It’s here. For budding (and experienced) story-tellers!

What does that even mean? A limited number of Scholarships are now open for Designers and Non-Designers who tell stories and document via varied media: blogs, vlogs, sketch-notes, articles, photo-essays and more. You could be from any part of the world—but use English, even if it’s just for the subtitles or as a second language!

Here’s your chance to present your unique ‘voice’ and showcase your storytelling to peers, industry leaders, students, professionals and influencers.

Who is it for?

You could be a student or a beginner, an experienced pro working in a new-age publication or someone who wants to transform a side-project into something more serious and long-lasting. You don’t need to be a designer, but understanding Design helps! And you are probably very good with finding your way across social media (whether LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram or Fb or many more) or the blogging universe, stitching together words and images—and possibly getting some die-hard fans in the process. You don’t need millions of followers (and unlikely you’ll then be applying for a scholarship), but what we are looking for is enthusiasm, zeal and promise. And some trail of stories, narratives and ‘publications’ in some form!

Or if you know someone who fits this—please share away!

What we offer

Here’s what we‘ll offer to those shortlisted for this programme—

One: Free (and open) access to The DesignUp Conference—to its speakers, volunteers, backstage, speaker-dinners. That’s more than a Premium Pass (worth INR 25k). And more: because there are some things money can’t buy — like access to some of the top designers who come to speak, attend and lead workshops. An expanded network and possible new opportunities.

Two: If you live or work outside Bangalore — paid travel and stay!

Three: Mentoring sessions with pros who are great at their craft — and have been honing their skills. Whether it’s sketch-noting, photography or videography, or working with text and images. We know a few good people who can help you can raise your game!

Four: Most importantly, access to it’s wide (and growing) audience base. A recent pre-event speaker confessed to seeing her profile views go up 2000x after she was showcased on DesignUp. We didn’t verify it, but we would love to believe her. And we are talking of a longer association here—a lot more visibility for you and your chosen platform, or communication form.

What do we expect?

Simple: tell the DesignUp 2018 Conference story — the people, the talks, tracks, the workshops—in your own unique voice. Whether it’s funny, serious, thoughtful, quirky, sharply insightful, illustrated, narrated, taped. A series of linked ‘publications’ is what we are expecting. These could be live, via some social media platform, or on your own site. We are also happy to offer the DesignUp site or it’s various social media channels. We’ll spread the word and expect you to allow us to publish it on our own site/blog/channels.

Interested?

Do keep links to your work (dropbox files, blog posts, youtube links) handy and put in your creative chops when filling in the form. Applications close August 25th — midnight IST.

What’s DesignUp?

A short backstory: DesignUp started with the idea of raising the design agenda within tech companies and tech-led businesses. DesignUp is volunteer-driven and community led. There are no full-time salaried employees — we all have our day jobs. For us, DesignUp is a passion and unifying force. Over 2 editions, we grew DesignUp from 230 attendees to 580 for the main conference. And a combined 800+ attendees across multiple event formats in 2017, making it possibly India’s largest gathering of Designers in technology. But being the biggest is never the aim.

Here’s a short video recap of the 2017 Conference and the ‘10-Things-You-Didn’t-Know’ published by YourStory in 2016. And you can relieve the 2017 Conference in tweets via this LinkedIn article.

The conference has gone on to be called ‘the definitive Design-in-Tech event’, ‘the Gold Standard of Design Conferences in India’ and listed amongst ‘the most exciting Design events for 2018’ by Quartz. But we have a long way to go — and the only way to continue being a great destination for the growing community is by having the most insightful speakers, diverse voices and inspiring content. That’s where you come in!

Entry to the 2018 Scholarships is now closed.

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