India, a land with vast geography where every hundred kilometers, there is a change in the language and culture of the people residing in that area; it is safe to say that the land has been influenced by its major civilization and, of course, a long duration of invasions from the foreigners and adaption of their culture to the indigenous civilization. The name India is derived from the name of a nurturing river, Indus. I would like to share my views about one of the oldest civilizations, the Indian civilization.
As we know, the birth of a civilization conveniently starts from the riverbanks of a flourishing river.
Similarly, we can date back the dawn of the Indian civilization to the river Indus and two major cities, Mohenja Daro and Harappa, in the third millennium BC. These cities were exceptionally well-planned cities with urban establishments, well-built homes with separate cooking areas and toilets, roads, underground drainage systems, centers like ports near the riverside, and irrigation systems. In the second millennium BC, the Indus civilization collapsed with a much suspicion of fluctuations of the
nature of the Indus river, which gave rise to the Vedic civilization with the migration of the Indo-Aryans into the north-west of the Indian landmass.

As the name suggests, in this period, the concept of Vedas and Varna was introduced. This period contributes to the present-day religions of the
Indian peninsula such as Hinduism based on Dharma, Kama, Artha, and Moksha and also Buddhism and Jainism. There are also principal contributions to literature such as Vedas, Upanishads, Mahabharata, and Ramayana. There were also new cultural and social practices like the caste system, which eventually caused the emergence of various kingdoms and states and political foundations that initiated developments of industrialization and technology, arithmetic system, astronomy, medicine, and better use of natural resources, and metallurgy.
Sushruta, the father of Indian medicine, is one of the founders of surgery and plastic surgery who deveOne of the famous mathematician and astronomers is Aryabhata, who discovered the concept of zero decimal systems and also presented the theory of heliostat.
Due to the fact that the Aryans worshipped stars and comets, some of the first astronomical concepts and lunar calendars can be dated back to the Vedas. And such immense developments and technological advancements brought a lot of attention to the rich land, which paved the way to quite a few.

Permafrost is any earth material on or under the surface at or below 0 degrees Celsius for two or more consecutive years. The range of permafrost thickness can be from one meter to one mile and, in some cases, even beyond that. Permafrost can be found on land and even under the ocean floor. It is primarily found in places where temperatures rarely rise above freezing. Permafrost is often found in Arctic regions such as Greenland, the US state of Alaska, Russia, China, and Eastern Europe.

The top few inches (up to a few feet) of the permafrost is what’s known as the “active layer.” This topsoil does thaw with yearly seasonal changes and is home to a thriving ecosystem. If you go deep enough, you will arrive at a solid layer; the permafrost rising temperatures are chipping away at this layer. Every year, more permafrost grows closer to thawing and the “active layer” depth.

THAWING PERMAFROST IS ONE OF THE TIPPING POINTS FOR CLIMATE BREAKDOWN, AND IT’S HAPPENING BEFORE OUR VERY EYES THIS PREMATURE THAWING IS ANOTHER CLEAR SIGNAL THAT WE MUST DECARBONIZE OUR ECONOMIES AND IMMEDIATELY

JENNIFER MORGAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF GREENPEACE INTERNATIONAL

Direct Effects: 

1. Half the volume of permafrost may be frozen water. When this thaws, the water runs off and may head downhill, leaving a vacuum. The ground slumps and falls apart.
2. For tens of thousands of years, permafrost has acted as a freezer, keeping 1,400 to 1,600 gigatons (billion tons) of plant matter carbon trapped in the soil.
3. When plants growing in permafrost regions die, they don’t fully decompose because of the cold temperature, so some organic carbon is left behind. 

When the permafrost thaws, this starts to rot and decompose, releasing carbon dioxide and methane. The average temperature of the Earth is rising at nearly twice the rate it was 50 years ago.

This rapid warming trend cannot be explained by natural cycles alone. The only way to describe the pattern is to include the effect of greenhouse gases emitted by humans, which have accelerated the rate at which permafrost has been thawing due to rising temperatures.

• Deforestation and Tree Clearing
• Burning of Fossil Fuels 
• Fluorinated Gases 
• Livestock Farming 

These are indirect causes propagated through human activities that have led to a dramatic increase in global temperatures and fastened the permafrost’s thawing. 

Oil Drilling and Mining are some of the more direct causes.

The impact caused can create huge repercussions, such as :-

1. Release of Mercury

According to a study conducted by the University of Colorado, we were able to find out that permafrost contains the biggest pool of mercury on the planet.

