Almost Gray Scale

Fascinating how almost all of these images (barring the fourth one) are naturally shot without any filters and yet appear gray scale, with just about a hint of color. I really enjoy taking pictures that have a lot of natural patterns.

The idea of Making and Learning vs Learning and Making

I was at an event this Thursday, and an idea struck me. I think the people who make first and then learn have a greater chance of innovating and making cool products than the people who spend a lot of time learning, and then making.

Don't get me wrong, I still value the desk research and user interviews in the process of making something and they remain important parts of the design process. But here's an example. How would you design a UI for a mythical ambient computer that doesn't exist yet. Let's say it's got a projected display. It sits on a desk and it works as a study companion. Design Thinking handbooks will tell you to follow the double diamond process before you put pen to paper, you must do the user research, you must conduct interviews, you must follow the heuristics, you must do X, Y and Z.

Here's the catch. None of this exists for the said platform yet. Now what? Well you make something and then test if it's working. You gotta start from Making and not learning when doing something radically new. You have to be humble enough to make big changes if it's not working. But it's important to follow your instincts, and put your idea to paper, even a sketch to me is an act of making. And then you must show it to the people who will use it, learn from them, adapt to their needs. And that's how you build out something new. Double Diamond fails here.

The biggest problem with the Double Diamond is the lack of trust in a designer's instincts and knowledge. Ideas aren't isolated, they form from a variety of experiences, it's important to acknowledge those experiences to truly understand a problem and possible solutions. Pretending we know nothing about something doesn't help. Starting with a sketch, a paper prototype, an idea of how the solution looks like doesn't hurt anyone. Show it to people you're designing for, then dive deeper into the problem.

Having something to begin with is so much more effective for learning than just mindlessly meandering in different directions. The risk with such meanderings is a) Spending too much time researching and too little making. That leaves less room for iterative learning, and b) conforming to our own biasis.

Just my two very rough cents. Make first, and then learn. But learn for sure.

Pain au Chocolat

A couple of years ago, I was in Europe, and had the opportunity to have one of the most delightful breakfasts I've ever had. A Pain Au Chocolat at this vegan cafe in Zürich (Roots), and it's the best Pain Au Chocolat I've ever had.

Two years on, I've been to Europe once more, and I've spent some time in US. I have not been able to find better vegan Pain Au Chocolat (Pronunciation Tip: | pan oh shoh-ko-lah |) anywhere.

Just thinking about this today, as reminiscing the delightful breakfast, as I was craving for one and struggling to find anything that comes close to it.

Wandering...

Went on a short walk in Berkeley hills yesterday, wandered astray into the fire trails just to see if the road lead to the other side of the campus towards the Botanical garden. The route was a bit of a dead-end, but I discovered some really good views, which are even better on a sunny day. Sometimes wandering is fun! Especially if the city is so beautiful.

Trying to give meaning to the meaningless

Are you, like me tired of phrases like "It'll all be ok in the end", "All's well that ends well", "Whatever happens, happens for the best", "Just hang in there, everything's gonna be ok"? If so, this is a fun observation. IMHO, The world doesn't have a greater meaning. It's chaotic, and random. So none of the above make any actual sense.

"But but it's ancient wisdom so it must be true?", kind off. Basically when we experience the world in its chaotic, uncontrollable self; it's terrifying, and we desperately want comfort, and we seek comfort in thinking life's a puzzle, the pieces must fit together. "Everything's there for a reason", When it's just our projection being put on to it. We come up with rituals, superstitions, all in desperate search of meaning, when there's none. It's just us comforting ourselves. But in doing so, we start believing the stories we tell ourselves, and we subconsciously start seeking opportunities that would prove our superstitions (manifesting).

Things might not end well. Whatever is happening could be happening for the worst, everything might not be ok. Sometimes we can do something about it, and we should act, without thinking about how things will be alright, and sometimes we can't do anything about it; then we must leave it to ancient wisdom, and indulge in the ignorance of thinking everything happens for the best. 🙃

Watching older movies

So I was working on something last night and instinctively set a movie on the side to stay focused while working (yea, weird hack but works). So the way I picked this was just because I was listening to radio (My Station) on the Apple Music app and one of the songs from that movie started playing.

Funny thing is I saw this movie last, ~21 years ago. And in a similar setup. Me and my dad had one of those rare late movie nights watching this at ~1AM at night because DD Sports had just finished the Olympics 2004 live telecast and the cable operator decided to play this movie. Ofcourse, the 9 year old me was just ecstatic at the idea of a new movie being broadcast on TV, and my dad perhaps got engaged into it once he started watching it (that was the thing with us, if the movie was engaging we'd just sit and watch, we didn't really care if it was 1AM at night or 3).

