...inputs from Koel, Kulwant, Tatha, Siddharth, Shweta, Mohit, Amit, Pulkit, Pankaj....
Some of our insights at the end of the two extraordinary days is that there is an abundant supply of manpower in villages quite unexposed to urban lifestyles, hence unable to identify opportunities and are therefore often unused or unheard.
We have all heard about poor attendance in village schools. But the eagerness and joy with which children participated here, wanting to even skip lunch, tells us that children do not lack an interest in learning but perhaps the way in which they learn. We tried our best to interweave fun and learning in our workshop and children responded wholeheartedly. The right balance of authority and friendliness as well of structure and freedom to explore got children to trust us, enjoy and learn. While such approaches exist in city schools, it is perhaps rare in villages. After an instruction based first day, we guided them a bit and then left them to explore the artist/designer in them on the second day. It was an attempt to inspire them to look at household and locally available objects in a new light. In the long run, it means helping them come up with their own solutions instead of solutions handed out to them. In the context of local innovation, they did really well, demonstrating commendable ingenuity in both concepts and creations.
The youth were very participative. However unlike the younger children, while they were quite skilled, their divergent thinking abilities got more constrained. Once they understood the context however, they used it well. For example, one child designed a walking stick for his grandfather that can stand by itself so his hands can be free when he needs to cough. After understanding what design is, they summarized God to be the best designer as he made our functioning body. Our examples with visuals were great triggers, more so when from their own context. For example, we used graphic design examples from their clothes. But it was hard for them to maintain attention for long and shyness and language barrier were considerable.
This particular age group also preferred doing rather than sketching. They had difficulty articulating their thoughts but found it easier when they worked with materials to build what was on their minds. Their opinions were unbiased and unadulterated which made the exercises and tasks so much more fun and fruitful for us. They also thought of the printed task sheets as being very important and applied great efforts to put in their best. They understood art as a very apt form of expression. While they were very creative and driven, they were not fond of too much thinking and heavy words but loved material exploration and building products. Girls were more interested in accessories and boys inclined towards making show pieces. A female mentor we felt, is very important with female students.Group exercises worked well as they enjoyed building on top of one another's ideas. But their attention got diverted easily if the teaching got too ‘wordy’.
Women are keen to learn and are looking for opportunities to explore their creative expression as well as an opportunity to earn while balancing their household responsibilities. They are skilled and aware of craft techniques and contemporary machine work. They however lack both the awareness as well as the direction to take craft products to a more refined commercial version hence it is difficult for them to make marketable products on their own and be collaborators. So we see their thirst for creative endeavors and talent on the one hand and a short supply of workforce on the other.
Overall it was a great time for us mentors as well. Interacting with the children and adults and trying to understand their point of view was an experience in itself.
We learned also that a circle or a line or even the color black meant completely another thing to them than what it meant to us. This was a good learning for us, because it helped us justify the concept of ‘getting to know your user well before designing for him or her’, to them.
The workshops had to also keep evolving as we went along, as initial plans had to be changed according to circumstances and participants' responses to it. We therefore learned also that we needed to be really flexible and open minded.
4th May 2015
Some of our insights at the end of the two extraordinary days is that there is an abundant supply of manpower in villages quite unexposed to urban lifestyles, hence unable to identify opportunities and are therefore often unused or unheard.
We have all heard about poor attendance in village schools. But the eagerness and joy with which children participated here, wanting to even skip lunch, tells us that children do not lack an interest in learning but perhaps the way in which they learn. We tried our best to interweave fun and learning in our workshop and children responded wholeheartedly. The right balance of authority and friendliness as well of structure and freedom to explore got children to trust us, enjoy and learn. While such approaches exist in city schools, it is perhaps rare in villages. After an instruction based first day, we guided them a bit and then left them to explore the artist/designer in them on the second day. It was an attempt to inspire them to look at household and locally available objects in a new light. In the long run, it means helping them come up with their own solutions instead of solutions handed out to them. In the context of local innovation, they did really well, demonstrating commendable ingenuity in both concepts and creations.
The youth were very participative. However unlike the younger children, while they were quite skilled, their divergent thinking abilities got more constrained. Once they understood the context however, they used it well. For example, one child designed a walking stick for his grandfather that can stand by itself so his hands can be free when he needs to cough. After understanding what design is, they summarized God to be the best designer as he made our functioning body. Our examples with visuals were great triggers, more so when from their own context. For example, we used graphic design examples from their clothes. But it was hard for them to maintain attention for long and shyness and language barrier were considerable. 
Women are keen to learn and are looking for opportunities to explore their creative expression as well as an opportunity to earn while balancing their household responsibilities. They are skilled and aware of craft techniques and contemporary machine work. They however lack both the awareness as well as the direction to take craft products to a more refined commercial version hence it is difficult for them to make marketable products on their own and be collaborators. So we see their thirst for creative endeavors and talent on the one hand and a short supply of workforce on the other. 
Menfolk are really excited to see new products. Helping them solve local issues is a great trigger to keeping them engaged and occupied. We think that next time we should conduct this workshop with
people from the same trade together as a group so we can plan and address their core issues in a deeper manner. For example, one workshop for a carpenter group, one for masons, one for farmers etc.. And they are ever interested in anything they believe will give them some monetary benefit. However, for a working class group like ours, we need to plan this for a time when they are free and especially not during harvesting season.We also found that being humble and developing a
friendship is key for them to trust and engage with us.
Overall it was a great time for us mentors as well. Interacting with the children and adults and trying to understand their point of view was an experience in itself. 
We learned also that a circle or a line or even the color black meant completely another thing to them than what it meant to us. This was a good learning for us, because it helped us justify the concept of ‘getting to know your user well before designing for him or her’, to them. The workshops had to also keep evolving as we went along, as initial plans had to be changed according to circumstances and participants' responses to it. We therefore learned also that we needed to be really flexible and open minded.
Design is a way of thinking and through this workshop we tried to teach the right way to think and then showed how creative thinking and asking the right questions could help them solve a lot of their problems and address a lot of their issues. Hopefully we were able to spark an interest in design in their minds.
4th May 2015
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