“The Hard Copy is all about celebrating creators in India and the DUp scholarships are a great way to do that” says Meeta Malhotra, founder of THC. Navneet Nair, Head of Design for PhonePe, feels this is a great way to encourage documentation around Design and share our craft with others.

The Scholarships were instituted primarily with this focus — to encourage documentation, and not just at the event, but beyond it. They are not meant to market DesignUp — but share the learning, share the key takeaways from the Speakers, Talks, Workshops and Masterclasses. Scholars are supported with a fully paid tracel, stay and an all-access DesignUp Pass.

This year we had 2x the submissions of 2018 and some great profiles. Shortlisting was hard. Prabin is the mentor for the Photography track, Rasagy for Sketchnotes.

The 2019 DesignUp Scholars:

For Long-form Copy

• Viba Mohan — is a 2nd time DesignUp Scholar, you can find Viba’s writing/thinking on Medium as well as the DesignUp’s site (like this one)
• Pratika Yashaswi, based out of Hyderabad, has been writing on culture and has written on events on like KDY
• Preethi Shreya, a former Product Marketer turned Designer, Preethi’s writing has been published as part of UxDesign.cc, InVision and others
• Mahip Chaudhary interned at Swiggy, and eventually decided to tell his tales ‘across frames’ — swipe through visual essays!

For Photography/Imaging

• Shubhasish Bhattacharjee, leads a Ux Team and is an avid photographer — capturing nature. This will be a time when he moves indoor!
• Lakshmanan Palani works for Zeta, has a very diverse range of subjects when it comes to photography. His super power: stop-motion videos

For Data Journalism

• Ashrish Choudhury is a student, and runs a widely followed YouTube channel that slices through complexity and embraces subjects as diverse as cricket and politics— India In Pixels

For Sketch Noting

• Rajasee Ray is an illustrator, graphic designer and co-founder of LadyFingersCo. Her eclectic work can be found on insta.
• Weiman Kow, from Singapore, impressed us with her coverage of the 2019 DesignUp Asia Conference (in Singapore of course).
• Nikkita M is an artist, doodler and uxer — whose work, interestingly, features on some of the DesignUp give-aways and merchendise.

And there’s a fascinating story behind Nikkita’s foray into sketch-noting.
In her own words:

“I was at DUp 18 when I noticed Ben Crothers doodling and doing live sketch near the stage when speakers were talking. This intrigued me, and I wanted to understand what exactly was happening on that easel and the artboard.

In addition, I noticed Rasagya working alongside Ben Crothers. At the font workshop, I happened to be seated next to Rasagya when curiosity got the better of me and I asked him what this art form was called. That was when he told me about ‘sketch-noting’. It was the first time I heard this and was told Ben Crother’s books are on sale on Sketch noting. My ill luck, I missed the book but I finally found it on Amazon and I immediately ordered it.

I was so fascinated by Sketch Noting ever since DUp 18, that I have been reading and practicing this beautiful art form of capturing memories in my own little way by employing doodles!”

if you’re coming to DUp19 — you’ll find many fo them in action. If you’re not, they’ll help you navigate through the content, sessions and talks.