Journey of five months, and some milestones

1. GLS INSTITUTE OF DESIGN, AHMEDABAD
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR 2015-16
GLS Institute of Design had its beginning in the month of June, 2016 with a uniquely crafted
Orientation week programme for its first batch of Design students- a strength of 157. Since its
inception till date, in a journey of only five months, it has attained quite some milestones. It
has already hosted several acclaimed dignitaries from diverse backgrounds like
internationally renowned designer Sri Subrata Bhoumilk, famed fashion designer Smt.
Anuradha Vakil, illustrious academic Prof Anil Gupta, noted anthropologist Dr Vinod
Agrawal, acclaimed designer Sri Sudarshan Dhir, well known entrepreneur Sri Sudhir
Sharma, communication designer Allen D Souza, exhibition designer Ms. Sangita Shroff,
product designer Sri Dinesh Korjan, architect Sri Gurjeet Singh Matharoo et al. There were
also sessions by exterior designer Janmejay Desai from Ferrari, Margie Sastry from Amar
Chitra Katha, Dr Dinesh Avasthi on entrepreneurship development, Errol Pires Nelson from
Textile Design and workshop by Apple Inc. It has network with several educational and
cultural bodies like the British Council Library, the Budhan Theatre Group etc. The GLSID
faculties have professional presence at different platforms.
To keep the students involved and to extend the teaching and learning beyond the four walls
of the class room various clubs have been formed with students as the core members under
the guidance of the faculty team like the reading club, the documentation team, the film club,
library club, sketching club, campus management team, student’s activity club, resource
mapping and database management group, experimentation and exploration club and
grievance redressal group etc. Students have also organized sessions on Book Reading, Film
Festival and Music Festival as part of the club initiatives. Both teachers and students have
equally participated in these activities thus making the interaction between the faculty and
students more interactive and lively. GLSID students have actively participated in inter
college competitions like GLS University fest Visleshan. They have won several competition
prizes in the fest in areas like First Prize in Clay modelling, First Prize in Sneaker Painting,
First Prize in Stand- up Comedy and Second Prize in solo dance. Many students have also
taken part in various co-curricular activities within Ahmedabad city like JOSH Festival and
Times Fresh Face Competition.

2. GLS ID strongly believes in the philosophy of learning by doing. It is essential for any
Design Institute to create an environment for exploration and experimentation because these
are the key to innovations. Each Saturday students do experimentation in groups and do
presentations to the entire GLSID community. This enables them to connect their learnings,
take it beyond classroom exercises and also develop thinking and execution skills. It also
helps to develop qualities like group dynamics, time management and resourcefulness. In the
first semester, students have shown tremendous creative outputs in terms of the Saturday
explorations. GLSID has already planned its Value magazine called JOT (Join Our Trail).
This magazine will be a platform for the students and faculty alike to voice their ideas,
showcase their work and also connect to the larger world of Design. GLSID has also earned
the respect of the other departments within the GLS University. GLSID got focused in a write
up “GLS Institute of Design- Off to a Flying Start” in the GLS University newsletter-GLS
Voice, July 2016.
Design is about connecting and relating. At GLS ID students are trained to make the
connection between their culture, the society around them and the larger world. Several
activities are planned to make students feel connected to the society and culture like theatre
performances, Blood Donation Camp, Freshers’ welcome party etc, Events like Garba
celebration has been organized in which the students and faculties have taken part with equal
enthusiasm. GLSID has an Anti-Ragging Cell in place and also a Women’s Development
Cell. We have both students and parents’ representation on board for these Cells to maintain a
two way exchange between the institute, its students and the parent’s body. Under SLA
course as part of course assignment and interaction with the society students have come up
very rich and varied documentations of artisans and films on topics like Mata ni Pachedi,
Puppetry, Patola, Textile Printing and some very experimental and innovative models related
to different art history periods as part of the History of Art Course. There has also been
documentation of innovative best practices of student’s work in other courses like Design
Drawing, Geometric Construction, Composition –Colour, Analytical Drawing and
Fundamental of Design (composition). GLSID faculties give live demonstration as part of
various courses in the class which is again part of its unique pedagogy.
The programme at GLSID aims to connect the students with the best design institutes of the
world and the strong established industry network. Students and Faculties had an interactive
and exposure session with international design school of La Salle, Canada and also a session

3. with a celebrity like Boman Irani from the Bollywood film Industry. Besides GLSID has
several reputed professionals and academicians, who are part of the GLS fraternity and from
the design field to lead, hand hold and support GLS Institute of Design.
The Director of GLSID has an approval to initiate the unique idea of Ahmedabad City Design
Council (ACDC) where he has proposed that is time that we (design) educational institutes
from Ahmedabad from all design domains come together to demonstrate the value of design
to improve people’s lives in city. The aim is to create ACDC, a neutral design forum which
will collaborate, network, discuss and create best practices, and identify common areas that
can be shared and worked upon. This should become a case study for other cities within India
and also the world. GLSID would take the lead in achieving the shared goals which is
networking and connecting all designers and design education in the city, enabling members
to contribute to raise the standard of life in Ahmedabad in meaningful ways, mobilizing
support and promoting adoption of common best practices and exchanging information and
collaborate and thus help to make Ahmedabad known for its world class Design ambience.
The Mission of GLSID is to have the students in focus. All the teaching & learning
techniques are designed with academic interest & participation of students in mind.
Transforming a student into a creative design professional is the prime goal of the institute.
Students get all kinds of support required to shape their career as creative professionals.
Inspiration & creativity are integral parts of life at GLS Institute of Design. The lush green
campus with huge open space motivates minds to be creative and bring design innovations.
The energy that flows in the air of GLSID inspires imagination which is essential for
designers. The highly motivated and lively environment gives a new learning experience of
lifetime and unforgettable stay for the students. The diversified and cross-cultural
environment inspires healthy competition with rich values
Overall one can say that the result of the hard work by the faculty and the motivation of the
students is already showing in terms of the quality of work from the students and the energy
and enthusiasm that is been generated within the short span of five months of its inception.
GLSID always keeps its door open to welcome any visitor throughout the year. So please
come and be part of the experience that is GLSID.