– If mercury leaches out of the soil into surrounding waterways, it could be transported across waterways and taken up by microorganisms and transformed into methylmercury

-Mercury is a powerful neurotoxin and can have negative impacts on the cognitive, visual and cardiovascular well being of children and adults

-More mercury winds up in the high northern latitudes than anywhere else It’s already known to build up there in birds, fish, seals, walrus, polar bears, and some whales, even in areas thousands of miles from pollution sources.

2. Release of Methane and Carbon Dioxide 

Permafrost in the Arctic alone, there are an estimated 1,400 gigatons of carbon are frozen in permafrost, making the Arctic one of the largest carbon sinks in the world. Thawing can also open pathways for methane to rise up from reservoirs deep in the Earth. Thawing permafrost will release large amounts of carbon dioxide and methane, which will lead to rising global temperatures, which will lead to further permafrost thawing, which will lead to rising global temperatures And that trend is projected to continue through the rest of the century

3. Risk of Ancient Disease & Zombie Pathogens 

Just as permafrost locks in carbon and other greenhouse gases, it can also trap – and preserve – ancient microbes. There maybe “a resurgence of anthrax, smallpox, and influenza” that have been frozen in permafrost for hundreds of years.

Diseases like the Spanish flu, smallpox, or the plague that have been wiped out might be frozen in the permafrost. As The Arctic warms, more activity, like mining for rare Earth or precious metals, could potentially put us in contact with them again.

4. Crumbling Infrastructure and Altered Landscapes 

• Degradation of permafrost makes it difficult to build and maintain infrastructure, including roads, buildings, pipelines, and airports.
• Thawing permafrost alters natural ecosystems in many ways as well.

The impact on India as a result of the trade war is a double edged sword, there is potential for India to capitalise on the fraught bilateral economic relationship between the US and China to extend its own gains but the long term implications can be severe. Experts have continually stated that India might not get negatively impacted as a result of the on-going trade war. But, this isn’t exactly correct. India can be impacted both negatively and positively.

“South-East Asia is considered one of the areas along with India that should benefit in the medium term for diversification out of the crosshairs of tariffs between the US and China, but this structural trend has to be supported by policies.”

Trinh Nguyen, Senior Economist, Emerging Asia, Natixis

1. HARMS

The US is highly dependent on China for access to low cost component parts. Retaliatory tariffs by China have increased the cost of production, driving up consumer prices and leading to a “potential cascading inflationary impact” (Sasi, 2018).

This could propel the Federal Reserve to increase interest rates and limit spending to slow down inflation. This has serious repercussions for India as foreign investors would look for higher returns in the US and pull out capital from investments in India. Money outflow from market bonds and equities would destabilise Indian equity and debt markets and increase market volatility. Stressors can add on pressure on India’s banking system which has already been in the throes of a bad loans crisis.

• BENEFITS

The benefits for India are categorised to be short term gains, presenting as an opportunity to be a significant trading ally and exporter.

1. “There are multiple US exports such as flue-cured tobacco, fresh grape chemicals, etc. to China which align with India’s export.” (Niraj, 2019)

There is a chance for India to gain a substantive share in the Chinese market, considering high demand levels. But realising this opportunity requires significant government spending and investments to ramp up production and focus on technological and quality upgrades.

• It is also crucial for India to solidify its “trade footprint”, especially in areas where tariffs have been imposed on China.

“India gained about $755 million in additional exports, mainly of chemicals (243 million USD), metals and ore (181 million USD), electrical machinery (83 million USD) to the US in the first half of 2019 due to the trade diversion effects of Washington’s tariff war with China. This was also in the form of increased exports in areas such as agri-food, furniture, office machinery, precision instruments, textiles and apparel and transport equipment.” (Nicita, 2019)

There is significant scope to extend these gains in the form of increased exports to the US and strengthen an existing trade relationship.

There are a few third-party economies which have gained from the trade war by becoming substitute and alternative sources for consumer products, industrial equipment, component parts and microchips.

Example Based Analysis:

Vietnam is considered to be one of the largest beneficiaries of the trade war between the US and China and according to a study conducted by the Nomura Bank of Japan, the biggest beneficiary of the diversion of imports (in the form of additional US imports).

“Vietnam has continued to expand its economy, growing the fastest in Southeast Asia in 2019, in part due to the US-China trade war.”

(Samuel, 2020)

Chinese companies lost significant market share to Vietnam, in the form of companies producing car tires, refrigerators and furniture. Vietnam has been particularly shrewd and capitalised on an opportunity to try and bypass China by boosting production, providing a stable environment for foreign investors and increasing exports to the US. 

Vietnam’s GDP in 2019 remained robust at 7%, the highest in Southeast Asia. It recorded the second strongest first-quarter growth in the past decade, surpassed only by 7.45% in 2018. And their exports to the US jumped by 34.8% year on year in the first nine months of 2019. (Vietnam Briefing, 2020)

Vietnam does face challenges when it comes to sustaining this economic advantage. Ramping up production depends on a focused labour supply. The Vietnamese culture doesn’t look favourably upon working overtime and skill cultivation is lacking.

