I started out as a Junior Copywriter in a small advertising agency in Coimbatore. I soon got interested in design and was observing the designers. They were a multi-generational team with people ranging from their early 20s to 60s. In the digital age, it was fascinating to see that the much-experienced designers would print out an ad, meticulously cut it, paste it on a board and present the hard copy to the client. I thought of it as a tedious and obsolete exercise. Why would you go through the trouble when you could simply place the design on a PowerPoint and present it to the client?
 
Incidentally, one of my designs got selected and it was time to present to the client. They magnanimously asked the 19-year-old intern me to join them. I walked in, still wondering why this had to be a hard copy. Once inside, the hard copy was presented to the client. He held it, moved it around in different directions, basically experienced the design. And approved it. While I had already decided in my mind that hard copies were passe, what I didn’t realize was that the client was a 65-year-old man. A digital copy would have had no impact on him (this was 15 years ago). That hard copy was absolutely necessary. I swallowed my humble pill that day and thereon quietly watched and learned from the experienced designers. While we, the young ones, were coming up with refreshing designs, the older generation taught us that thinking of design as a hard copy output, allowed us to be more cautious with everything. There was very little room for error. Digital, on the other hand, is a very forgiving medium. And hence, we didn’t pay much attention to the details because we knew it could be edited and presented, again and again. Till date, I like to design like I’m doing it for print. Meticulous and thorough. And I know that habit is what I imbibed by breaking the silos and learning from the generations before me.
 
How did breaking the silos and working with a person from a different generation open your eyes to the unknown? Do share your experience.