Actuary Actually!

I am Jaanvi Jhamtani. I grew up in Pune. Went to a CBSE school till 5th and then shifted to an ICSE school. In ICSE, the focus is on understanding. The ICSE teacher does not expect you to take notes when she talks. The ICSE English teaching is better – with more stress on writing. … Read more

Building Customer Loyalty

Atul Manohar did his schooling from Pune’s Jnana Prabodhini and then architecture from MM Pune. Immediately after finishing his architecture, he went on to IIT Bombay IDC to do his Masters in Design. He worked with corporates for a dozen years in companies like Mahindra Satyam and Informatica, mostly in the IT sector – intermingling … Read more

Antimony in Plastic

Number of words – 226 For example, the average mass-produced piece of polyester clothing and a typical water bottle both contain antimony, a toxic heavy metal known to cause cancer under certain circumstances. Let’s put aside for the moment the issues of whether this substance represents a specific danger to the user. The question we … Read more

If brute force doesn’t work, you’re not using enough of it.

Number of words – 90 If the first industrial revolution had a motto, we like to joke; it would be “If brute force doesn’t work, you’re not using enough of it.” The attempt to impose universal design solutions on an infinite  number of local conditions and customs is one manifestation of this principle and its … Read more

Overpowered Soaps

Number of words – 292 In products design, a classic example of the universal design solution is mass-produced detergent. Major soap manufacturers design one detergent for all parts of the United States or Europe, even though water qualities and community needs differ. For example, customers in places with soft water, like the Northwest, need only … Read more