Department of Design

Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH) is a premier institute of science and technology established in 2008. IITH has been consistently ranked in the&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/reports/" rel="noopener noreferrer">top 10 institutes</a>&nbsp;in India for Engineering&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nirfindia.org/2021/EngineeringRanking.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">according to NIRF</a>&nbsp;making it one of the most coveted schools for science and technology in the country.

IITH offers&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/academics/under-graduate/">undergraduate programs</a>&nbsp;in all the classical engineering disciplines, applied sciences, design, as well as several modern interdisciplinary areas. Students are given a flexibility to explore a broad set of areas, and potentially pursue a minor or double major in a discipline that is not their own. Students who wish to seek a deeper understanding of their own discipline are strongly encouraged to get involved in cutting-edge research with the help of a faculty to mentor them, and earn an Honors in their own field.

The very foundation of IIT Hyderabad is based on&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/research/">research and innovation</a>. The vibrant research culture is evident from the number of patents and publications that IITH produces consistently every year. IITH offers&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/academics/programmes-offered/">graduate programs</a>&nbsp;at both a masters, and a doctoral level, in several diverse areas. There are separate programs for technology, design, science, and liberal arts. The&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/academics/post-graduate/">MTech program</a>&nbsp;is offered in various modes and durations to cater to the ever-growing need of postgraduate level professionals in the country.

IITH encourages and supports&nbsp;<a href="https://iic-iith.netlify.app/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">innovation and entrepreneurship</a>&nbsp;at every stage. The minor program in entrepreneurship is open to all students of IITH, and many of the courses are offered by industrialists who are entrepreneurs themselves. There are various&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/research/centres-incubators/">innovation centers and incubators</a>&nbsp;that promote entrepreneurship and help mentor young innovators. IITH has been very successful in building tie-ups with leading academic institutions around the globe.

IITH enjoys a very special relationship with Japanese universities and industries that goes beyond academic and research collaborations. In fact, some of the iconic buildings in IITH campus will carry the signature of Japanese architecture.

IITH creates a unique holistic ecosystem for education that offers interactive learning, a very flexible academic structure, cutting-edge research, strong industry collaboration, and entrepreneurship. This is an environment which enables students and faculty to translate their dreams into realities.

IIT Hyderabad

Books—traditional repositories of knowledge—have been evolving continuously since time immemorial. From clay tablets to hand-painted illuminated manuscripts, and finally, after the Chinese and Gutenberg's printing technology, the idea of mass production of printed volumes has changed immensely, and new technologies have made variations beyond imagination. The introduction of eBooks has further initiated a drastic shift toward the digital platform. Although books in electronic formats have widely been adopted by a diverse range of readers, their overall interactivity has often been debated. Have digital reading experiences reached their zenith? Or are there new unexplored avenues for making them more interactive? This research investigates the many possibilities that can be integrated into a digital reading experience. Focusing on the Ancient Indian script—Brahmi as a reference model, this study aims to investigate the many aspects affecting the translation of traditional text-heavy and fewer image-based subjects into immersive digital experiences. The design processes adopted, rationale behind decision-making, content structuring &amp; aesthetical fine-tuning, and the development of the final design solution reveal crucial leads for creating effective digital reading and learning experiences. This paper also evaluates numerous ways to add 3D technology interactions for an immersive user experience. Also, making use of 3D technology adds an eye-catching visual experience for the readers. The effectiveness of adding 3D virtual museums and virtual learning techniques to enhance digital reading and learning experiences has also been studied during the research. Feedback received from real-time users has conclusively validated the efficacy of the digital experience achieved through its novel approaches, pioneering use of 3D modeling techniques, and layering of multisensory elements. The application of these learnings can be effectively used for transforming traditional knowledge into interactive digital platform learning experiences for enhanced comprehension.

