PRESENTING... here To battle evil! Mili Sethia’s interdisciplinary design portfolio interdisciplinary design portfolio interdisciplinary design portfolio 

secret superheroism indesign illustration performance graphic Designer animator workshop-conductor Artist stitching workshop conduction photoshop illustrator infographics 2d animations branding & logo drawing & sculpture mural-making What I DO What I DO What I DO. storyboarding 

Short animation about the designer as a superhero Comic book a non-sequential narrative on on water Hand-painted organic t-shirts fundraiser stitch-a-story a shirt and scarf inspired by a cold virus \ The secret garden logotype MAIN INDEX click to view project MAIN menu click to view project Short animation on organic clothes production for Aura Game workshop on superheroes & designers Game workshop on the public’s Right to Information Act who i am what i do CURRICULUM VITAE product campaigning an all-year festive campaign in China 

about this background The Dream Generator was a mural depicting all my 15 classmates’ dreams, made in 10th grade on my high school wall. BACK TO MENU BACK TO MENU 

text taken with permission from superhero’s guide, a wordpress blog The Superdesigner's guide to saving the world Short animation about the designer as a superhero click to view video a kind of manifesto A short exploration of the idea of the designer as somebody who can change the world. The text was taken from a wordpress blog called The Superheroes Guide with permission, & modified ever-so-discreetly. Adobe Flash, April 2012. BACK TO MENU BACK TO MENU 

8 2 3 4 7 6 5 91011 12 This work is slightly rooted in the time it was painted, March 2011, when it had been only a few weeks after the tsunami disasters in Japan. Watercolour on paper, March 2010 1 Comic book a non-sequential narrative on on water VIEW ONLINE VIEW ONLINE a journey with water... BACK TO MENU BACK TO MENU 

Let’s talk government now. The Right to Information Act, was a groundbreaking law in battling corruption in India. The public’s awareness of this law was limited and we decided to use multimedia and a street intervention to interest citizens in using the law again. Done as part of a course on Public Space Hybrid Media, November 2010. AND SO THE STORY GOES.... In 2010, the metro in Bangalore that had not been built inspite of a decade’s worth of promises from the government. Game workshop on the public’s Right to Information Act We made posters concerning how many trees were cut in order to build the trains, interactive (responses in- set) December 2010 calendars asking people whether they thought the government would be true to its new deadline, and a few others. poster outreach free souvenirs Subverted December 2010 calendars with the metro logo and promotional photo of the upcoming metro asked a sly question: “Do you really think it’s happening?” music album click to hear 1 track We gave away souvenirs to a daily“concert” on the street. An audio recording of a public hearing at the RTI office was converted these into parody songs, where we highlighted some of the more controvertial parts in light repetition. Part I Part II . . . 

train model we wanted people to imagine their city with its own metro results conditions post-it wall we asked people if they felt ready for their city sidewalk expression people adding what they care about 12-4 pm on a weekday on a popular no-car street in Bangalore. We got about 100 on the pavement alone, and the healthy attention of 2 journalists. teamwork: In order to direct the audience to, the sidewalk drawing activity (below): which involved 4 stencils (a tree to represent ecology, the money symbol to represent taxes, a pencil to represent childrens’ education and a footprint to represent the carbon footprint). BACK TO MENU BACK TO MENU Part III 

Understanding your cotton t-shirt living & dyeing Part of an outreach to the public as well as future investors to explain the problems with current textile practices around the world. Adobe Flash, December 2012 Who are Aura? Aura is a textile company based in India that herbally dyes organic clothes - revoking an ancient Indian tradition of dyeing. Aura’s innovations includes a consummate water recycling plant as well. All work displayed is from my internship late 2012 and early 2013. Short animation on organic clothes production for Aura . . . 

In order to open up the factory’s inner processes to the ourside, I made signage for each part of the clothes making process within the factory, so that customers could comfortably visit and discover it. I also made some stichted signs for major office departments. One sign was a homage to their late dog, who had been buried under a tree, adding a further personal touch to the factory. Handmade factory signage explaining the unique clothes-making process . . . 

BACK TO MENU BACK TO MENU A one-daY PROJECT Prints for AUra LEFT: On the back of a ladies’ kurta, a painting of her small son made using Aura’s natural paint dyes, saying “She’s my cool green mom”. RIGHT: A satisfied cus- tomer of a custom hand-painted Aura t-shirt at the same exhibition, wearing a carricature of himself. fabric print design & on-the-spot t-shirt painting at an exhibition BACK TO MENU BACK TO MENU 

a poem: There's a storm in my breath If I cover my ears As though I were a world Cold water and high wind Swivelled in my nose As though I were a land Inhabitied by a tiny sea The same for my inhabitants But mobile to me. stitch-a-story inspired by a cold virus . . . 

