Rule of 72

If you divide the number 72 by the rate of interest, you get to know the number of years it will take for you to double the money 72: is sort of a magic number of personal finance, a.k.a known as the rule of 72 in personal finance parlance. All you need to do is a quick calculation (mentally if you know fifth grade math tables) and you can verify, if the cheeky agent is giving you hogwash.


 *Years:* If you divide the number 72 by the rate of interest, you get to know the number of years it will take for you to double the money. For instance, if the rate of interest is 9%, simply divide the number 72 by 9% and the answer is eight. This is the number of years it will take to double your money if you invest it at 9% rate of interest.

 *Interest:** *This rule works in reverse order as well. Lets say, you know the number of years you want to double your money in and want to know the minimum rate of interest which you need to achieve that goal. So let's say, you have Rs 2.5 lakh today and need to fund your son's college education with Rs 5 lakh in five years. Just divide the number 72 by 5 and the answer is 14.41%. This shows that you will need to invest your money in an instrument where you earn at least 14.4% as rate of interest, if you want to double the funds in five years.

 *Inflation:* This rule also helps you understand a thing or two about inflation. It helps you calculate the amount of time it will take for inflation to make the real value of money half.
So, lets say that the average inflation is 7%.
When you divide 72 by 7, the answer is 10.28. So, if you have Rs 1 lakh in your kitty today, it would take around 10.28 year for the value of the money to be halved.

Keep in mind, that this is a rule of thumb and can be used to get a rough results on money related calculations. Now that you know a little more about the number 72 and its rule, use it while dealing with your agents for quick verification of facts.

Simple and compact multi-function devices that delight everyone

Products just form one aspect of the philosophy of universal design, the built environment offers an enormous opportunity for designers to intervene.

Some of the age and disability defying design need not be made to look so. That exactly is the idea behind what is known as 'Universal Design'. Essentially, this entails extremely ergonomic products - easy to hold, easy to interact with and very human. As life expectancy is going up and modern healthcare technology is aiding it, the number of older people living independently is growing faster than ever. Some of the European countries and Japan are already geared up to serve their ageing population because of the emerging demographic there. Dr. Oliver Herwig, one of the leading proponents of universal design says, ' tomorrow's consumers with a say - mainly older and more experienced people - are demanding simplicity and elegance; un-complicated things which feel right in one's hand. Those who want to survive in the future will have to offer more than just pretty features and compact multi-functional devices'.

The story of New York based kitchenware and office supplies manufacturer OXO is extremely interesting. Sam Farber, an entrepreneur in the houseware industry came out of retirement when he noticed his wife having difficulty in the kitchen due to her arthritis. He saw an opportunity to create more comfortable cooking tools that would benefit all users. Sam collaborated with the well known design consultancy Smart Design and created a line of kitchen products that were a hit amongst people across age groups and cultures. Today, OXO is recognized globally as an example of how a wellexecuted universal design philosophy not only creates products that are beneficial to end users but is a sensible business model.

Products just form one aspect of the philosophy of universal design, the built environment offers an enormous opportunity for designers to intervene and make it accessible to everyone. The origins of universal design go back to the period after World War II when war veterans needed to lead normal lives. This rehabilitation movement resulted in 'barrier-free' university campuses. Much later, in the early 1970s Ronald L. Mace, the American architect coined the term 'Universal Design'. In 1987 he had said, 'we are about twenty years away from where we will not have to talk about this as something special. It takes a long time to change attitudes and practice'.

Some of the mainstream consumer product manufacturers like Panasonic have been able to demonstrate excellent universal design ideas that have resulted in commercially successful products. Manufacturers need to concentrate on design that is good for everyone irrespective of physical disability, age, gender or ethnicity. The legendary Deter Rams says, 'human needs are far more diverse than some designers wish to see - or perhaps are capable of seeing'. Designers have a mandate to convince their clients to take a long-term view and assist in making technology useful and comprehensible to all.

The writer is a Design Director at Ether Design, Bangalore

OXO website : http://www.oxo.com/

Why the name OXO?

Meaning of OXO:

OXO's founder, Sam Farber, chose the name "OXO" because whether it's horizontal, vertical, upside down or backwards, it always reads "OXO."

Make The Ordinary Come Alive - William Martin

Creative LOGOs

New T2 Terminal at Mumbai to house India's largest Museum too !

MUMBAI: In two weeks, India's largest museum dedicated to the country's arts, crafts and heritage will open its glass doors to the public. Unlike other museums though, you would need an international air ticket to enter this one - this museum with nearly 7,000 artifacts, a 3km-long art wall and works by over 1,500 artists is actually housed in an airport. Somewhere between check-in and baggage claim, Mumbai's new integrated "terminal T2" will show off some of the best of Indian art and craft to foreign visitors as well as Indians. 

In fact, the art programme under way at T2 is so ambitious in thought, scale and design that the business of being an airport might seem like an afterthought. For now, "Jaye He", the art project is a closely guarded secret - even journalists are not being allowed a view of the new terminal. But as the day of inauguration, January 10, draws close, details have started trickling out. It is unlikely that any airport in the world in the 100-year-old history of commercial flight showcases art on this scale. 

The idea of marrying art and airports is not new, Europeans landed there first. Amsterdam airport exhibits the Rijksmuseum collections, France's Toulouse airport began hosting contemporary art in 2012 and Paris airport's in-house Espace Musees, which opened last year, displays works by renowned French artists. But none of these projects are as prominent or ambitious. 

