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Media and Research Capstone Project

This project was completed in collaboration with my co-editor Saumyaa Goradia as part of our final year Capstone and Media Research course at Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts (SSLA). Over the semester, we engaged in multiple classes, peer reviews, and workshops that shaped the research, writing, and design of The Neologism. The project reflects months of critical inquiry, creative experimentation, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Project Type

Print and Design

Date

Jan-May 2025

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Project Overview

The Neologism is a critical media newsletter designed as an anti-Vogue, blending long-form essays, cultural critique, and visual art to offer readers an alternative to mainstream media discourse. Each issue questions industry narratives and marketing tactics in beauty, fashion, media, and art, urging readers to reflect on the power structures behind what we consume.

Format & Frequency

  • 4 issues, corresponding to the months of 2024:

    • Jan–Mar | Apr–Jun | Jul–Sept | Oct–Dec
       

  • 7 recurring sections:

    1. Thought Essay (Core section)

    2. Beauty

    3. Fashion

    4. Media

    5. Art (includes original artwork)

    6. Cover Critique

    7. Person Feature
       

  • 20–24 pages per issue

  • Printed physical format for Issue 1, digital for Issues 2–4 (Canva-based)

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Issue 1

Issue One of The Neologism explores the aesthetics of obedience in beauty, the appropriation of Indian fashion by Western markets, and the commodification of feminism through empowerment merch. We critique media trends like the “uncle-ification” of comedy and spotlight Kangana Ranaut’s political shift. The issue blends cultural commentary, original cover art, and interactive word games to challenge dominant narratives with wit and depth.

Capstone Issue 1 Exhibition

In our final year, we transformed the newsletter into a physical space for a public exhibition. Issue 1 was printed and displayed, accompanied by an interactive zine-table that allowed visitors to flip through the physical copy and engage with its sections in a spatial, tactile way. The exhibition itself became a performative act of media unmaking, bringing our newsletter’s concept to life through a series of interactive experiences and activities that invited reflection, critique, and participation.

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Issue 2

Issue Two of The Neologism explores the irony of progress and performance. From Vogue’s khadi aesthetic in ‘Handloom Summer’ to the Sunset Blush trend’s fragile appeal, we question who gets to look modern and why. We critique Heeramandi’s feminist veneer, unpack Zomato’s climate-washing, and spotlight Anant Ambani’s luxury contradictions. Art, commentary, and puzzles come together to push media beyond its polished surface.

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Issue 3

Issue Three of The Neologism tackles elite nationalism, skincare guilt, and media myth-making. We critique Tarun Tahiliani’s Olympic outfits, the slimy virtue of snail mucin, and the reduction of political debate to noise in the Sanatana Dharma controversy. From Diljit Dosanjh’s brand-safe image to Narayan Murthy’s hustle myth, this issue exposes how identity and power are packaged for public comfort, wrapped up with puzzles and satire.

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Issue 4

Issue Four of The Neologism closes the year by examining access, aesthetics, and algorithmic futures. We explore fashion’s evolving signals of status, while our Cover Art reimagines visibility in a hyper-curated world. In Culture, we ask if Coldplay concerts reflect a Concert Economy or a Status Economy, dissecting the cultural capital of live experiences. Unpopular Opinion looks at the Paywall Divide and the fading ideal of an open internet in the age of AI.

Fun Elements

Beyond essays and critiques, our newsletter also leaned into moments of fun and surprise. We included a custom word search in each issue, designed around our theme, to offer a pause, a puzzle, and a bit of nostalgia.
 

Our “Last Word” section explored contemporary words and internet slang, terms familiar to Gen Z but often alien to older generations. We unpacked these with care, sometimes irony, always context.
 

The “Profile” segment spotlighted politicians, celebrities, and public figures through our own editorial lens, offering cultural commentary that was both researched and sharply opinionated.
 

And then there’s “Word Lab”, where we did more than just use language, we made it. Inspired by the concept of neologism, we coined our own terms and gave them meaning, inventing language to describe realities we felt lacked definition.
 

Together, these sections reflect our belief that media can be analytical and playful, serious and subversive, all at once.

Foundation & Purpose

The Problem
We live in a media ecosystem dominated by influencers, aspirational aesthetics, and manipulative consumption tactics. Critical voices are scattered, often silenced or hidden behind performative activism and branded narratives.

The Response
We created The Neologism as a counter-space—a zine that doesn’t just consume trends but dissects them. It decodes words like craftsmanship, clean beauty, deinfluencing, and sustainability, revealing the exploitative realities behind them.

Impact & Intention

A job well done isn’t about sounding smart.
It’s about resonance; if even one reader questions the system because of what we wrote, we’ve succeeded.
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We aren’t aiming for virality, we’re aiming for conversations that linger, that challenge passive consumption, and that remind people that critical thought is a political act.

Our Positionality

We’re not outsiders to the culture we critique. We’ve grown up shaped by the same algorithms, influencers, aesthetics, and insecurities we now question.

Our project is deeply personal: a space to unlearn in real time, to reshape media on our own terms, and to invite readers to do the same, without moral superiority or elitism.

We critique with self-awareness, always asking: Who is left out? Who benefits? And how do we speak without simply replacing one dominant narrative with another?

Foundation & Purpose

Individuals who feel disillusioned by influencer media, creatives, students, thinkers, people looking for another way to see and a growing collective of skeptical yet hopeful media consumers.
 
It is not for a mass audience, but an intentional one. One that reads slowly, thinks deeply, and passes the thought forward.

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