World University root node

International Conference on Research into Design

Exploring New Idioms for Books as Interactive Experiences in Digital Domain

With appropriate financial information, individuals can bail themselves out of destitution. Despite this fact, finance is an overlooked aspect of most people’s lives. Many societal and scientific aspects are integrated into our educational curriculums but unfortunately, no electives on understanding the fundamentals of finance are offered. Although children know that money needs to be kept in banks for its safety, they are clueless as to how they can increase their savings without compromising their lifestyles. This study is targeted at developing a playful game for educating children above 10&nbsp;years of age about the many benefits of investment and financial prudence. With an aim of drawing and retaining the attention of youngsters, the design solution is tethered around participative approaches and building collaborative creative spaces, and a fun way of learning a complex subject of Finance. The fundamental concepts of earnings, expenditure, savings, and investment for the future were demystified with simple examples. The concept of Income Tax was also included while drafting the game architecture. An exciting new&nbsp;board game named “Cash Hike” has been designed focusing on six major investment types–Savings, Fixed Deposits (FD), Public Provident Fund (PPF), Gold, Mutual Funds, and Stocks–for a maximum of four players. The game strategy involves imparting knowledge and giving experiences on how different investment types work. Feedback received from real-time users has conclusively validated the efficacy of the game in making the players understand the importance of informed monetary decisions.

Enhanced Learning Experience with Gamification to Increase Awareness of Finance Among Young Children

Designing for both typical and atypical groups is pivotal for achieving inclusivity. Atypical groups mainly include children with learning disabilities such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, and dysgraphia. Dyspraxia is one of the toughest atypical groups to regulate in a normal classroom, as they are kinetic and tactile learners. In the current scenario, a reinforcement technique is used to teach them subjects like geometry where they are shown shapes or figures and the composition is memorized. This can impart short-term memory but would not improve visual intelligence in identifying other objects. No significant changes have been introduced for the learning and evaluation of these children, and for improving their visual intelligence, hence, there is a severe need for design intervention in this area. One of the important questions asked was, how can we devise a learning technique for children suffering from dyspraxia and improve their visual intelligence? The main objective of this research is to find out a technique to help children understand spatial relationships between different objects, construct them and track their visual intelligence in accordance with the same. With the research findings, a learning toy named “Tomo” has been devised that uses glyph-based visualization to improve the overall shape and form comprehensibility. It is also equipped with intelligent assistance through a mobile application that would allow the parents and teachers to track the improvement in children.

Designing a Learning Toy for Children with Constructional Dyspraxia to Improve Their Visual Intelligence

This paper attempts to provide an insight into the trends in the Gond narrative styles and the interpretation of Gond elements in recent graphic novels and publications. Gond art has evolved a long way from the floor ‘digna’ paintings in tribal settlements to paper and canvas paintings in books and galleries. In recent times, contemporary artists have been experimenting with different motifs, styles and representations, iconography, mediums and colours—both traditional and modern. However, very little is talked about this changing nature of Gond aesthetics in books and paintings that has evolved to incorporate contemporary subjects. The purpose of this paper is to review and analyse the Gond aesthetics of five such graphic novels and publications to get an idea of the changes and experimentations that occurred in relation to the traditional Gond painting.

Trends in the Gond Aesthetics and Narrative Styles in Graphic Novels

Virtual reality (VR) offers a gamut of new possibilities for creating computer-generated environments that can be readily used for recreating lost landscapes. Although virtual in nature, such replenished surroundings can be immensely effective in depicting ruined/partially ruined heritage sites. Incorporation of architectural reconstruction in stereoscopic 3D imagery amidst VR scenarios is capable of transforming “real” heritage sites into “virtual” environs retaining much of their past glories. By carefully blending the aspects of topography, urban planning, and architectural features, VR landscapes can create immersive experiences providing rare glimpses of the old grandeur and aesthetics. This study is aimed at the preservation of heritage at the ruined metropolis of Mandu, now in the State of Madhya Pradesh, through Virtual Reality (VR). Mandu was also known globally for its urban city planning and celebrated architecture which was ahead of its time. Although it was considered a true representation of the “Eastern” imperial style, much of Mandu’s architecture was lost. Although much attention has been given towards 3D reconstruction of other disfigured historic sites, Mandu has been mostly overlooked. This paper conducts a thorough study of historical accounts, photographic samples, and in-person visits in order to reconstruct a 3D virtual representation of Mandu as close as possible to the documented records. The whole experience viewed through a virtual reality system showcases the real Mandu as it looked in its heyday. Learnings gained through this project can be used for documentation, recovery, preservation, and presentation of heritage to a diverse audience across India and the world.