Anyway, fun movie night memories of watching this film and I found the coincidence of watching it again late at night to be interesting. I've been thinking of that night 21 years ago very fondly since morning.

Privilege

Not the most positive post today. Was just thinking about how I've been professionally designing apps for the last 14 years now, and even now people tell me I am a "UI Engineer", when I clearly am not. At the same time I see people who started after me, climb up the ladder, get opportunities I can still only dream of having, and make an impact with their work.

I joined the MDes program at Berkeley nearly two years ago, hoping that this would open up opportunities for me to work in Emerging Tech. But it's done nothing to further that. In fact, I just feel more humiliated, as people look at me, and see apps on my portfolio and go, "Oh! Indian, makes apps, so must be a software developer". I have had a person repeatedly tell me to look for UI Engineering roles, even as I protested that I am a designer. That's the bitter truth of having a skill-set that spans through Software, Hardware, Engineering and Design. It doesn't open up more opportunities, it just confuses the recruiters.

Belated Post of the Day: Making and not judging

Arrgh!! Missed my streak of making one post a day. This was in my drafts (my head) for the entire day yesterday, and I just didn't get to sit down and write it down. So here's a rare back-dated post.

Make → Show → Learn is an often cited design strategy. It goes by many names (the double diamond is one of the fancier ones), but something that it misses out on is the fact that a lot of people start doing all three of these processes together. The worst is Making and Judging (a combination of looking at the work yourself and trying to draw things to learn from). Ideally you don't want to do that, it slows down the making process, and worse yet, risks you not putting out anything at all! But it's so hard! In fact, I'd say it's the challenge you must master to make something.

I am redesigning my portfolio right now, and it's difficult not to take a step back and judging my own very rudimentary graphics and feel overwhelmed by my inability to communicate ideas. It's a humbling experience, but I must remind myself to not judge my work until I've made one iteration of it at least, and put it out. Right now, putting out something is way more important than perfecting it.

Yep, this is equal parts note to self, and equal parts me sharing wisdom gained from my experience.

Pizza Day!

Ever since moving to Berkeley, there have been fewer and fewer occasions where I made Pizza for only the two of us: Me and my Brother. So I took the 4th of July holiday as an opportunity to do that, so both of us could have some us time.

Pizzas didn't turn out to be that great though, I have a love-hate relationship with my Ooni Volt (their Electric Oven) it's convenient but the temperature control is so finnicky. It's either not hot enough or too hot. Destroyed one Pizza because the oven was too hot and it stuck to the peel while turning it midway.

But I did make two good ones, the Margherita (not photographed here) and the P3 Pizza i.e. Peppers, Pistachio and Peaches.

Love this shot of me sprinkling extra pistachio on to the Pizza.


More Pizza Shots! :)


I got this Oliera from my previous trip to Naples. It's a traditional handcrafted Copper and Brass oil cruet. I enjoy using it a lot, but more on that later.

Modern Art?

Bonus Second Post for the Day. I love this style of turning meaningful things into something so utterly messy. It's like a reflection of our chaotic lives.

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P.S. Yay, There's a new tag on my blog now. Hoping to share more art soon.

Anchors

Half-Price Books is shutting its Berkeley store. It's such a downer. This building has been my anchor to Downtown Berkeley ever since coming here for the first time in 2017. Everything about this small city changed, the downtown landscape changed significantly but Half-Price and its neon signs had remained exactly as they were when I came here.

It just sucks that come December 2025, the city and the street would be devoid of this place, all this for a petty leasing dispute. It just shows the impermanence of things in our life, things could be thriving one day, and then suddenly for no major reason, and for nothing in our control they'd be gone.

Anyway, So long, and thanks for all the fish! 🫡

Resilience

Last year at UC Berkeley, I took this class called Applied Resilience, which was all about developing the resilience muscle for your startup. I like to think of it as "mental health for your startup". Great course, that I would highly recommend every student to take, even if you're not an entrepreneuer.

Central to the idea of resilience is the ability to bounce back after repeated failures. We all fail at some point in our lives, whether it is a failed exam, or a failed startup or a self imposed goal that we fail to achieve. Failure is common, not bad, and in-fact sometimes good in helping us learn something new. But it also takes a lot from us, it downs our confidence and forces us to rethink that once went well for us. It takes a lot from us to bounce back and be back to winning ways, for who wants to keep failing? Right?