A scarf made from recycled bits of cloth, and a shirt restylised. This activity was based on a poem that was inspired by the fact that I had a cold - and also the universal nature of grippe, which deserves its own clothing line. The scarf represents the “storm in my breath” line (refer top left photo), on the right ear flap there is a shirt with arms raised, to represent the line “if i cover up my ears” (top left and right). The shirt additionally goes on to exhibit dozens of kinds viruses of different kinds that are inhabiting the body. Photographer: Tanushree Agarwal Artist and model: Mili Sethia April 2011 BACK TO MENU BACK TO MENU 

Game workshop on superheroes & designers one day, I invited people to become superheroes... Where? NGMA, Bangalore. When? 18-10-2011 What? A little diversion at The Design Public Conference outside the food stalls. Why? An individual project done as part of a class in Design for Social Impact. My purpose here, in between lectures, was to give people some food for thought in their lunch breaks. . . . 

what are the real heroes like? What really “makes” a superhero? Along the wall of painted portraits of “unusual superheroes” from popular culture, people here got a chance to add a new one. The wall also included mirror with a note saying “Don’t you qualify to be here?” As an incentive, I offered to make portraits of the people who thought they deserved to be up there. The response to this was tremendous, and several people had their portraits made. A lot of people also enthusiastically stood around to discuss forms of heroism. Part I . . . 

Part III Part IV Part II I asked people to blame someone about random civ- ic problems in India, except for the convenient ones to blame: the government or the system. Options included armchair critics, themselves, bad laws, bad engineering, and more they could add. At the bottom, a participant placed “talking/ seeing”, a little higher up, “discussing/ blogging/ videotaping” and right on top someone placed “realisation/ personal happiness for all” Superheroes hide in shiny capes, designers hide behind shiny laptops. Superheroes have background music, designers have cool headphones. I asked people to contemplate & add to these ‘similarities’. Who's to blame for civic problems in india? What's the actualisation of a good intention? how alike are designers & heroes? . . . 

Part V results The crowd was mostly older than 20, & working indirectly or directly for social causes & design. Younger people tended to participate more, & some wanted to discuss more often than participate. The response was quite positive. superhero misfortune readings sample handpainted fortunes An invitation to get your superhero misfortune readings! BACK TO MENU BACK TO MENU 

coso ay sobr: hand-painted t-shirts for a fundraiser The Coso Ay Sobr fundraiser was created to raise money for animal welfare in the summer of 2010. The t-shirts used were made from organic cotton, provided by Aura Herbal wear, and orders have included a Tarkovsky movie poster, a personal poem from a loved one painted onto an apple, a Radiohead album cover, a stack of Tarantono DVDs, Virginia Woolf with a quote, a psychedelic Noam Chomsky, Gandalf, and more. March - December 2010 Hand-painted organic t-shirts fundraiser click each icon to view larger visit facebook page BACK TO MENU BACK TO MENU 

HGN HGN HGN HGN H G N Some font styles explored Finalised font: A typography style created as a logotype for a fictitious garden. The garden was named after a much-loved author - Francis Hodgson Burnett, who in turn was the author of “A Secret Garden”. Illustrator, April 2010 Other experiments: LOGOTYPE & LETTERFORM BACK TO MENU BACK TO MENU 