Vietnam’s present supply chain network, on ground contacts and infrastructural capacity needs to be strengthened and its efficiency enhanced. Sudden, surging demand can put unnecessary pressure and lead to the collapse of an already weak system.

The Vietnamese government must put in concentrated effort to improve the business environment and keep the domestic economy competitive on a global and regional scale.

Conclusion:

While a trade war between two major economies can have a devastating global impact, South-East Asian markets (which were previously overshadowed by the sheer magnitude and the export-driven nature of the Chinese economy) have emerged as winners

The benefits of this trade war is massive for third party smaller economics and can provide a significant boost to their exports, making these countries much more competitive globally (relative to just American and Chinese firms dominating the market). While there is a rapid increase in the number of companies relocating from China, it is essential that policy-making on a government level is strengthened to extend these benefits.

These gains can slip away easily owing to the limited infrastructural capacities of smaller South-East Asian economies which have traditionally lacked the scale to transform into a “mini China”.

Abstract: The Art of Design, a Netflix Documentary Series featured Paula Scher,
one of the most influential graphic designers in the world.

STYLE
 She has the innate ability to create a distinctive body of work with just letters.
 Design needs to take human behavior into account.
 She gets her best ideas when her mind can freely observe and associate. She calls it ‘state of play’.
 Her work provides sensibility and spirit.
 Ideas can be triggered by working with a team.

WORK
Her work ethic is very strategic and intuitive. Strategic is when she observes exactly what the client wants. Because designing isn’t the hard part, persuading the people to consider it norm is the hard part. She is well knit with the team, very quick paced. She is a part of Pentagram- a large firm where everyone gets to act like an individual. It consists of the best designers in the world.

For example, The logo she made for High Line, she made the H look like a railroad track. That itself made it seem industrial and neat. It totally changed the spirit. When she came up with attaching a picture of the same beach view from different streets. This helped orient people and emotionally connect the community and give the people identity and icon. 

HISTORY

She used to paint fonts by hand when she was younger. But when the world advanced with computers, that art form slowly faded away. The loss of touch and feel with her material was huge for her so she adapted painting maps. She loved indulging in things that took a long period to complete. 

She fell in love with typography after being influenced by contemporary culture comics, magazines, record covers. Her First job when she was a teenager was when she started doing record  labels for CBS. Her labels were on demand and she gained a lot of experience  from the same. 

She did exactly what her customer wanted to do most of the time. The more she worked on the covers, the more she realized she like to have control and  typography was meant for her.

There are many unsolved mysteries in the world that we currently inhabit. Add curious human minds that try to provide reasons for every unexpected occurrence and we enter an interesting world of myths, theories, and the most absurdly entertaining possibilities.

Atlantis, the land of Atlas, was believed to be a myth created by Plato in 330 BC. It was described as a utopian, technologically advanced civilization that was inhabited by god-like humans. It was an island of sorts, where exotic vegetation, animals, minerals, and metals existed in abundance. Their naval force was described as impenetrable and unbeatable, which could only mean that they were indestructible. 

Greek legend has it that as generations of Atlanteans were born, the kingdom was overcome with the need to conquer even when they were well-endowed with riches and resources. As a punishment for their hubris, Poseidon, The God of Seas and Earthquakes, sunk the city.

In recent ages, historians and experts believe that Atlantis once existed though the location of the sunken city varies. It could be in the Atlantic Ocean, under Antarctica, or even in the Caribbean.  One of the most popular theories of Atlantis possibly existing is that it is lost in the Bermuda Triangle.

A professional diver, Ray Brown, claimed to have seen advanced structures and buildings when he went diving for treasures near Miami. He also claimed to have found the top of a pyramid. Given that the Bermuda triangle is actually a sight for malfunctioning technology, mystical disappearances, and mysterious sightings, Brown’s statements were highly plausible. Under further investigation by French divers and explorers went to the same area and also reported finding the top of a glowing pyramid, which, with SONAR readings, was confirmed to be bigger than the Pyramids of Giza. Their documentation stated that the pyramid appeared to have two holes that sucked in and released water at an alarming rate which caused turbulence and vortexes. 

Furthermore, believers of this theory stated that there were sightings of other structures on the coasts of Bimini, which were quickly evaluated and dismissed as plain bedrock formations.

Time, with the help of technological advancements, will only pave the path for more possibilities of the existence of Atlantis. Hopefully, we will stumble upon concrete evidence that a possible myth, was indeed a reality.

