Words: Mark Busse
Gagan is as an industry colleague and fellow design instructor whom I have tremendous respect for. He co-developed the Digital Design program at VFS that I teach at. He told me once that his folks, like any good Indo-Canadian parents, wanted him to become a doctor like the rest of the family—instead he became a designer. I love that.
His Twitter description says Gagan “grew up playing w/ ants, fascinated by how they work together to do big stuff. Now I consult, manage, teach ways to use design to achieve goals.” which is a really great way to think about Gagan and his approach to creativity. You see, these days Gagan spends much of his time as a design consultant at his firm Design Stamp, leading multifaceted teams to help business leaders work better together though creativity and design. I admire Gagan’s approach and thought he'd have smart things to share with our audience. Like me, he values forthright and honest communication and doesn’t sugarcoat facts. But unlike me, he manages to do that without coming off like an opinionated, arrogant git. In fact, the difference in our personalities is precisely why he has won projects my design firm bid on in the past—and I have no problem with losing work to a skilled professional like Gagan.
Like many of us in the design field, Gagan is a hardcore foodie, and was the driving force behind the beautiful online cooking school website Rouxbe.com, which we’ve consulted on a bit at Industrial Brand. We knew he was hardcore when the first time we had lunch together he happily ate the Filipino pig’s ear we shoved at him. Next month he’s off to Costa Rica with eight friends for a month of food adventure. Why he’s not a contributor to Foodists yet remains a mystery to me.
Oh, and he’s as cute as a button. He'd have made a pretty hot doctor.
http://vimeo.com/36553749
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