If I were to give a theme to the year 2023 in a single word, it would undoubtedly be “resilience.” Despite all the ups and downs, one thing remained constant: bouncing back! Just as 2022 was never a ‘dull moment,’ 2023 was a year where I never paused to look back.

I know this Review is coming 6 months late but it’s better then never.

So, here I am once again, penning down another recap of yet another year that turned the “Purple Guy” into “Kalakaar.” But to put it better, it will be Purple Kalakaar, always!

Now, let’s get into it

Got laid off from Polygon:(

A year ago, I joined Polygon with a mission to make a legacy in web3. Along the way, I achieved so many milestones, but the biggest of them all was earning the title ‘Purple Guy.’

However, the news of the layoffs hit me hard. Accepting it was not easy. But later, I realised that every business’ priorities change with time.

While I have nothing but gratitude for the time I have spent with some of the most phenomenal people at Polygon! They say every cloud has a silver lining, and in this case, it couldn’t be truer.

Despite the initial shock, I emerged from the experience a stronger and more resilient individual.

Here are 4 things I learned from my layoff and want everyone else to learn:

• Build your Portfolio

• Increase your social presence

• Never be afraid to ask for help

• Freelance to avoid complete job dependency

Got inked AGAIN!

Remember last year, when I celebrated my birthday with my first tattoo? Well, frens, I have done it again! But this time with an even deeper meaning.

Here’s what the tattoo means to me →

As a designer, I have always found beauty in simplicity. It was when I was watching the anime Love Death + Robots that an inspiration struck. The icons on the screen caught my eye!

I found myself wondering: if I were to create something like this for myself, what would it look like? And thus, there it was!

Three hearts designed with three different thoughts:

• First: a heart made of two rectangles

• Second: a heart made of boxes

• Third: an icon made with my wife’s initials as a logo

Chambal: My own Devanagari font!

Creating my own Devanagari font had always been a dream. And guess what? I made it come true.

In December 2022, during a visit to my hometown, Bhind, I stumbled upon some mind-blowing signs and typography. Amidst it all, one particular thing caught my eye: स्टोर

It sparked a memory of the Chambal River and its surrounding area.

The bold, extended font resembled the wide jaws of a gharial, a unique crocodile native to the region, and even the gun barrel. It was as if the letters themselves echoed the strength of this river.

And that’s when inspiration struck — I knew I had to name my Devanagari font “Chambal.”

But believe me when I say that the journey wasn’t easy. I faced countless challenges along the way. From struggling to use glyphs to FontLab, every step was a learning curve.

Thankfully, getting into a course helped me grasp the technicalities and study the type in a more structured manner.

Mentoring designers at ‘10kdesigners’

Well, you must have noticed how I am always ready to lend a helping hand to struggling designers.

When I first got into design, its learning options weren’t that much. So, I did what any curious person would do — I turned to Google and self-taught myself. Let me tell you, it took years of trial and error! It’s been quite the journey from a self-taught newbie to a mentor!

But you know what’s even better than my journey? My community’s journey!

So, in April, I teamed up with a phenomenal educator, Abhinav to help the next generation of designers with 10kdesigners.

Since then, 10kdesigners and I have been like two peas in a pod, supporting each other in every step.

And, do you know? The company is now 3.5 years old and with about 980+ alumni, we are officially 10% of the way to 10,000!

Honestly, it’s been an incredible journey with them. And I can’t wait to see what the future holds as we continue to inspire and uplift designers around us.

How I became a designer?

Oh, but wait, there’s much more than collaborating with 10k designers! Let’s rewind a bit. Remember I pointed out that I always wanted to show that designers come from diverse backgrounds?

Not just that, as a self-taught designer, I was always interested in knowing how people found their paths.

So, having the same thing in mind and without thinking twice, I launched a new series on YouTube: How I Became a Designer?

But there’s a backstory to this too. Out of the blue, during a casual call with Arnub, our conversation changed into his journey as a designer. Realizing its value for aspiring designers, we decided to share it with others. Then what? I just clicked the hit button! The rest, as they say, is history!

Each episode featured extraordinary designers, each with an inspiring story.

We even offered scholarships!

Seeing so much love and support from my community, I just couldn’t stop myself! After the wrap-up of the series, I reached out to Abhinav to talk about how can we help the community better.