Erik Erikson was a German-American developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst who was famous for his theory on the psychological development of human beings across a period of eight definitive stages. He stated that at each stage of development, the individual deals with a conflict which is a turning point in his/her development, and when the conflict is successfully resolved, the person is able to develop the psycho-social quality associated with that particular stage of development.

Each stage in Erikson’s theory builds the foundation for the succeeding stages and paves the way for the psychological development of the individual over his/her lifespan. According to Erikson, these ‘conflicts’ that every individual faces are largely centered on them either developing a psychological quality as a result of succeeding or failing to develop that quality in the case that they fail to surpass that stage. He also strongly believed that a sense of competence serves as motivation for positive behaviors and actions that will benefit growth in whichever stage of development. Each particular stage in Erikson’s theory is specifically concerned with an individual gaining the qualities to become proficient in that area of life.

There are eight stages of development consistent with Erikson;

Stage 1: Trust vs. Mistrust

During childhood, if a child is able to successfully establish trust, the child will feel safe and secure in the world. Those caregivers who are emotionally unavailable, inconsistent, negative, or extremely unaccepting of the child, largely contribute to strong feelings of mistrust in the children under their care. This will thereby result in a constant sense of fear and a belief that the world is negative and unaccepting. No child is going to develop a perfectly complete sense of 100% trust or 100% mistrust. Successful development was all about striking a balance between the 2 opposing sides. When this happens, the youngsters acquire hope, which Erikson described as an openness to new experiences tempered by some wariness that danger could also be present.

Stage 2: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

This stage occurs during early childhood and is primarily focused on children developing a greater sense of control and personal independence. Children who struggle with gaining this independence and who are discouraged by their accidents may be left without a sense of personal control. Children who successfully complete this stage feel confident and secure in themselves, while those that don’t are left with a way of inadequacy and self-doubt.

Stage 3: Initiative vs. Guilt

The main theme of the third stage is that children need to begin asserting control and influence over their environment (their surroundings, the people near them, etc.). A sense of purpose is achieved in this stage if the child is successful. Children who try too much to exert their power experience discouragement or disapproval which results in a sense of embarrassment.

Stage 4: Industry vs. Inferiority

Children whose parents encourage and commend them for their actions develop strong feelings of competence and belief in themselves and their skills. Those who receive little or no encouragement from parents, teachers or embarrassment from peers will doubt their abilities to achieve success. Those who aren’t able to appropriately navigate during social interactions and academic challenges may end up feeling inferior and lack self-confidence.

Stage 5: Identity vs. Confusion

This stage plays an essential and integral role in the development of a sense of personal identity which will continue to strongly influence behavior and personality development for the rest of an individual’s life. During adolescence, adolescents explore their independence and develop a strong sense of self which becomes the foundation of their future personalities as they grow and cross each of the remaining developmental stages. Those who receive proper encouragement and reinforcement through personal exploration will emerge confident and guaranteed in themselves with a robust sense of self and feelings of independence and control. Those who remain unsure of their opinions and desires will feel insecure and confused about themselves and their future.

Stage 6: Intimacy vs. Isolation

Young adults need to form strong loving, intimate relationships with other people. Erikson believed that having a strong individual sense of personal identity was extremely important for developing strong intimate relationships. Studies have demonstrated that those with a poor sense of identity tend to possess less committed relationships and are more likely to struggle with loneliness, emotional isolation, and depression. Successful completion of this stage leads to the virtue referred to as love. It is marked by the power to make lasting, meaningful relationships with people.

Stage 7: Generativity vs. Stagnation

As adults, humans have the primitive sense of need to create or nurture things which will outlast them, often by having children or creating a change that causes a positive effect on society or benefits other people. Success in this stage leads to a sense of having purpose and an intense sense of accomplishment, while failure in this stage results in little to almost no involvement in society and the world as a whole.

Stage 8: Integrity vs. Despair

The final stage occurs during old age and is mainly focused on the reflection of one’s life, past actions, and decisions taken. Those who don’t successfully complete this stage will feel like their life has been nothing but a waste and they may experience strong feelings of worthlessness or regret. Others who do complete this stage to succession feel proud of their achievements and will feel an assured sense of dignity and integrity. These individuals will always possess a certain wisdom about themselves, even when confronting death.

An individual’s personality is the behavioral and mental characteristics that differentiate and makes them unique from other people. It includes all of an individual’s patterns of thought and the emotions that cause them to say and do things in ways that are specifically aligned to suit that particular individual’s interest. One’s personality makes up the most important, and most noticeable parts of an individual’s psycho-social life. People act the same or similar ways during a huge range of different scenarios. Personality does not just influence how we respond and move to stimuli in our environments, it also causes us to act in certain ways. Personality is expressed in more than just one’s behavior or mannerisms. It can also be seen in our feelings, thoughts, familial, platonic, and romantic relationships, and other social interactions.

