design: Masters, Anonymity, Future + Devotion & Life Changing Money

It's been 2 eventful weeks - iPhone X (and the 8, 8+) launch inspired all sorts of comments, quips, memes and the Stratechery post on Lessons & Questions. Closer home, #ArnabDidIt trended and inspired some hilarious tweets and terrible photoshop handiwork. And while the bullet train was announced, railways also cut down 'official on-train nap time' by an hour (perfect for an outrage). The Hindi film Newton became India's Oscar entry 🎉 and no reason for outrage! 

On events—

⏳ The countdowns have begun - UxNow opens it doors on October 7th, Saturday, in Delhi's IIT ⏰ And it's almost 7 weeks away to DesignUp!

🔔 DesignUp's schedules are now live - the speaker/workshop count is up, and the focus on sharp thematic curation remains. All forms of early birds are now sold out 💥 but the All-Star and Premium tickets are still available (and they're refundable, checkout the FAQs). 

And here's a bunch of some good reads I stumbled upon - on/around Design in India.

The Masters of Indian Design

This has been doing the rounds in social media - but worth a re-mention. Features some of the people who taught me, so feels great that their contribution got a long overdue mention: "There are two ways to take a castle. From the front door; or, if they won’t let you in, from the back. The first designers of India devised a third option. The door of the castle they needed to storm could be opened with a new mechanism: a door-knob. So, they decided to make the doorknob."

Future of Design/Designers

In DesignUp's Pune Pre-event, 4 Designers discussed what the coming technological disruptions meant for the Indian Design profession. Manoj Kothari, one of the speakers, captured some of that in his blog: "...future of Design and Designers? Such questions never arise when things are going great. Existential questions come up only when one is living on the edge." It's a paradox as Design, especially Ux Design has never been more in demand and yet, it's direction is uncertain.

Democratizing devotion in the digital age

Looking for a startup idea? Look no further: "According to the 2011 census data we have well over 2 million temples. Compare that to India’s 740,000 doctors and you get a real sense of our priorities." Investor Sahil Kini shares a blueprint for digitising devotion!

Who made this saree? The anonymous world of Indian designers, craftsmen

Another timely piece from HT: It may be time however to highlight unsung artists alongside flourishing city talents. Like Hansiba, a hand embroidery brand named after the first and oldest artisan of SEWA (Self Employed Women’s Association). Not as patriotic duty or social service but as professional ethic and the sturdy market mantra of credit where due.

When life changing money, isn’t…

This is neither Indian nor Design - but I found it interesting. Because it's about something very fundamental and universal: money and purpose. Why do we do what we do and would we stop doing or change the course of that vision for money? It's a wonderful read, wether you're leading or working in a startup - or secretly contemplating one. 

See you, the week after—

@JDallcaps

PS: Here's a sneak peek into the DesignUp schedule...