KHMD Ignite 2016

“Every brand needs advertising. Even Apple creates advertisements.”

While the above statement wasn’t really spoken out loud by any KHMDite, it was, in essence, the sentiment that fostered Ignite. Ignite was an event held by KHMD on 9^th and 10^th August to inspire high-school students to join the community. 

But why would someone not interested in technology bother to join? Because technology caters to a myriad range of activities, from manga to music, sculpting to sketching, penning to photography… and what not. Because coding, hacking or making isn’t just reserved for the technologically inclined. It’s for everyone- ANYONE interested in making life simpler. Everyone has the capability to be producers of technology than just consumers.

It was this very thought that was carried across at Ignite. The 45-minute long event began, on both days, with an exciting trailer created by Rohan, Gagan, Suraj and Kishan for KHMD. The ‘cool’ effects used in it opened the spectators’ eyes to the wide usage of technology. 

    

First things first 


Aman then talked about the birth and purpose of KHMD. The birth? Simply put, when a group of tech-heads got together to become creators.  The purpose? To unite many others under a common interest, passion and love for technology. He spoke about how there exists an innate creativity and imagination in every person- and he or she just needs the freedom and support to create something useful and inspiring. Apart from talking about making and designing, he cleared misconceptions that many in the audience had about hacking. Hacking, he said, was for anyone with an interest to change something for the better. It's completely legal, he insisted.  Not the first time he's had to do that, though. 

NOT an FBI briefing session: Aman explaining what our hackers do

                               

"Did someone say pizza?" 

But was this event all talk or just showcasing videos? Certainly not. Next up was Suraj, who, using the MIT app inventor, developed a ‘Pizza App’. Through this app, users connected to the Internet could place their order for their preferred type of pizza and drink, and it would immediately be recorded in the database on the other end. This demonstration left the audience thinking about the varied possibilities (of technology, not food). 

The interface (some sly event promotion on the side is fine, right?) of the Pizza App

He also took the audience through  the code-  which, unlike expected, was not a long string of abbreviations and syntax, but an easy-to-follow, logical sequence of actions that did not require  mugging up said abbreviations and the differences between arbitrarily-used punctuation marks in coding.

Behind the screens (See what I did there?): The app's code

Some design magic 

Next up was Ish’s talk on design. He started off by explaining its importance, and spoke about how devices or experiences that cater to all the senses are usually the most desirable. Then he played a screen video of himself creating a sculpture of Frankenstein using ZBrush. He also gave many tips to the audience about design- for example, how overuse of a certain brilliant-design makes the creation unappealing (using Frankenstein’s scars as an example). This extremely realistic creation was a hit with the audience!

The minute details play pivotal roles. Ish explains how he recreated Frankenstein's scars. 

The result: Did Victor Frankenstein's creation look this good, though? 

                          

  To round it off, we had a preview of the new KHMD website, a video of eminent professionals talking about coding, and an enthralling music track by Kumarans EDM. This successful event certainly inspired many students to come forth and join KHMD, to learn, think, create and do, and above all-

Hack. Make. Design.