Driven by a passion for giving back, we decided to offer three scholarships to the 8th cohort of 10kdesigners. And let me tell you, the response was so overwhelming, with 50+ submissions flooding in.

And, for announcing the winners, Abhinav and I did a live stream.

Well, words cannot express my gratitude for the love shown. This made me to work towards something more special: Season 2

But it’s still in the process, promising even more exciting design adventures ahead.

Speaker’s Sessions

From mentoring on screen to real-life events, it’s been quite a journey. Not gonna lie, but despite gaining experience in public speaking, those pre-presentation jitters are still very real!

In fact, I wrote about my public speaking in detail in this thread→Read here

Sharing some of these experiences below:

(1) Ahmedabad University

I was invited to Ahmedabad University to give a UI/UX workshop. Now, let me tell you, this was a big deal for me because it was my first gig in my hometown.

While I was excited but at the same time quite nervous too, as this was the first time I was doing a workshop and boy, was I feeling the pressure!

So, the workshop was for developer students who were going to participate in an upcoming ‘hackathon’ at the university, so I kept the workshop for the basics of UI/UX Design.

Well, talk about the irony! In my college years, I tried getting admission to AU, but obviously, 67% was not enough! So it felt really good to be back again.

(2) Solana Hacker House

This was one of the most memorable events where I met so many new builders working on Solana. It was an honour to give a talk on ‘how to design trust in web3’ to all the devs in the room.

So rather than getting into the details, here are some of the memorable moments that were captured.

Spicing up Picoplayfun’s design

Going to a meetup

Guess who was caught on camera? SuperteamIN’s Sherpa — Kash Dhanda

Left my Kalakaar mark:)

(3) Ahmedabad University 2.0

Well, two times the shine! It was sometime in October and was quite different from the first one as I had to teach non-tech students.

In short, I was invited to take a class on ‘figma’ at the Ahmedabad University Entrepreneurs Club and Design Club. However, after seeing their background, I changed the theme of the workshop from figma to ‘design thinking.’

And, guess what? They found out about Nocode that day! So who said teaching tech to non-techies couldn’t be fun?

WELL, WELL, WELL
Did I tell you I got invited to speak at Polygon?

(4) Polygon Vadodara

But wasn’t I laid off from Polygon? Last year, I had a hand in designing the whole experience, and it was a rollercoaster ride. But this year, I got invited to Polygon Vadodara Devx Events!

It’s incredible to see how far I have come since 2022. The moment was truly overwhelming.

Yes. So, that’s it for all the public speaking events.

From “Purple Guy” to “Kalakaar”

Well, ‘Purple Guy’ gave me an identity a long time back. I wholeheartedly embraced the colour purple and the identity that was attached to it.

But then came Chambal, and suddenly, I found myself intrigued by a new title: Kalakaar.

To be honest, explaining my gig to the family, the village relatives, and even my frens, has always been a struggle.

Um, am I a designer? A content creator? A growth hacker? Or maybe just a teacher? So now, whenever someone asks me, what do I do? I just simply say, “Kalakaar hu mai.”

I mean there’s something magical in this word.

And speaking of spreading the Kalakaar love, we recently gave out Kalakaar stickers at a 10kdesigners meetup.

Worked on some crazy projects

(1) BetonBalaji

Remember in 2021, when I joined Makerdock? Well, I became more active in 2022, but let me tell you, 2023 was the year we kicked it into some insane stuff!

It all started with an idea at Makerdock. And before we knew it, that idea had us hooked. In just 36 hours, we were done with both ideation and design.

Now, for those fascinated by Bitcoin and hyperinflation predictions, BetonBalaji is for you! The idea is that users can engage by betting on whether Balaji’s predictions will come true or not.

I could tell all the details, but where’s the fun in that? So, I wrote a thread too about it in detail → Read it here

Not just that!

Now, while we are talking about Makerdock, why not go into it a bit further?

Back in August, I had the pleasure of designing the identity for Makerdock once again. I tried to reflect the unique personalities of its nine core members.

Have a look at it:

[Add this Gif ]

(2) Coven Classics

Ah, BetonBalaji was quite the ride, no doubt about it. But honestly, after months of working on Web3 projects, I needed a break. And Rakshita Philip reached out to me at the right time!

