How I Watch Videos + Other Tools and Tips

There is a ton of content on the web which is really exciting to watch but we can't exactly spend all of our lives on Youtube. Here are a few tools you may or may not have come across, that make life on the internet a lot easier.

Watch Later

Youtube has a great feature that doesn't need much explanation. It's a great way to stay on track while you're surfing the net. Now don't get distracted from work by videos you're worried you may never find again. Of course this also means that you have to find more time to actually go through everything on your watch later playlist.

Speed Settings

Youtube also lets you play most videos at a higher speed. Imagine getting through a whole season of Breaking Bad in half that time. Intense! Exactly the same with slowly dictated tutorials about something you're dying to know.
Figuring out the gibberish you hear at 2x is another challenge altogether :P

Feedly

For the not so tech savvy, RSS feeds are a quick way of keeping track of updates from your favorite blogs and websites. Feedly is an RSS feed Reader that collects all your favorite feeds in one place. I use it a lot for keeping track on Core 77 and Yanko Designs as well as websites I wouldn't visit ever otherwise. It's available on computers as well as on app stores.

Clearly

Ever felt really intense hatred for a website's look, deep down in your gut? Or if you'd like Wikipedia to look less displeasing, the Clearly plug in is your answer. This product from Evernote makes the web a more beautiful place, because simple can be beautiful.

Pinterest

If you've ever trawled through Google image results for inspiration, you'll release how hit and miss it is. Pinterest is a site that lets you pin images to your own board and find images on other people's boards. The boards could be as specific or random as you like. Its is a great tool for designers especially for curating reference images that you could go through later for inspiration.
Since everything is sorted out, you're basically using somebody else to do your image trawling for you.

What the Heck is Design??? - A Video Comparision

Well nobody really knows what Design is exactly..Being a dynamic area, involving very dynamic people, it doesn't have a static definition! What I understand of design is always changing as I see and understand more. However it does involve a few basic ideas. You've gotta figure it out for yourself.

This is a field with no traditional textbooks!

These videos ought to give you somewhere to start.

I've also put up some tips on how I watch videos

William Burnett, 2007

Yes the graphics are terrible, give it a break! What matters is the idea behind it all. If you thought that design was this, then you will be amazed by how much more it can be. Burnett narrowly focuses on one way that designers work. Designers can work individually but they also work in teams. The briefs they work on range from toasters to train stations. There's no limit to the areas a designer or a team can influence. 

"There is no challenge, big or small, in the world that could not benefit from a healthy dose of cavalier creativity." 

- David Kelley, IDEO

Design Council UK, 2011

The context here is predominantly set in the UK but the examples are internationally famous! It makes a lot more sense..  

Bill Moggridge, 2010

Fair warning, this is an hour long video. I suggest watching it at 1.5x! I don't expect that anyone has an hour to spend listening to a talk but even if you do skip through bits of it you'll find something you've not seen before.. Heard of IDEO? or the Valentine typewriter by Ettorre Sottsass.. Well there's so much for you to discover!

16:09 is an example of an idea gone wrong.. Good design solves problems! 

Designers create SOLUTIONS!

This video is just full of good examples of various aspects of design.. It really puts a lot into perspective.

It is okay if you don't understand everything the first time you see it. Come back and watch it after you've spent some time exploring. You'll always find something new!

Keep up there are a lot more references to follow!

Detour One

Almost a year ago I was slogging it out- writing my board exams like hundreds of students out there... Like a lot of you were doing around now. Everyone tells you to focus on your tenth grade boards, its the final stretch, everything is easier after that.. Well it isn't.

You really start to work hard and make decisions right after that. One of those decisions inevitably is what are YOU going to be? Till now you could get away with being confused but your time runs up as you get closer to college application deadlines.

I never had a concrete idea of what I wanted to do- I could have been a scientist or a software developer or an engineer. Throughout school I always had options. I grew up with a lot of exposure to the field of design at home but until a year back I hadn't seriously considered it as my first choice.
In the middle of the two years I spent aiming to score enough to get into an IIT, I found that I wasn't enjoying what I was doing anymore. Even though I liked learning new things, I felt like I was giving up on something else. Here was my Detour!

I had a vague idea of what design implied but it was only after I started doing a lot of research into this field that I began to really appreciate it.
Background helped put a lot more into context.

There are a lot of students like you possibly, who are excited by this new field that seems so unconventional. Design has always attracted people from very diverse backgrounds. [ I have a friend who was working as a healthcare provider and is now pursuing a post-graduate degree in design. Quite a detour!]

A lot of you are exceptionally creative and will be accepted by design schools. However very few students [and fewer parents] actually know what Design is all about.
Sure it's all there on the internet, but it is quite difficult to decide where to start.

I'd like to share my perspective of design with you by putting up the most interesting things I've found down the road from my detour into design. I'm sure you'll have quite a trip!

I'm currently a design-student at DSK ISD in Poona IDC, IIT Bombay(June 2015), diving into the field of Product Design. I love all things related to tech, alternative rock and canines.