1. DIPLOMA PROJECT PROPOSAL
NANDINI CHANDAVARKAR VISUAL COMMUNICATION DESIGN
BRIEF
To expose, educate and involve children from low-income groups to a diverse database of
opportunities available to them by recognizing their interests, perceiving analogies and relations
between them & introducing them to new concepts in a way that is both creative and interactive.
Decontructing the term ‘Career’ from the viewpoint of ‘Interests’.
Backgound
As I look back and wonder how I came to choose Design as my career option, I remember a Career
Fair my school had organized for our high school batch. The room was filled with an array of at least 50
professions to choose from and we were baffled. Each child was tested on their aptitude and interests
by a professional career counsellor and was presented with a possible course of action. Our parents
envied the choices we had, claiming that when they were our age only 3 options were presented to them-
Engineering, Medicine and Arts. Our school catered to the middle & higher classes of society and had the
necessary resources to expose us to these professions and help steer us in the right direction.
In May, 2010, 8 suicides were reported in Karnataka due to students failing in their SSLC and PUC
examinations. And I thought to myself, did their schools have the resources to provide a counsellor?
Would they have changed their mind if they had known about their aptitude for a certain subject? Did they
think they only had the same three career choices that our parents had? Do Government schools offer
career services to their students?
NEED
To empower every child with the knowledge of the variety of professions available to him/her, apart from
Engineering, Medicine & Arts.
To engage children in finding out information for themselves.
To urge school programs to take children’s futures seriously.
To involve parents in helping see through their children’s aspirations.
To address the important values in every profession.
To give the right to every child to dream big for themselves and realize that nothing is impossible.
To dismiss notable stereotypical gender differences in life choices.
To convey to children that life is organic in nature.
To intrigue children.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Children from low economic backgrounds whose families generate an income of Rs. 2000 or less per
month. Children who attend school run by either an NGO or by the Government.
Ages: 12 to 14 years

2. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Employment vs. Livelihood
What are the range of opportunities available today? How can design help in exposing these professions?
What are the opportunities available for children who come from low socio-economic backgrounds? How
can the knowledge of these opportunities help in children’s aspirations?
How can the range of professions be introduced in a fun and interactive way? What role can the school
play in making this happen?
How can an interest in a subject lead to a career choice especially for these children? How can one go
beyond the word ‘Career’?
How can design help children differentiate between noble professions?
How can children help in improving their family’s capability of living a better life? What role do parents play
in imparting values from their own professions?
How can technology help in familiarizing children to various professions? How can children gain access to
this technology?
How can children be empowered to dream big for themselves?
How can society help in providing children with a platform where their aspirations can be met?
How important is practicality?
How can design eradicate gender differences in career options?
How can children be enthralled with the knowledge & integration of interests?
How can schools help see to a child’s interests without it’s curriculum deterring it?
APPROACH/ PROCESS
Understanding the context & creating a sound hypothesis:
New Economic Foundation, Appreciative Enquiry, Participative Design, Roger Hart, Paulo Freire, Robert
Chambers, IDEO Think Pad cards.
Creating the database:
Researching unique professions and already existing career options.
• Sources from Newspaper articles & clips, Education Times, Online Job Portals- naukri.com, monster.
com, etc.
• Career Digest
• Career Counseling Programs in schools
• Online research
• Speak with people from various backgrounds
• Questionnaires to assess the professions children already know
• National and International examples
Role of Psychology
Research the role of psychology in career counseling through,
• Interviews with Psychologist, Books, Internet

3. Designing a Career Module:
I will be playing an active role with the help of teachers in designing an interactive module. I will be
working with children from low-income groups, involving them in the design process through,
• Workshops- Role-playing, Story-telling, Activities, 3 days a week for 2 months
• Individual and Group interviews with children
• Research exercises in the library & internet
• Aptitude tests
• ‘Career Friday’- One speaker per week to talk about their profession
• Involving parents to speak about their professions
• Introducing them to national and international people in unique professions disregarding gender
• Audio & Visual Documentation
PRODUCT
I hope to come out with a product during the process in the form of an online portal for children and
students, or/and in the form of print material. Apart from that, I will be documenting the entire process in a
visual format.
RESOURCES
Newspapers, Books, Internet, Articles
Interviews with professionals
Working with NGOs like Parikrma & Government schools
Interviews, Discussions with people-
Ms. Shukla Bose (Founder - CEO, Parikrma Humanity Foundation)
Ms. Kanchan Banerjee (Akshara Foundation, Managing Trustee)
Geetha Narayanan (Teacher, Educational Entrepreneur, Research Scholar, New Media Art Curator)
Psychologists, Career Counsellors, Teachers, Volunteers
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Understanding the context of the problem.
Educating and discovering creativity for myself and understanding its value.
Designing & carefully structuring a module in general and also when dealing with children.
Learning to facilitate and interact with parents & children.
Sensitizing myself to terms and the various problems faced by the target audience.
Learning to work with the resources available to me.
Discovering how to engage children therefore motivating them to learn.
Understanding the role of a designer in the area of education & development.
The process of effective documentation.