Both explicit and implicit social norms guide individual behavior and consequently one’s personality. From early stages of development and throughout the course of our life we grow and learn to adapt our behavior appropriately according to societal expectations and requirements, which may differ across various cultures and may be relevant in various degrees for men and women of different ages and/or races.

In many contemporary societies, people differ greatly within the extent of their religious beliefs and practices. Some reject all belief in the supernatural, whereas others have deep religious convictions that greatly change and influence many aspects of their lives. Understanding the psychological characteristics that incline persons toward religiousness and spirituality is an important question for psychologists of religion and for psychologists who study individual differences. 

Despite the importance of religion, there is a huge variation in the extent to which formal religious beliefs and practices are a part of the routine life of people in several cultures. Religion and spirituality are also recognized as potentially favorable aspects of psychological development in general for every individual, and personality development in particular.

Adding to the complexity of culture’s role in shaping our personalities are two important factors. First is the degree to which an individual is integrated into their culture, and vice versa. It is exceedingly rare that a person is either totally integrated into their culture or not integrated into it in the least. Thus, culture provides a framework within which each individual variation is feasible, but at the same time, there’ll always be some consistent basis for understanding the people within a given culture.

Sigmund Freud, the famous Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis used the analogy of an iceberg submerged in water to compare the three levels of the human mind. The top portion of the iceberg that one can see above the water represented the conscious mind. The part of the iceberg that is submerged below the water surface, but is still visible, is the preconscious mind. The bulk of the iceberg that lies unseen beneath the water surface represents the unconscious part of the mind.

He believed that the preconscious mind consisted of any feeling, emotion or memory that could potentially be brought into the conscious mind, the conscious mind contained all thoughts, memories, feelings, and wishes of which we are aware of at all times and at any given moment. It is this aspect of our mental thought process and behavior that we can think about and analyze rationally. It also includes our memory which is something that isn’t always a part of our consciousness but can be brought into awareness at any given moment. The unconscious mind is an endless bank of emotions, urges, thoughts and memories that are very much beyond our conscious awareness. The unconscious mind possesses emotions, urges, etc. that are either unacceptable or unpleasant by the present societal standards, such as feelings of pain, anxiety, or conflict.

Freud further argued that, the unconscious mind is the primary source of human behavior. Like the iceberg, the most important part of the mind is the part you cannot see and is not visible to the eye. Our primitive urges-found in our unconscious minds- often do not reach consciousness because they are unacceptable to our rational, conscious selves who were programmed to behave in ways that adhere to the current societal standards and hence are almost never acted upon because they remain repressed deep within our unconscious minds.

Thoughts and emotions that exist outside of our conscious awareness almost always-although only to subtle effect- continue to exert an influence on our day-to-day habits and behaviors, even though we are unaware (unconscious) of these underlying influences. In this regard, the unconscious part of our minds can include repressed feelings, past habits, wishes, hidden memories, thoughts, and reactions. Emotions-such as grief- and traumatic memories that are too painful, embarrassing, terrifying, shameful, or distressing to consciously come to terms with are stored deep within the enormous bank that makes up the unconscious mind.

The conscious mind however includes all of the things that one is actively aware of. The closely related preconscious mind contains all of the other things that you could potentially pull into conscious awareness (memory, a previous thought, emotions etc.). The preconscious mind also acts as something of a filter that controls the information that is allowed to enter into an individual’s conscious awareness. The conscious mind involves all of the things that you are currently aware of and presently thinking about. It’s primary limitation, however, mainly lies in terms of capacity and is somewhat similar to short-term memory. One’s awareness of oneself and the world around them is a part of their consciousness.

In Freud’s iceberg analogy, the preconscious exists just below the surface of the water. You can see the murky shape and vague outline of the submerged portion of the iceberg if you focus on it and make an effort to see it, however otherwise it still remains very much unseen/hidden from the eye-in this case, the conscious mind. 

Similar to the unconscious mind, Freud believed that the preconscious mind could have a definite influence on our general conscious awareness. Sometimes information from the preconscious manifests in unexpected ways and different forms, for instance during dreams or in accidental slips of the tongue. Hence, while we might not be actively thinking about these things, Freud strongly believed that they still served to influence conscious actions and behavioral patterns in all individuals.

An individual’s lifetime experiences-from childhood to adulthood, can largely influence their subconscious, conscious and unconscious mind. Good life experiences impact the conscious mind in a positive way, such that, the primary knowledge from that past experience or situation can be productively or constructively used by the individual in future situations as a way for it to be in their favor. Bad life experiences can most certainly have great negative effects on an individual; the conscious mind from then on could be reprogrammed in response to the trauma or bad situation to alter the individual’s conscious mind and then personality which could result in a lot of other unexpected effects on the individual’s decisions, situations, reactions and emotions.  

