An ocean is made up of drops of water, just like knowledge is enriched by drops of experience. Passion is the rudder that guides every ship through the ocean of possibilities. My name is Sanjeev Gupta and I am the Design Lead at CollPoll. For me, design is more than just a passion for me, and this is my story.

STOP 1: Bokaro Steel City, Jharkhand

I hail from Bokaro Steel City, Jharkhand and my beginnings were very humble. The concept of moving into another city was alien to me while growing up. I was never a serious student and vested my time more in sketching and drawing. The realisation of having my passion as a career option came only after a few friends suggested I apply to Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and study arts and design there. After 12th grade, I took monthly courses on ‘Still Life’ and ‘Human Sketching’ to better my art capabilities. I had my application to BHU accepted as I prepared myself mentally to take the next step. Just the thought of leaving town and the ‘government-job-only’ mentality behind with very less idea about art and design itself; seemed a daunting task.

Stop 2: Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi

At BHU, I pursued BFA in Applied Arts for 4 years and graduated with first division. The opportunity to study Graphics was the major reason for choosing Applied Arts. I realized the importance of attention to detail at BHU. As the course drew to a close, the career options were rather curbed. Not wanting to teach, I appeared for a few exams to pursue my master’s further.

After trips to places like Gujarat to appear for exams, I ended up opting for MFA in Illustration back at BHU. Whilst I came back to BHU, another friend got through to National Institute of Design (NID), Gandhinagar. Familiar with my work, he suggested I try and opt for Lifestyle Accessories after my masters. Although my ultimate aim was to get a job after MFA, I had an eye on NID ever since. The idea of engaging myself into a third degree without working professionally for even a day seemed far-fetched, but my family stood strong behind me and supported throughout.

By the end of MFA, I had 2 corporate job offers in hand and an opportunity to finally realise my dream of being a design professional. But then, the chance to learn from an institute of worldly repute like NID seemed equally if not more lucrative.

Stop 3: National Institute of Design, Gandhinagar

I took a decision to take up M.Des in Lifestyle Accessories Design from NID. The decision in itself was a tough one because it meant giving up a long-time dream of starting work as a design professional. And that decision changed my life! The freedom to attend classes even other than one’s own course broadened my horizons of thought. I learned the value of research and mind mapping in design. The realization that I can achieve anything I wanted slowly dawned in, as I found myself getting engrossed into material handwork other than just visual design. I had a new-found love of studying material properties and putting it to life in the form of craft. As a designer, craft meant I could see my ideas in motion.

Stop 4: Mumbai

If you thought ‘diversity’ was just a word for me, think again! After graduating from NID, I got involved with Jewellery Design and shifted to Mumbai. My world shrunk to the little details of ornaments and I excelled at it. Freedom was what I yearned for, and having seen my work not make a greater impact on the upper scale, I left a year and a half to freelance as a graphic designer for websites for a while.

Stop 5: Bangalore

A few months into freelancing, the opportunity to join Butterfly Innovations came up. It was a spur of the moment decision, and I found myself taking the very next bus to Bangalore to join the company! User Interface (UI) Design was still an unknown thing to me. I wasn’t familiar that there is coding behind each design element and the coding mattered on an application. At Butterfly Innovations, I got the chance to paint my career on a new technological canvas altogether! I’ve always felt a perfect balance between motivation because of the friendly work atmosphere; and improvement because of active feedback and critique here. No matter how much or where all you work in life, adapting to your work environment is essential to succeed. I’ve adapted in my own way, putting research-work and mind-mapping to work whilst starting every design from scratch. With an ambitious start-up like Butterfly Innovations, with so many teams working in tandem; there are many ideas flying around. It becomes imperative for a designer to capture the right ideas and channel them to user and application needs for design. That is the most important lesson and ability I’ve acquired. Reminiscing about my design work prior to joining Butterfly Innovations and what I do today; I really feel like I’ve applied my experience to great use here- learning and growing with the company. And the satisfaction of seeing your creativity break barriers, push through perceptions and achieve recognition is something a designer only dreams of. And I can say I’m living my dreams!