Heritage Preservation with Virtual Reality (VR): Recreating the Lost Glory of the Medieval Metropolis of Mandu

Track&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; : Beyond Human-Centred Design Research Title&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;: Looking beyond Human Centred Design approach for bettering lives of Construction Workers in India Author(s)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;: &nbsp;AVR, Srikar; Padam,S(15th International Conference of the European Academy of Design)

Looking beyond Human Centred Design approach for bettering lives of Construction Workers in India

Photography and Culture

Rediscovering the Work of Sham Sundar Das: A Look at the Photographer’s Unrecognized Legacy

Online connections and virtual world have dominated the last few years of our social life. There has been a lack of each other’s physical presence. The aim of this paper is to create an experience to connect with people in a physical space. The project is named as Connect. Connect is a series of nostalgic games to be played in a spatially augmented environment. The experience aims to inculcate feel-good emotions and enhance socialization and collaboration. Connect involves the intersection of projection mapping, game design and experiential design. Two nostalgic games, Snake and Pacman, are developed for the experience. Several iterations are made and tested simultaneously. The games are made multiplayer and tested by projecting in different spaces. The final execution is done in Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) where people play both the games. The participants felt good after playing and were seen socializing and collaborating with each other. Verbal feedback along with post experience questionnaire confirmed the same, expanding the future scope of the project. © 2023, ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering.

Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social-Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, LNICST

Recreating Gaming Experience Through Spatial Augmented Reality

A Rotating Cylindrical Display is recommended as an ergonomic approach for the communication of scripts in Parallel Interactive Narratives in Virtual Reality (PIN VR). VR studies propose grammars to orient a navigator’s gaze towards intended areas; however, it is argued that it is this limitation of the navigator’s ability to choose their own viewing direction, which restricts the full potential of the medium. PIN VR experiences address this limitation by allowing the navigator to teleport from one narrative location to another; while the remaining narrative locations run in parallel sequences, irrespective of the navigator’s presence. A study on scriptwriting for VR reveals that there is no standard approach for VR script design. This leads to the possibility to explore scriptwriting for PIN VR experiences. Through a Screen Production Enquiry, a PIN VR script has been attempted in a Traditional and Spherical Format. It is observed that these formats limit the representation of parallel narrative timelines. An ergonomic solution is found in a combination of a Tabular Format and a Rotating Cylindrical PIN VR Display. The display includes parallel scripts mounted around the surface of a cylinder. The display adopts relevant ergonomic and functional details from a rotating literature rack and a digital kiosk display. The Rotating Cylindrical PIN VR Display has been tested with VR production crew members for its ergonomic and visual communication effectiveness. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems

Rotating Cylindrical PIN VR Display—An Ergonomic Approach for VR Scripts

Perceiving inspirational material is an important part of conceptual design. Cognitive processes like ‘analogical reasoning’ and ‘semantic processing’ in the perception of inspirational material are widely studied. However, the distinct role played by aspects of emotion such as perception of affective quality in the perception of inspirational material is relatively unexplored. Through a descriptive phenomenological approach, this paper details the subjective experiences of seven design students perceiving inspirational material for a graphic design task. The students’ perception of inspirational material ranged from ‘surface’ to ‘deep’ modes. Through perception of affective quality, a distinct deep perceptual mode, students subjectively valued and related to inspirational materials and assessed their potential to evoke changes in feelings. Inspirational material shown in virtual reality (VR) induced immersive ‘first-person experiences’, heightening other modes like perception of affective quality. These findings detail the inspiration process in graphic design and advance wider research on design inspiration and cognition. © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.