A journey of self-discovery

[antzfx]

http://www.BlumBlum.com is released... A lot of things were changed, including the color palette. Now everything is green: notice the banner ad given above. Visit the site!

I made a 10 second promotional video for BlumBlum using Adobe AfterEffects. The video is not a great one as this is my first attempt and I heavily relied on online tutorials.

[youtube]s4_4bTt6PtY[/youtube]

I got a chance to showcase this BlumBlum.com as a '2 minutes lightning pitch' at the Start-up Saturday Event, IIM Bangalore on 10-Oct.

Everything went well (I am not forgetting the starting trouble because of an incurable disease -- 'stage fright!') till one guy in the audience asked the me question: "What is the meaning of BlumBlum?"

I went blank for a couple of seconds. When I registered the domain name two years ago, I typed in random words to check the availability as I was particular in getting a '.com' domain. I typed 'blum' -- it was not available. Then I tried 'blumblum' and it was available, so I registered it.

"It is the sound of a couple of frogs jumping into the water one after the other..." was the reply I made up then and there.
Laughter.
Applause.
"Oh! The boy and the girl, who are getting married, are the frogs. Right?" One lady quipped.

The name 'BlumBlum' stuck with the hundred odd people present there. Some of them met me later and told me that even though my idea of 'online wedding card creation' is not unique, they all liked my presentation.

I am lucky.

------- End of 'shameless self promotion!' -------

[Ek Kanya]

hey congrats! i love the effort yoi are making at promoting your site. it takes a ot of ourage to take your idea up there and try and pitch it.

how did you start the site? did you code it yourself?

[Paramvir]

interesting. some serious amount of hard work and money has gone behind this.

great effort, but if I must say so, you should increase the designs in your database. your designs should be the killer ones that people want to share. plus add a facebook connect and print to facebook option. that should really kickstart things for you!

great effort dude!

[antzfx]

I have made a lot of design decisions while designing http://www.blumblum.com. The entire coding is handled by Anees, my brother.

'Behind the scenes' of making this website will soon be updated in my blog and I shall post the link here. I did receive help from a lot of friends. They have given photos, ideas and poems for the card templates. At the moment, the website features 250+ designs. I have contacted a couple of other friends who may give some more photographs.

Everything is in place, except a business model!

[Desh Premi]

very nice work, antzfx. i think you should have a variety of templates for regional weddings in india.

once it picks up, you can start charging people for printing and despatching the cards on their behalf! you could speak to large companies to have custom diwali cards sent etc...

[ashish]

Hello Guys it's good to see creative heads banging their heads against the stereotype wall and everyday coming out with a new concept.I would like to cover some of these great ideas in the advertising section of my blog. www.outofbox.in. Finally i got this platform to chit-chat and bang my head too with my kind of species .

[Saumya]

nice blog ashish! just saw!

[Desh Premi]

so ashish, you run outofbox.in?

you are looking for a job in advertising, I think I read somewhere?

[Allen Mathews]

hey Antzfx. Been taking a look at blumblum. You must carry it forward! what plans do you have for it?

[antzfx]

Dear All,

December 2009 was a busy month for me. Because:
1. Third semester examinations (I am a Product Design Student at IISc Bangalore).
2. Deadline to finish two out of three projects.
a. LED Solar Lantern project was finished, a prototype was made and submitted. It gained a lot of attention among my Professors and friends. More details later...
b. Vegetable Cutter was submitted. I am not too much excited of this and a prototype was not made. The point to be noted is that I 'finished' the design in time.

And the most important reason for my 'busy' schedule:
3. On 02-Dec, Jubi gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Ahla, and thus made me a proud father. I was going to write a 9:30AM examination when I got the good news. After writing one more exam in the afternoon, I managed to catch a flight and reached home. Ahla spends her days in sleeping and nights in singing (crying).

I did some interesting work (including a 2010 Desktop Calendar Design) which I will be posting in 'My Work and Portfolio.'

@Allen Mathews: I have found a guy who can make hand-made greeting cards. Now thinking of starting a hand-made wedding card business clubbed with http://blumblum.com. Preparations are in full swing and we will launch the service in February.

Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous New Year,
Regards,
Anaska | antzFx Design Studio

[Saumya]

wow antzfx! congrats on becoming a father! i always thought you were very young!

and also I respect your spirit! you are doing so much! love your effort on the blumblum project and the handpainted cards etc. all the best!

[antzfx]

@Saumya: Thanks. But I AM very young!. According to me, the upper age limit to be 'very young' is 30. In the coming amendment in May 2010, the upper age limit will be increased to 31.

Now about the statement that 'I am doing so much.'

Habit.
I worked for seven years in Electronics Industry and involved in soldering, client meetings, reviews, escalations, problems, testing, quality practices -- every day, every week, every month, for seven years... I had to keep an eye on the clock and was facing deadlines in every five minutes.

Now, as a student, I have a lot of time at my disposal. So I am doing what I really want to do -- design/creative work. When I got a couple of months of summer holidays in 2009, I worked as a creative intern at Rediffusion ~ Y&R, Bangalore (A big 'thank you' to the CD who interviewed me and gave me the chance to work there). I had a very good time there and worked for some highly respected brands.

I hope that a few years later, I will find at least some success in a few of my ventures -- antzFx.com Design Studio / Blumblum.com / kikkidu.com (yet to be launched). If I fail, I can always fall back to my 'good old' Electronics. No regrets, at least I tried.

[Allen Mathews]

congrats on becoming a father! really appreciate what you are doing. hows blumblum doing? need strategic advice?

[Saumya]

hey blumblum guy! congrats! you doin a lot!
see what I found

Pigspigot is an online, user-generated greeting card company that allows customers to send both e-cards and snail-mail cards to friends and family. We like to think of it as a sort of anti-Hallmark with a wiki twist.

[antzfx]

A similar interesting idea that came for the 2-minutes pitch at IIMB along with blumblum.com is http://DontSpendJustSend.com

This is started by a couple of Bangalore guys in Advertising Industry.