Designer Interview: Soumya Jain (drinkdesign)
Continuing with our designer interview initiative – this week we present to you one of DesignChord’s most active members - Soumya Jain a.k.a drinkdesign, as many might know him. Drinkdesign is amongst the top designers on Design Chords and already has 3 winning designs under his name. He lives and works in Jaipur, India.
1. Tell us something about yourself
Hello, m
y name is Soumya Jain. In high school I was a scholar of physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics. Soon I realized that my interests were elsewhere. I graduated in communication design (Graduate Diploma in Communication Design) from the Symbiosis Institute of Design, Pune, India. During the college days, I worked on many projects as a freelancer and travelled across the country to attend seminars and workshops to acquire the in depth knowledge of the field.
Since then I have been working as a freelancer actively and now have started my own design studio, ‘drinkdesign’ in Jaipur.
2. How is the design industry in India?
Design industry in India has immense scope. I feel India still is an untapped design resource. From her ancient history to the modern culture, from the beautiful villages to her various religions, you can find design everywhere.
Design industry in India is growing rapidly as more and more people have started to realize the importance of design. Designers as a result are also becoming more mature and responsible.
However, design community in India, I feel, is competition driven. Everyone is trying to overpower each other, which in turn is hampering quality and innovation. Design scene in India is still growing and is not on the level of ‘competing’. I strongly feel designers in India should be more ‘collaborative’ then competitive.
3. What challenges do you face as a freelance designer?
Working as a freelancer has its own pros and cons. The biggest challenge, I think, is to satisfy the “ethical you”. There is always a good chance of compromising on the quality of your output, to do everything you learned NOT to, and it’s the easy way too. But you have to stick to your ethics.
Challenge that you will face working as an online freelancer is to understand the need of the client. To deliver good results you have to completely understand the client as a person, which goes lacking in many cases. To ensure this, you have to communicate as much as possible with the client (g-talk is a good option).
As a freelance designer, you also need to manage your time properly. Use reminders (post its), set up a schedule, make your workplace more professional (preferably not your living room) and remain inspired.
4. What factors influence your designs/ your inspiration behind designing?
You can get inspiration walking on the road, traveling in a train, reading the morning newspaper, watching television, listening to music, just about anywhere.
All you have to do is keep your eyes and mind open. Observation is the key.
Apart from that, I am a regular follower of design blogs and forums, which keeps me updated to modern trends and happenings in the field of design. To list out a few- Design Observer, The 99percent, TED talks, design21, graphic-exchange, Indian by design, Design in India, Positive Space blog, FFFFound, The Dieline, deviantart and PDF mags.
5. Any favourite designs and why?
It’s a cliché, but it has to be Apple. One of the reasons may be because I relate to its simplicity and usability. It is the benchmark in
the field of design, may it be Graphic design (with its awesome brand promotion and typefaces) or Product design (no need to tell about its simple, innovative and beautiful products such as iPod, iMac, Macbooks, iPhone..) or User Experience design (Its easy to use and aesthetically appealing interface).
You just cannot Not fall for it. Simple and smart.
6. What is your approach when you are presented with a design brief from the client?
As I said earlier, you have to understand the need of the client, I try to understand client’s mindset and aspirations by giving them an elaborate questionnaire before starting on any project. I also communicate with them frequently, try to meet them over coffee or if age is not a barrier, I prefer online communication too. Also I always try and go through the online history of the client, analyze his social presence, its always beneficial.
After that, it’s the normal process of research, concept development, editing and finalizing. One important thing is to maintain records of all the conversations with the client for reference. If possible, get the important steps of your process approved manually by the client.
7. What tools do you use for designing / any recommendations?
I live with an iMac, a windows laptop, a high resolution camera, adobe creative suit, a good color printer, a set of drawing pencils, sharpie and stabilos, sketch pad, post its, a white board, small printer, a high speed internet connection and my collection of music.
There is nothing like a “right” set of tools. You build your own comfortable workspace through the course of time. But I would surely like to recommend an iMac for its performance, look and feel, printer friendliness and the beautiful screen.
8. Your favorite designs from your own portfolio (with some background on those designs)
Apart from my love for conventional graphic design like identity and stationary design, I love doing Poster design. Over the years I have done many poster designs for clients as well as for self. It is one of the larger formats in paper print design, which gives you freedom of expression and space.
Here you can view some of my poster design work
9. Anything you want to say to Design Chords creative community?
Design chords is a great effort bringing together designers all across India. I have been active on international freelance platforms and always felt a need for a good platform for India.
I hope it grows out to be a quality driven and valued designer and client network.
Thanks
Soumya jain
Tell us something about yourself and your background
ring a professional degree program in graphic designing but the field is making slow and gradual progress and it won’t be long till design industry will be recognized as a professional institute in Pakistan.
responsibilities is not easy. Like everything else it too has its pros and corns but for me
free lancing has been a great experience. I get to work on my own terms whenever and where ever I please, no boss and no dress code plus I can work on a wide variety of projects. The only challenge so far has been balancing my responsibilities with my job but that’s what makes it exciting. One has to be disciplined and self motivated to be able to manage both side by side.
d challenge myself to reach beyond my capacity of delivering my best. My favorite design from my portfolio would be my most recent design work that is (www.Designchords.com). I worked on the look of the web site in collaboration with the Design Chords team. Due to some design complication we were not able to implement a lot of things but the work is still in progress and the end result will be promising. Other than that I have a few favorites from my personal portfolio.
ad them. I think designers can help them realize their dreams. 
No project cost for Non-Profits
Beenish takes away the 100$ award. The team unanimously loved this design. It is just what we were looking for – simple, corporate touch, elegant and has that look which will make our brand recognizable when present among other logos. There is a feedback element we’d like to discuss with the designer for the final delivery, but overall we have found our Logo.
Very straightforward, good communication and nice colours used. The design was amongst the final 3-4 designs we were considering for the Logo. We have a movie voucher from Kyazoonga for the designer.
Both the idea of a pencil depicting the ’sketch’ part and its execution, both are simply brilliant. This is was amongst our favourite for the consolation prize, and thus we’re mentioning it here.
We found the design very artistic – something we would like sketch lounge to stand for as well. Bravo to the designer for the way L has been disguised shape of pen/brush. Great execution.
Great, amazing concept. The idea of a person at ease, as one should be in a lounge, while he sketches is simply superb. As for the overall design, We wanted to see much improved execution to use as a logo.
The globe representing the WorldWideWeb, and the brushes depicting the creative part are some really nice thoughts put into this. For a logo, wanted to see a little simpler depiction of the same concept – this fitted more of a background or poster design. But again nice idea.
In the meantime we’ll work on completing the site at the earliest and try to bring in some client work.
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