6KQ: Six Kwik Questions with Kunal Bhat, Graphic Designer and Programmer
For this edition of 6KQ, I exchanged e-mails with Kunal Bhat, a graphic designer and programmer based in Chicago, USA; also an old room-mate of Trevor Gilley’s (who featured in the inaugural issue).
Photo Credit: Matt George
[Note: All images used in this entry are the property of Kunal Bhat and may not be re-used without his permission.]
1. Me: It’s great to be doing this 6KQ interview with you, Kunal. Thank you for finding time for it. To start with, tell me a little about yourself. What’s brand Kunal Bhat all about?
Kunal: Ideally: the color grey, grids, databases, and organizing information. Also, my wardrobe is organized by color (but most of it is grey anyway). Realistically: brand Kunal Bhat is still evolving. I’ve positioned myself as someone who can help bridge the gap between visual design and back-end programming by offering to consult on both ends during a project. It is still very much a discovery process for me, and I have been lucky to have clients who understand design is a process.
2. Me: On your website I can see that you’ve indulged in a bit of graphic design, some illustration, some sketching, some video-editing and some interaction design too. Which of these did you first start with?
Kunal: I focused on Computer Science in high school, with the thought I would study that in college. When I entered college and starting taking higher level programming classes, I decided it wasn’t for me. Not necessarily that CS wasn’t for me, but studying it in a classroom setting wasn’t going to do much for me. It took some soul-searching to decide I was interested in visual design. As I started my coursework for design, I met with the head of our university’s CS department to create a personalized minor that would allow me to continue to take some essential classes in the theory and practice of CS with a web application development focus.
3. Me: Which are you most passionate about now?
Kunal: Graphic design is my passion. As I said before, my background in programming is largely self-taught, and that has been a very interesting learning process for me. I believe there is a sensibility and appreciation of visual sophistication which cannot be taught, or at the very least, learned easily. Visual communication is so intriguing to me, and my experiences with attempting to understand, define, and master it have resulted in great satisfaction to extreme frustration. If anything, I believe this range of emotions constitutes a passionate (if not always pleasant) relationship. I have a deep respect for graphic design, especially it’s history; the fact that I may never quite know why it appeals to me so much will keep driving me to learn all I can about it.
4. Me: What is Chicago like, in terms of culture and environment, for someone in the creative fields?
Kunal: Chicago is a midwestern city. It’s true that many transplants are from the surrounding states like Wisconsin, Missouri, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, etc., but you easily meet people from all over the world. I’ve enjoyed living and working here because of the access to so many different cultures, but it’s really the city itself that has interested me the most as a student of art history. Chicago has a recent history, after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which has made it very much a product of the modern age. The best example of this is the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Fazlur Khan that dominate the skyline. The amount of public art, not just in the city, but throughout all the neighborhoods, never ceases to inspire me. This is a city that has made art and history a part of everyday life.
5. Me: We all find ourselves facing a mental/creative block some time or the other during our careers. When it happens to you, how do you overcome it?
Kunal: If I am designing, I’ll take a break to write some code for fun. If I’m writing code, I’ll switch to trying to finish designing the perpetually unfinished 2.0 version of my website. The answer for me though, is to just keep trying. You have to work through those mental blocks, even after you take your break.
6. Me: As an American-born citizen of Indian origin, do you ever suffer from an identity crisis where you feel unsure of who you really are (the ABCD factor)?
Kunal: It’s definitely true that I have had an identity crisis, and have felt like perhaps there is some part of my background I am ignoring or not taking advantage of. But that was early on, and since then, I happily realized the truth is I am creating my own identity.
For more information on Kunal, visit his website at http://kunalbhat.com/.