Anyhow, These last few months have demand every ounce of Resilient muscle from me. Having Applied to 500+ applications across the board and still struggling to get a full-time gig in Creative Technology and Prototyping has all but humbled me. I joined UC Berkeley to pursue a career in designing emerging technologies that helped people (a focus on social justice as my program mentioned), 2 years in. I have the ideas, the portfolio and the connections to pursue a career in the field, yet the jobs aren't there. Hard to get hired in the Bay Area if you have an ounce of moral compass is what I've learnt in the last 6 months.

Pray I survive this.

Book Recommendation : Annie Bot

AI bots are everywhere. The AI Girlfriend industry supposed to be this multi billion dollar industry where people just talk to an AI chatbot that’s been anthropomorphized to the point that its conversation is almost Human. It’s an industry that’s a perfect representation of Silicon Valley greed and its parasitic relationship with human suffering (loneliness in this case).

Annie Bot begins there. But goes well beyond that. Yes, Annie is an AI powered humanoid, designed to obey and please her human owner Doug; but it quickly becomes apparent that the book is not just about that.

Yes, that’s the hook, but truly Annie Bot explores the complex relationships and how our actions onto others, especially things we don’t consider “equals” are often a reflection of our own state of mind. Through Annie, we see Doug’s state of mind going from mendacious, to twisted, to diabolical. Doug’s actions are what he would do, if his previous partner had no agency.

And of course, Annie is more sentient than your run of the mill AI chatbot, in fact its emotions are more complex than some of the other humans in the world today. Yet her place in the world remains interesting, as Annie gets nuggets of agency, she keeps developing character, yet she's held back by some fundamentals that seem unshakable, the more that happens the more the duality of Annie's sentience and "bot-ness" become apparent.

The book goes beyond than just forcing us to consider the humanity of both the bot and the human, it also beautifully shows us the complexities of human nature. For all his horrific actions, Doug isn’t a monster (or at least not in the traditional sense of the word), there’s another side to him, a side that’s broken, lonely, ashamed, jealous and frankly alone. All these things add up, they add a dimension to his actions. Never condoning them, but always giving them meaning.

What didn’t work for me though was the broad strokes world building, especially with the Stella-Handy, the company that supposedly runs the Annie Bot robots. For starters it was a bit weird that they would just disclose stuff to Doug over a phone call which would otherwise be under an NDA. Their partnership with Doug and Annie was also weird, given they seem to be collecting all the data to improve their products anyway. We also never really get to understand their true motives. It’s a weird chink in the armor for what’s an otherwise perfectly crafted story.

I also felt that the lead up to the final act could have reflected more on Annie’s inner turmoil and Doug’s life changes. The end feels abrupt, even if the final act is beautifully executed.

Annie Bot is a one of the most profound Human-AI-Bot interaction books of our times that offers us two complex, layered characters. Just wish the world building was just as strong.

Rating: ★★★ 1/2 (Highly Recommended)

Walking down Mission

Was walking down 24th and Mission towards Reeem's, for lunch with a friend when I wondered just how similar the streets look to a market in Delhi. Maybe it's the small market, the street hawkiness nature of the stores, or the fruit sellar's carts arranged outside and not inside a giant air conditioned store, or then again maybe it's all of it. Oddly feels closer to home. I know it's one of the more "dangerous" neighbourhoods in the city, you must stay vigilant, yet the vibes are much nicer with this one than say, the more posh areas like Pacific Heights.

There's something to a place, when my patronage is a little more than a transaction. People are out here to make money, but they can be kinder, and nicer to one another. And that's where I think Mission succeeds.

New Personal Challenge: One Blog Post a day

I'm trying to get back to blogging and this space has only been reviews for a while, and I miss when it wasn't so heavy handed (I literally had to go back at least 15 years to find non review posts! Crazy!). So starting yesterday's post. I am going to (try to) write one pots every day till 31st August, which is when this blog turns 19.

These will be short, slice of life posts that generally stay away from critique (if I do critique something it'll be a separate post).

Habits Change. Social Implications? Not so much

An oft cited example when people talk about the social implications of surveillance like technology (Think Ray Ban Meta Glasses with a camera in front of them) is the malleability of people’s habits and social norms, “Just like AirPods which were ridiculed at first, have become social norm today, glasses with a camera on them could too” is something I’ve often heard.