As a kid, glued to the TV screen, memorizing every trick Criss Angel and David Blaine pulled off, I was obsessed with magic! I mean, who didn’t dream about waving a wand and making magic happen, right?

So as soon as I got the chance to work with Coven Classics, a company crafting comic books of NFT characters with no defi, no tokens, just pure art, I said YES- well, even faster than Abracadabra!

From the creation of Adam to the landing page for Coven Classics, it was an amazing experience to work with them!

(3) Purple Pay

As the name suggests, “Purple Pay” has been really close to my heart. Not just the name, but it was the first call I received from Saumya Saxena after Polygon, asking me to join Purple Pay.

Now, usually, I take my time to understand the company and its goals before designing a logo. But this time it was different. The project required a logo urgently for a hackathon.

So, I turned to Saumya for just a snippet of their product, and he replied with a simple yet powerful statement: “We are here to take the banking system to the future.”

That just got to me, and I was ready to take them on!

And in a mere 30 minutes, we had a unique and meaningful logo! So, if you want to know how I made the logo, go check this thread -Read more

But unfortunately,

After approximately a year, PP came to an end. Seeing it shut down was truly disheartening. It felt like a part of me was destined for its journey; after all, I had the privilege of designing its brand identity from scratch.

Back in the day, I remember when Saumya pitched the idea to me. He casually dropped the name ‘Purple Pay,’ and I couldn’t help but laugh, assuming he was making fun of my nickname, ‘the Purple Guy.’

Yet, to my surprise, he was dead serious, and then what? I found myself embracing the name with open arms!

Well, I definitely miss purple. And, I learned a lot from the process.

(4) SuperteamEarn

Oh, remember when I made my first crypto dollar with Superteam? Well, guess what? This year, I hit the jackpot with a design bounty on SuperteamEarn!

Let me tell you, the competition had some seriously talented designers. So, firstly a huge shoutout to my fellow designers.

And surprisingly, this whole experience made me realise how much more beneficial my freelance journey was than just my design skills.

In fact, I wrote a thread about the breakdown of how I pulled it off → Read it here

That’s it for all the crazy ideas, I built with some crazy people which led to some crazy outcomes.

YouTube Growth

Let’s turn your attention from these projects to something I aced this year!

Well, I mentioned last year that I started a ‘new skill’ — content creation — on Youtube. Ah, so talking about 2023’s goals? I wanted to be a pro in this area.

Back in August, I had a call with a designer. On the whole call, we dove deep into the discussion about how design still doesn’t get the respect it deserves in many corners of India. And that reminded me why I first started creating content for YouTube.

But have a look at the data: 67 videos and a whopping 43K views- I mean, not bad for a newbie like me! And these two gems were the most watched:

Interview/ Podcasts

Whether it’s stepping onto a stage or giving an online interview, I always look for any opportunity to share my knowledge with others. But what sets online interviews apart is the immense value they offer without much chaos.

Here are two of them from 2023:

1. ThreadCast

2. Where’s the Block?

Trust me, we are coming to an end super soon, and it will all be worth it in the end.

A new addition to the toolbox

So for a very long time, I have been fascinated by cameras, photography, and videography. So, now that my hands got tired with a mobile phone, I got myself a new toy: a Sony A6600 with a Sigma 18–55 mm lens.

However, there is still a long way to go, but what keeps me going is my inquisitiveness to learn more every day!

Travelling

Since we have come to the end of this journey, I want to end the blog with the most exciting part of 2023: travel.

Well, from doing some insane projects to taking time out for myself and my family, it has quite been a journey. Here are some of my favourite moments:

And just like that, the curtain falls on another year of my life.

From the highs to the lows, the triumphs to the challenges, each moment has shaped me in ways I never imagined. But amidst it all, one golden thread remains crystal clear: people who made my 2023 truly unforgettable!

It doesn’t matter how many reviews I write, every year will have something unique and special in it. Yes, 2023 had its share of bitter moments, but because of this, how could I ever forget my community?

Who supports me with no boundaries and pushes me to keep doing what I am doing every year with much more grace!

Here’s to you, here’s to us, and here’s to the endless possibilities that await us in the year ahead!

Until then, never let the kalakaar die in you. See you in 2024!