DISCOVER SEE SMELL TOUCH TASTE Take home Why this CONCEPT? ucnode 1 2 3 4 7 5 The inspiration for this concept comes from the story of Alice’s Adventures in Wonder- land. The project also shares values evoked in other fairy tales, such as the power of suggestion, the power of belief and the power of discovery by oneself. 1. Discovery through more sens- es is more memorable. 2. Discovery of a place by one- self is more likely to make a customer self-dependent and autonomous. Since online shopping is also a solo process, making “future of shopping” as motivating and exciting as possible becomes key. That’s why a lot depends on the cus- tomer’s ability to uncode clues. 3. Curiosity about a Western- Eastern medley of cultures. There remains a huge need to create interest in Homes-Up for the more local Chinese custom- ers. I’ve used specific elements of larger Chinese practices for a more nuanced customer- yielding strategy for ADEO and Homes-Up. Long Project Phase 3 - Mili Sethia presence outside the shop teach the online-offline paradox hint a “younger” Chinese culture suggest well-being m ake it feel personal create surprise using SMELL & TASTE 1 2 3 6 6 4 7 5 how can we instill an experience of discovery? UNRAVEL sky lanterns particular emphasis before and after spring double happiness homes-up colour themes mooncakes (offered outside and inside) Homes-Up flavours & smells follow the 372, Huahai lu before entering the shop: before leaving the shop: inside the shop: festive lanterns Create a vis- ual language and familiarity for Homes-Up products out- side the regu- lar reach of the showroom and website. Decorate places that have similar clientelle to Homes-Up and streets nearby with double happi ness sky lan- terns before the spring festival. As clients get- closer to the shop, such as when they are on Xuhui district or Huahai lu, the frequency of the symbol- ogy could get more intense, suggesting that Homes- Up is near. components mooncakes & flowers Use the mooncake, which has a history of holding se- cret messages inside, as a means to communicate with the clientelle. Distribute mooncakes in strategic plac- es such as other home decor exhibitions, places near the experience showroom, and local spaces where the tar- getted clientelle are likely to be. When the clients visit the shop, give them a themed (constructed) token flower as a memory of their visit to take home, with details about Homes-Up shopping online. components EXPERIENCE follow the 372, Huahai lu with clues inside flowers offered inside the shop particular emphasis before and after autumn EXPERIENCE where? places with –––emphasised decor festive places Exhibitions, shops and events for home decorations, 6 months of lanterns 6 months of mooncake notes on the experience BUSINESS PLAN Long Project Phase 3 - Mili Sethia Sky lanterns: Generic sky lantern with addi- tional Homes-Up designs + printed on eco-friendly paper & materials + installation permissions = 8,800 RMB/ 1200 lanterns (printed in bulk for the whole year, with 1 lantern = 9 RMB) Flower delivery rates: customers a year (3.650) x flowers (1 RMB) = 3.650 RMB In-house florist: [1500 RMB (monthly salary) + 500 RMB (garden) + 200 RMB (fertiliser costs)] x 180 days = 396,000 RMB Mooncake: Per piece (3 RMB) x 20 pieces/ day x 180 days = 8,800 RMB recipe: http://travel.cnn.com/shanghai/eat/ mooncake-recipies-every-skill-lev- el-093348 http://travel.cnn.com/shanghai/eat/ mooncake-recipies-every-skill-lev- el-093348 1. User sees some odd street decoration in a beautiful place. 2. User is offered some unusual flavoured moon- cake that has a message inside. 3. The mooncake tells you to follow the flowers way. 5. User finds out about the existence of the Homes- Up website. 4. User finds the shop. 5. Inside the shop, the user gets to understand that the strange flavour in the mooncake was a Homes- Up theme, and there are four more. 6. The user is given a flow- er as a token to remember Homes-Up by. 6 months of lanterns 6 months of mooncake product campaigning an all-year festive campaign in China A proposed all-year campaign for Homes-Up, a home decor shop in Shanghai. Chinese seasons are incorporated over 6-month periods using festive lanterns for 6 months, & flowers + mooncakes for the other 6 months. Illustrator, April 2013 BACK TO MENU BACK TO MENU 

A special notice about my thesis A language-based boardgame on transcultural citizenship Too often, the targets of innovateive language-learning products are children, & surely there are things adults can understand better & faster than children. Based on the supposition that languages are integral to identity, I decided to build a game for adults to learn to appreciate foreign language. This page summarises roughly the first of of my 3-phase research. . . . 

The game is to include the langauges Hindi, English, French & Mandarin. A new Hindi font was created by me as a result. One idea I explored was that of a card game, summaried on the far right. Each ‘King” is represented by a kid who represents the country of the language, the ‘Queen’ by a Farmer & ‘Jack’ by a Businessman. Using these 3 protagonists, & several actions + objects represented by other number cards, the players can play several semantic, or storytelling games along with regular games. However, the idea of a co-operative board game was chosen finally as a product. A special notice about my thesis A language-based boardgame on transcultural citizenship Text 

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who i am A graphic designer from India pursuing a Masters in Transcultural Design, going to graduate in September 2014 from Ecole de Design Shanghai, China. My portfolio, like my work, tries reflects that I value the power of design in improving our daily lives. It is also why I employ the metaphor of superhero and villain (both enacted by myself) in my design. My design-for-activism work has focused on making people aware of the power in their actions (and investigating agency for myself), and a lot of my projects so far have been preocupied with the superheroes’ long-term enemy: social injustice. Coming from a country rich in social as well as governmental problems, I look for art/ design opportunities in problems. My interest in designing for social impact has led me tactical media, guerilla marketing, and culture. I am currently looking to find ways in which I can make the most out of my skills through a four- to six-month internship. Currently, I am finishing my masters thesis on designing a language-learning board game for adults. BACK TO MENU BACK TO MENU 

all copyrights reserved Mili Sethia 2013 CONTACT me!!! Mumbai: 0091-9920780335 Shanghai: 0086-18201752736 email: [email protected] skype: milou-marvin all copyrights reserved Mili Sethia 2013 This portfolio was created on InDesign. All photographs & material are original and producted by artist. 

CONTACT - Mumbai: 0091-9920780335 Shanghai: 0086-18201752736 [email protected] all copyrights reserved Mili Sethia 2013 end of portfolio