Our subconscious mind has an immense and great power in controlling our life experiences. From the kind of habits, we follow every day to the food we choose to eat, the kind of occupation we pursue, the level of income we earn, our societal status and even how we react to stressful or dangerous situations, our subconscious has an extremely prominent role, and almost all of our decisions are guided by our subconscious beliefs or thoughts. To put it simply, our subconscious mind is like the auto-pilot feature on an airplane. It’s been specially programmed to follow a specific route and we can’t deviate from that route unless we consciously change the directions that were first programmed into it.

Our subconscious mind never rejected anything while we’re young because we didn’t have any pre-existing beliefs to contradict what it perceived and/or understood. It simply accepted the information we received during our early childhood and that was what was considered true, which is why each and every individual’s personality, traits, subconscious/conscious mind and thoughts are unique. This also explains why this later becomes a problem in the later stages of our lives because if when we were young every time someone called us worthless, dumb, stupid, lazy or worse, our subconscious mind simply stored that piece of information away for reference. Over time we may also have received several pieces of information about our potential in life or other limitations we’ll face based on your physical appearance such as skin color, or our gender, or our economic status.

Which brings us to the question of can we change or alter our subconscious? The answer to which is extremely interesting seeing as the answer is that this subconscious programming never stops and still continues to this day. With every new experience, we draw new conclusions, thoughts or opinions which we store once again within our subconscious which will ultimately guide our future actions.

So, if we have an experience that contradicts with an already established belief or opinion, our subconscious mind will either reject it or reframe/alter/add it so that it goes along with our existing view of reality.

The term sensation “is the process by which stimulation of sensory receptors—the structures in your eyes, ears, and so on—produces neural impulses that represent experiences inside or outside the body.” We experience billions of sensations every minute and second, of our lives, we’re aware of some of those sensations and most of them we are blissfully unaware of. Our conscious mind chooses to ignore the ones we’re unaware of, and the ones we do know about are those that we recognize and identify. These become our perceptions; sensations that we specifically group as those that we are consciously aware of. 

Although most of us can voluntarily control where we place our attention -to a greater or lesser degree-it is our brains who unconsciously do this all the time. The brain receives more sensory information every second than it can process, so it needs to categorize and organize the remaining unattended sensations into other groups and forms. This categorization is the line of difference between sensation and perception. 

The recognition, interpretation and categorization of sensations one consciously feel is termed perception. It involves two kinds of processing- bottom-up and top-down processing. Bottom-up processing refers to the perceptions that are recognized and obtained from the output of sensations, However, the way we interpret that sensory information is largely influenced by the knowledge we already possess, our in-life experiences and our thoughts-this is referred to top-down processing. 

Seeing as our senses take in large amounts of both external and internal- stimuli, we only always select the part of the sensory stimuli we receive to organize, interpret and perceive. So primarily, we select sensory information to perceive based on prominence-which is very much influenced and determined by each individual’s visual or auditory stimulation along with their own individual flow of thought and personal beliefs- and this phenomenon of being able to focus on specific stimuli while excluding the other stimuli is called as the Cocktail Party Effect. 

Expectations also largely influence what information we choose to perceive. We organize information that we select to perceive into patterns based on proximity, similarity, and difference. We generally interpret and organize sensory information using a schema- a pattern that follows the thought or behavior which organizes categories of information and the relationships among them- which allows us to interpret the meaning for that sensory input based on past experience and knowledge. Motivation can also largely affect perception. Motivation to detect a relevant stimulus can greatly influence and shift our ability to differentiate between a real sensory stimulus and background noise. This capacity to identify a stimulus when it is present in a disconcerting background is termed  Signal Detection theory.

Christoph Niemann is an illustrator, graphic designer,  and children’s book author. 

Since July 2008, Niemann has been writing and illustrating The New  York Times blog Abstract City, renamed Abstract Sunday in 2011,  when the blog moved to The New York Times Magazine. 

The documentary starts off with his quest to design a new The New  Yorkers cover. In the video, he has his own personalized workspace. Anything that  comforts his mind is there. His workspace is all about him, him and  him. He says that abstract art is the most important form of art,  according to him. It is to master the technique of starting without  jumbled thoughts and getting rid of anything unessential and  irrelevant in making a point. 

He says that his worst critic yet was his Art Professor- Heinz  Edelmann and his method of teaching was not by encouragement.  Niemann confesses that art is not to be simple, each idea requires  specificity. The New Yorkers monthly covers had no relation to the  contents inside. He realizes that he has to think of something out  of the box. 