Here’s the thing. Habits change. The AirPods are personal computing devices that have zero impact on the people around them. The first AirPods customers looked goofy, that’s it; and people eventually found them to be more convenient and started wearing them more often. It did not have an immediate impact on the people around them.

Glasses with a camera attached to them are another issue entirely. They have an immediate impact on the people around you. Put a camera in front of a person and they immediately become conscious of what they’re saying. There’s an implication of recording. It’s almost as if the camera lens gives the “affordance” of this being surveillance tech. Do we expect people to become comfortable with such technology? Do we expect people to just start being ok with being recorded without consent? Heck no.

Look at the amount of crime, and creep that people face every day with surreptitious “recordings” (Sure that’s unheard off, if you’re a cis-het male in the most posh neighborhood of Silicon Valley, but there’s a world outside that bubble). The social reaction to such tech becoming mainstream will be visceral, and for good reason; for its not just a change of habit, it’s the change of social dynamic.

Movie Review: Sitaare Zameen Par

Despite being overly simplistic, rather repetitive in its preachings and a tad too predictable, I thoroughly enjoyed Sitaare Zameen Par. It's a heart-warming movie that's breezy and fun in its entertainment.

Sitaare Zameen Par works best when its stars (the team of neurodivergent basketball players) are having fun. It's watching these absolute gems work their way through a basketball tournament that's so delightful. The writers give the characters ample depth and never turn them into caricatures. The humor is sensitive and the movie will have you consistently break into giggles.

Ashish Pendse (Sunil) and Rishi Shahani (Sharma Ji) are absolutely incredible. Pendse lights up the screen every time he shows up, his comic timing, his acting is all top-notch. Shahani (an olympic gold medalist IRL) speaks more with his expressions than his dialogue.

What doesn’t work: It’s a movie that has few new ideas. It wants to teach a lot in a very short time, and it wants to coach people into the dos and don't, that hardly works. If the goal is to sensitize people to be empathetic towards neurodivergent people, it's not gonna win over any fans, for it's too preachy for those that most need the lesson.

Overall, difficult to dislike the movie, I had a good time watching the movie wish it was a tad shorter though.

I am glad we finally have a Bollywood movie that's not about the blood lust, breaking bones, or revenge. Pleasant change this is.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ (Good, but not great)

Book Recommendation: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

This book should come with a trigger warning. Its depictions of the every day struggles of running an indie-business, crooked friendships, and loss and death are unnervingly accurate and real. While reading the book there were many a times that I had flashbacks of memories of my own past. It’s both a testament to the quality of work Zevin’s put out and a reminder that some stories can be a painful read.

I related with Sadie, on her artistic instincts and creative endeavors, her resistance to the corporate greed and being told to work in the confines of a system. I related with Marx being the adult in the room, gluing their friendship together. Related with Sam’s grandparents who found solace in caring for their grandson, and celebrated every small win of the kid (my grandmother was like that). I related with Sam when he felt love and care must be shown, not told. I also loved the fact that this is not a romantic love story, we need so many more stories about real, authentic and messy friendships!

At the same time it was frustrating to see Sadie and Sam struggle with communication, there were times when I felt I wanted to steer the book in a certain direction because the way it was headed was inevitable and foreseeably disheartening.

All this is to say that the book had me more than invested. It’s a great book and that’s what makes it a gut wrenching read that weighs on you heavy with its hyper-realistic and authentic emotions.

Rating: ★★★★★ (Hall of fame level good)

Pizzeria Antica Port'Alba - Oldest Pizzeria in the world

Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba is the oldest (and arguably the world’s first pizzeria). Established in 1738 they started as a roadside cart where they’d offer the fishermen fresh pizza (tomatoes on a flat bread sometimes topped with anchovies).

Sadly the pizza there didn’t live up to the hype. I tried their Marinara (the only vegan item on the menu); The dough was dense, the bottom charred and the tomatoes lacked flavor.  What made matters worse was the fact that they were selling artisanal Neapolitan oliera at an exorbitant markup, almost like a tourist trap.

Book Recommendation: Autonomous

I really enjoyed reading Autonomous. Surprised it's not a movie remake yet.

Despite the busy writing, world building that never really stops and characters that barely get time to develop, writer Annalee Newitz is able to raise pertinent questions about addiction, gender, identity and freedom in a story that’s entertaining and prodding in equal measures. I loved the Futuristic, Spy Thriller setup of the book. Very fun!

Rating: ★★★ 1/2 (Would recommend despite the flaws)