24 hours with… Yash Chauhan

Ever wondered what an ideal day in the life of someone from advertising/marketing/media is? We're here to spill the beans on it.

Every Tuesday, we'll have a person from the advertising/marketing/media industry profiled in this section.

Name: Yash Chauhan

Job: Head of aesthetics

Personal mission: Make Centrick a global design consultancy. Add great work out there in the world.

6am: While most people choose to snooze, I prefer booping my alarm clock coffee aka Coffu’s snoot. Switching from my pillows to squishing my ball of fur. Having a random chat with him, while he looks at me with his puppy eyes. No, he doesn’t understand it, but sometimes it’s all you need, for someone to just listen.

7am: Now a short walk with Coffu with a brilliantly hand-rolled cigarette then stopping near the edge of my building to just stare at the waves. Sometimes I do think about the shape of me, so I try to fight laziness and workout.

8am: Cold shower with some rock music. Woohoo! Nothing lasts forever, even this cold November rain. Alternating carrot juice with coconut water daily, it’s time to look at what brands and their competitors are up to.

9am: Time to pick a colour to wear. Defines my day. Sometimes I drive, sometimes I take a cab, both have a very different experience until the office. When it’s a car, it’s loud music, racing with random cars and feeling the satisfaction of overtaking them like I’m an F1 driver. When it’s a cab, it’s a vibe. Noticing the kids get into school busses, people eating vada pavs, cabbies sipping their chai, the smell of the wet gardens the smell of the sewers, and the heat while waiting at the signal to the wind whooshing through windows on the sea link. That’s quite a journey I’d say.

10am: Our morning meeting. Where all the jobs are discussed, prioritised, understood and delegated. Set timelines. Well, it’s also the time to brainstorm. An hour a day for what everyone has to say. Sometimes it turns into a brief being cracked and sometimes it's just jokes that are cracked.

11am: Time for another brilliantly hand-rolled cigarette while drinking coffee. Sometimes the coffee is iced, other times it’s the hot aroma mixes with the smoke in the air. New music to explore sets the work mood for the day. Hand on the mouse, eyes on the screen and brain starting to solve problems, it’s called design.

12pm: Check on the work the team’s doing, them explaining what they are trying to solve, well designed. First round of review, discussions and revising the solutions. A little bit of pulling all the colleague's legs which often also results in my legs getting longer. 

1pm: Rats starting to dance in my belly. Jumping into having my lunch directly. Watching some random ads, chit chatting with the team, the conversation’s quite friendly. The brilliance about lunch at Centrick is that we are a team from different communities which allows my palette to different food as well. The smell, the texture and the stories behind each dish, uff, my mouth’s already watering while writing this.

2pm: A little sleepy after all the food, but that’s part and parcel of each day. Get onto some meetings, and have a conversation with the clients on the findings from what we went through in the morning. A little more music, now it’s time for the jukebox. A little more work. A little more conversation. A little more work. A little more browsing. A little more work.

3pm: Usually, this time is when most of the meetings are fixed. 2 to 5 is reserved for Zoom meetings. Interesting conversations with the clients also lead to great ideas. Little gossip never killed anyone. With the clients, the core team and all the teammates.

4pm: Second round of review, discussions and revisions and seeing the brief getting closer to final output. Everyone is asked to review every piece of work. It’s looked at with keen eyes because the devil is always in the details. Staring at my teammate's desk and other things around. I’m like that watch on the table ain't aligned. Organising things for personal peace of mind.

5pm: Time to wrap up the design that I’ve been working on. Final.psd, Final.ai, Final.aep, Final.prproj, Final.jpg, Final.png, Final.mp4, Final.mov or Final.pdf depending on the day. Now it’s time for my teammates to deconstruct and review my designs. There are some days, when the file name is as mentioned above and some days when the file name changes to Final_V2 or Final_V3. However, that’s great as the mistakes that I overlooked were rectified.

6pm: Put the feet up and draw the blinds up, get lost in the colours of the sunset from our office. Trust me, they’re brilliant. Calming the stress & mess that might’ve been there through the day. Try and visit someday. Going through the job list again with the team, to figure out what’s complete and sent out. Align a few things, which might be urgent for the next day beforehand.

7pm: Back in my car, or a cab, or carpooling with a dear friend & teammate. The drill is the same if it’s my car or a cab. Now, if I’m carpooling with my friend, then first of all it’s making her listen to the new music I discovered throughout the day. Then obviously a little gossip, which is quite the stress buster. Planning where we can go the coming weekend, figuring out a few plans and boom, home.

8pm: Get on my knees, while Coffu’s paws reach out for my shoulders. It’s like the day has started all over again. Meet Mum, tell her I’ve finished my lunch, while she proudly smiles. This is a very recent development, where I now handle my father’s embroidery business as well after he passed away. Then have a word with the manager about how the day was at the factory usually regarding the progress of work and management of accounts.

9pm: Watch some shows, like West World, Bodies, Snow Piercer or Suits (I’m watching it for the 9th time now). Sit for dinner with the family. Conversations about how each one’s day has been. Well, it’s me, my sister, Coffu, and our helper who stay together. Each one has a very different story, which fuels my imagination along with my stomach.

10pm: Sometimes it’s 11, but I try to sleep between 10-11. Coffu is back on the bed. Needs a little attention, which he always has from me. The same random conversation time with his puppy eyes, while I’m off to sleep. Ready to wake up and crush it all over again.