He starts by working on a virtual reality cover. He expresses that  he like to take examples from real life. He starts to draw his  inspiration from the NY Subways. He tells that he is pretty fond of  New York because people understood his work. His style was based on  cultural experiences. Everyone was intrigued by his work.

When he was new to NY, he tried various methods to find his  creative streak. He tried sitting at a cafe that overlooked busy  streets and busier people but it made him lose focus and it had no  impact on his work. 

So he concludes that him as a person loved interacting with the  city but him as an artist liked solitude. He stresses on the fact  that artists have to comprehend that both realities are different. 

He has taken time over the years to figure out his strengths and  weaknesses.He’s observed that he usually feels grumpy when working  for an outcome that has ended in success. So, when he feels joy and  peace, he feels suspicious aboutt how the outcome will turn up. 

He truly believes that inspiration requires going out of your comfort zone. 

The best art that is created is when the artists and the viewers’ perspectives match. But a big problem with this routine is to always reinvent storytelling with new viewers. He overcame this  obstacle by creating Sunday Sketches, where he did unplanned and  instinctive art. 

This way, by evaluating his every work as an artist and his methods  to achieve the desired result, he produced something that was  ingenious !  His The New Yorker cover consisted of the front and back view of a  woman entering a subway train and the digital art that went with it  showed different perspectives of New York’s standard places which  the residents as well as the viewers could relate to. His work ethics paid off !

The most important thing about photography is the story, the message, the feeling. The connection.  How to make this reach people. It’s a combination of simplicity and the power of spirit and soul. 

STUDIO PLATON 

WORKING WITH PLATON 

STYLE 

∙ Platon likes to feel the essence of his subject, their aura and the  emotions they are presenting, be it fear or menace, or inspiration and  hope, it does something to him. It’s a painful process of growth and  experience. 

∙ He approaches all his pictures as an art director. His work is simple and  it stands out. He says that design for him was a way out of confusion  because a great design simplifies a very complicated world.  

∙ He believes that the tools are to never be allowed to dominate the entire  process. Great design is when the message is first and clear.  ∙ Its not always about the detail, the only thing to focus on is compassion,  dignity and humility. And then, the aesthetic.  

CONGO 

∙ He met with a Gynaecologist- DR. Denis Mukwege, who established PANZI hospital for helping women deliver in natural environments. But Dr. Mukwege found that many people who were sexually violated were turning up too. So he invited Platon to interview them and capture portraits of the survivors. 

∙ It was a three year project. When Platon was really in that atmosphere, he was terrified of all the strength he felt from the survivors. So he wanted to channel that exact feeling. ∙ All the things he’s learnt, he’s learnt through his job. And now he  understands how precious every second is.

“THINK MORE MAKE LESS”

It is important to understand what brand and branding is. Logo is a design term for a trademark. It can be a monogram or symbol. A trademark is not the brand itself. We need to learn the context of branding. 

Branding is about decor, graphics, customer experience, staff, product, logo, messaging, packaging signage and website.

Brand identity is the collection of all elements that a company creates to portray the right image to its consumer.

 Brand is the perception of the company in the eyes of the world.

Who you are as a brand is made up of a few key elements:

• Your mission  
• Your values (what beliefs drive your company?)
• Your brand personality ( what kind of personality does your brand have?)
• Your unique trait
• Your brand voice ( how will your brand communicate with its clients?)

LOOK at the brand, observe their attributes and list down the most important ones. They represent the core of the brand.

Alexander McQueen’s Branding Identity

Alexander McQueen is a British luxury fashion house. The world of Alexander McQueen is one defined by how the elements of fragility and strength, tradition and technology, severity and grace, contrast and complement each other to create a new vision for fashion in the 21st Century. Customers know when they see a gothic, perfectly tailored, creative and dark clothing, it might as well be from this maker. This is an example of successful identity branding.

There has always been a pressure to replace historical craft materials (bamboos) with more modern materials. But they believe that bamboo is a long standing historical plant that belongs to the nature. 

Bamboo can do just about anything any other material can do. Bamboo varies in sizes, especially height and grows at least 15 cm per hour. If used correctly, bamboo is as strong as steel and as resilient as brick and concrete. 

But why should we consider bamboo over other modern materials?

• CLIMATE

1. Carbon trading and reforestation. 

Fiber reinforced composite materials have enabled much industrial innovation. Currently composites reinforced by glass fibers and carbon fibers are being used extensively for many structural applications. However, there are economic and environmental challenges.

The climate change due to green-house gases and methane and nitrous oxide is for the worse. By using fossil fuel as energy source, the carbon emission has been at its peak compared to the last 800000 yrs. Implementation of renewable energy and biological and carbon sequestration would be most preferable in an attempt to decrease global warming.