Take the installation at T2's departure area - it occupies 80,000 sq feet and curves along the contours of the terminal building and displays a plethora of ancient finds (some date back to the10th century) like delicately carved doorways, building facades, windows, totems, pillars, decorative torans, terracotta horses, water spouts, lamps, wooden temple chariots, raths, masks, bows of snake boats, sculptures of deities, dwarpaals, beds carved out of single pieces of wood, mythical creatures, painted theatre curtains etc. All these have been sourced in the last four years from the cities, villages, markets, collectors and museums of India. 

The potential audience for this art is staggering. Once T2 opens its doors to public on January 15, the terminal building, which will be used initially only by international passengers, can claim to be the most visited museum in the world. With a capacity to handle 40 million passengers annually, T2's 'Jaye He' museum could comfortably nudge Paris' Louvre, currently the most visited art museum in the world with 9 million annual visitors, off its top slot. 

The collections form part of six thematic compositions that employ collaborative works by about 100 artists to depict India's many facets. The installation, "Thresholds of India'', uses mediums like wood, glass, canvas, fibre glass, ceramics, papier-mache, terracotta, metal, stone and cloth and is viewable from all the four levels of the terminal. 

"Many objects, like the 19-century wooden totems from Morung in Nagaland needed restoration. Those had a thriving ecosystem of insects and worms inside it. All the finds have been catalogued, their provenance established and currently they are in the process of being registered with the Archaeological Survey of India,'' says an art industry insider. 

The arrivals corridor, on the other hand, has commissioned works by noted contemporary artists including Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh, Mithu Sen, Nek Chand, Riyas Komu, Nilima Sheikh and Desmond Lazaro, done along a wall that is 18 metre high and 1.2 km long. Like the departure wall, it is viewable from all levels. Titled "Layered Narratives'', the series of installations capture the artists' interpretation of Mumbai, urban India's dreams and the disappointments that often come along. 

"Many of the works incorporate kinetic elements and interactive technologies which makes for an interesting viewing experience, especially for those on the travelators,'' says an art consultant. 

Bollywood's omnipresence in the city's collective consciousness is registered here in a mobile art work that, among other things, includes a magic box. Ordinary, everyday common men go into the box only to come out as Amitabh Bachchan, in his angry young man avatar. Then there is emerging artist Akshay Rajpurkar's huge Google map of India, distinctly pixellated in appearance as it is made of computer chips, e-waste and blue buttons. 

"Jaye He will be one of the world's largest art programmes in public space. For a country where art works are largely relegated to the status of investments and public art is almost unheard of, T2 will be a revelation,'' says an art consultant, requesting anonymity. 

The expert says that it was way back in 2006 that Sanjay Reddy, vice-chairman of the GVK group, which runs, and operates the Mumbai airport thought of using it as a space to showcase the country's diverse and its rich heritage. After all, the airport offers a traveler the first and the last impression of a country. "Then again, in each of the preceding centuries, Mumbai has produced one iconic public building that grandly symbolized the city's entrance, whether by land -- the CST railway terminal -- or the sea -- the Gateway of India," says the consultant. 

To give the inchoate idea a definite shape and destiny, Reddy roped in Rajeev Sethi, one of South Asia's leading curators and scenographers. A 15-day road trip across India preceded the project. "A team comprising Reddy, his wife Pinky Reddy, Sethi, fashion designer Sandeep Khosla and GVK's design team did the trip to get a feel and sense of India's culture. The trip defined the overall components of T2's art programme,'' says an insider. Thereafter Reddy gave Sethi a free hand. 

"Never ever in India has any art project been done on such a grand scale and in such a short time. For Sethi, it was both an opportunity and a challenge as there is no place quite like an airport to showcase art. It is temperature-controlled, with 24/7 security and gets millions of viewers. T2's architecture also lend itself well to the job,'' says an art consultant. 

But way before T2 started taking shape, artists from across the country -- Patua artists from Midnapore, West Bengal, potters from Malaiyur, Tamil Nadu, Bastar pillar craftsmen from Kondagaon, Raipur had - came down to Mumbai and began work at a workshop in Andheri. It was here that regional artists undertook, perhaps for the first time in their lives, works on such a scale. For Sethi, the work ground extended way beyond Mumbai. An art museum in Kochi was to be sold off to a client abroad when Sethi intervened and bought up all its rare and valuable artifacts for T2, says an art industry source. 

At T2, Sethi broke more new ground. For instance, the installation, in the departure terminal consciously demolishes the common hierarchies in the art world. Works of art are not treated as more valuable than crafs. Regional artists and eminent ones not only share the same pedestal, but also collaborate on ideas that are mix of old and new, rural with urban, traditional with contemporary. 

Elephants with wings, fish-like helicopters, fire-breathing mythical creatures carrying passengers in their belly -- all images conceived by Gond tribals in Madhya Pradesh have been brought to life as metal sculptures by Mukul Goyal, an eminent Delhi-based product designer. In a few months' time these flying figures will be spotted in the company of metal clouds in one section of the departure installation. 

Up above these mythical flying figures, the fuel-guzzling A320s and Boeing 737s may continue to circle in Mumbai's congested airspace, waiting for their turn to land. But once they do, passengers will have no doubt in registering that Mumbai's T2 is distinctly different from the glass, steel and concrete structures that have come to define airports the world over.

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