Carbon sequestration or carbon dioxide removal is the long-term removal, capture or sequestration of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to slow or reverse atmospheric CO2 pollution and to mitigate or reverse global warming.

Plants store co2 as building blocks and hence convert gaseous carbon to solid carbon. Since bamboos are fast growing and hence the most efficient in sequestration. 

What If climate change was just a hoax/ what would happen to bamboo? 

• Humans share the need for hygiene and normal facilities. Clean water is a necessity. 

Since the development of cities, there have been valiant efforts to plant trees in order to reduce environmental degradation linked to urbanization.  Bamboo root structures help resting erosions, regulating water flow, clean water etc. In fact, bamboo can absorb human urine. Bamboo can clean soil and water from hazardous chemicals. It convert waste into viable resources.

 

• Bamboo is used daily for regular appliances by 2.5 billion people in the world. Bamboo can be refined into bio fuel, bioplastics, and endless other applications.

CHALLENGES

The main reasons regarding why bamboo hasn’t been adopted into the modern age as extensively as materials like steel are:

1. Lack of awareness,
2. Lack of coordination among stake holders.
3. It’s dimensions differ greatly
4. the inability to grade the material and longevity, 
5. It can’t play well with other materials, its completely organic, i.e., it can’t be combined with steel or glass.

Due to its limited budget, there are more common and modern materials in today’s market.

Tinker Hatfield started to define what working with athletes was like. It was about getting to know them as athletes and their performance. They had to build a product that catered to the athlete at the highest level such that the player could play with the same show after thirty years as well.

EARLY LIFE

Tinker was never focused on design but athleticism. He received a full sports scholarship to the University of Oregon. He met Bill Bowerman who was one of the two founders of Nike. 

Tinker admits that pole vaulting needs a strong sense of commitment and confidence. This mentality that you can’t back off, your goal is to fly through the air. 

When he was Seventeen years, Tinker fell and tore his ankle in half. After five surgeries, two years of rehabilitation, “ he felt his career was over.” 

And then he learned he could draw on accident. His discipline was architecture and he also worked for Bill. He would tell, draw, and interpret his design when he presented his ideas to Bill. He was learning how to design shoes and solve problems for athletes since his university. 

HIS PROJECTS WITH NIKE

He realized that design did involve art but art was a form of self-expression whereas, in design, the end goal is to solve a problem for someone else. Nike had developed very fast. And they were recruiting members by hosting a competition. Other designers started and tweaked some of their existing designs. But, Tinker worked for twenty-four hors and was unique in his storytelling. Two days after the competition, he was told he was a footwear designer for Nike. 

His first project was the air max. He became the lead designer. He drew inspiration from the building whose inner mechanics were visible. The building itself was painted in primary colors, which people seemed to hate more than adore.

Andre Agassi 

• A basic design is functional, a great design will convey something. Andre Agassi was an upcoming star tennis player who was Nineteen years old at that time. He hadn’t started in country clubs and he didn’t always wear white. 
• This created speculation and Tinker had never worked with a tennis player like him before. So they created the new Nike shoe called anti-country club which was outrageous and pink and bright.
•  With the right athlete, they challenged the perception of the entire sport.

AIR JORDANS

Michael Jordan was Nike’s biggest client. Tinker got his new project for designing brand new Air Jordans. It was supposed to feel already broken into even though it was new. So they had soft leather, elephant print, he had also designed apparels to go with it. It was unlike any basketball shoe.

They’d progressed to Air Jordans VIII and Michael kept winning championships. 

Air Jordan X had ten stripes that signified Michael’s ten yrs as a pro.

Air Jordan XV was the first one that had negative reviews, it was a sad time for both Tinker and Michael. After that shoe, Tinker withdrew from the Air Jordan projects. So he had to find a new direction for himself. 

In 2005, he designed the Jordan XX. because of something special. He wanted Jordan to talk about the last twenty yrs of his life. He wanted to design a symbol that would define each of his stories. It was an avant-garde approach. it was the best storytelling product they’d ever done. 

E.A.R.L. 

Design is about predicting the needs of the future. The E.a.r.l.- Electro adaptive reactive lacing, was inspired by a movie. He wanted to make something that would excite the people about the future. 

They applied the auto-lacing technology after several yrs. After the problems were discussed and solved by Tinker and the mechanism was foolproof, it was then applied in the shoe. The launch turned out to be very successful.

Conclusion

Get out there and experience life to translate that into unique design work. There are multiple designers who know how to interpret designs and slightly change them. But his job was to be provocative and problem-solving for a specific customer. If people don’t completely love or hate your work, know that you haven’t left an impact.