{ design is a verb }

2009-07-10T12:12:00.000Z

2009-07-07T09:05:00.004Z

2009-05-15T11:53:00.007Z

Owning Effervescence
The Time Magazine labelled it "an indispensable rejuvenator to hard-working British colonials... a bitter, effervescent quinine water supposed to ward off malaria & malaise." I am of course referring to Schweppes, now commanding an extended portfolio of effervescent drinks from its classic Tonic to the new Cola. I have had a soft spot for its mark, rejuvenated in 2006-7 to take the 200+ year old brand to younger audiences. Its yellow brand flag exudes positivity and can't seem to contain the burst of energy, bubbles and positivity. Either way the brand seems to have made a healthy relationship with effervescence...

2009-05-14T09:44:00.008Z

Web 3.0

Designed by OnLab, the 24-page interaction section of the Domus Magazine (March 09 issue) is a fold-out feat featuring two characters: Mr and Miss Web 2.0. The article, on the possiblities of Web 3.0, is marked by diagonal fold-outs (and ins) as well as uncomfortably force justified columns. The pages look elegantly foldable, but can be a holy mess or an engaging puzzle - indicative of the shape of things to come?

2009-05-12T07:32:00.000Z

Now connected to Barrack

Thanks to team Obama's enthusuastic embrace of the net and its new networking paradigms, just realised that I, and many others too, are just a couple of virtual handshakes or introductions away from the man at the helm of the US of A. I wonder how many of you would have actually searched for Obama on LinkedIn, I for one certainly didn't - pure serendipity.

Post the online tryst with Barrack's profile I searched for our very own home grown politicians. My search for Rahul Gandhi, heir apparent to the Congress top job and likely future PM of India, brought up 225 results but none that seemed to match the person I was looking for. There were 116 Sonia Gandhis on LinkedIn, none of them the Congress President. Names like Manmohan Singh, LK Advani, Somanth Chatterjee, Priyanka Gandhi Vadera, Prakash and Brinda Karat threw up anything between 0 and 200+ matches. Maybe they are another election year (technically five years) away from getting closer to the people through social networks.

Interestingly, Captain Gopinath and Krishna Byregowda, both 2009 contestants from Bangalore South Constituency for India's Lok Shabha or the House of Commons are on LinkedIn. Though further away from me in connection terms than Barrack.

2009-04-12T10:00:00.002Z

Share of Heart and Mind

In April 2008, US Insurance giant Liberty Mutual unveiled its Responsibility Project. The multi-faceted project is based on a Television Commercial created in 2006. The tagline: 'Responsibility. Whats your policy?'

The popularity of the commerical inspired a series and then the community driven site that has short films, personal stories posted by its visitors, blogs, discussions, vote-in and the widgets to share it with the big wide world of social networks.

According to Kathy McManus, editor of ResponsibilityProject.com: "I’ve seen the issue of responsibility debated and contested all over the world, by the powerful and powerless. Some ignore the topic with ease and others spend a lifetime pondering; however, everyone defines responsibility in their own way. The Responsibility Project gives everyone the opportunity to share their own experiences and expectations. By joining the conversation, we hope the online community’s members can test themselves, debate with others, get inspired and give inspiration.”

The animation films as well as personal stories are debated, shared and discussed by the growing community of responsive registered visitors. In the recessionary times the brand positioning has struck a chord with the consumers at large. Whats more, in early 2009, Libery Mutual introduced a new campaign - a series of spots and films that traces the times of a fictional family, the Marlowes, as they go from "coping with recession to disciplining errant children" (NYT online, March 3, 09)

Responsibilityproject.com will host all the campaign films apart from its regular content. A splendid initiative, though one cannot but wonder about role and the nature of 'strategic' altruism in helping people make choices. That anyway is another story for later...

2009-03-18T07:01:00.001Z

CS vs. MS

Though Adobe CS (and Photoshop in particular) has inspired many a designer and designs on itself, one cannot but help smile at this clever little infographic (bottom) tracing the evolution of the designer. I for one have to grudgingly add Lotus Notes to my toolkit...

2009-02-19T08:57:00.000Z

2009-01-23T09:56:00.006Z

A dashboard to the world

If you loved watching the world go by from the confines of your verandah - then this site is for you. How much is fact and how much fiction, who knows and frankly it doesn't matter to me. What I find interesting is the take on 'here and now'—how it assumes a sense of urgency and immediacy. The forests being cut to the coffee cups being produced sounds alarming, though I am convinced this is just part of the story - the statistics is far more alarming. I can see an influence of Jonathan Harris' (far more rigorous) I Feel Fine project and Newsmap. Visit Sprint's site for the swirling dashboard and the widget (if you wish).

2009-01-08T13:11:00.009Z

A dozen Do-Nots

The folks at R+K | The Brand Union have designed an alternate calendar on the theme of (yes, you guessed it) how not to design a calendar. Here are a few of my favourites from the recommended 12 ways. In no particular order of preference or chronology. As a matter of fact, in the effort to make the calendar throughly non-functional, designers have deliberately left out months and days on some pages. Though most come with dates. If you want a signed, numbered limited edition digital copy, email me - though there would be a little cost - for printing, p&p.

2009-01-05T13:06:00.001Z

New Year, New Calendar

A new year. Time to change the calendar - not just the page...And as far as calendars go this one is one of the most innovative I have come across - in a longlong time. By UK based Mytton Williams Design Consultancy.

2008-12-04T10:44:00.001Z

...but not as if nothing happened!

2008-12-04T08:18:00.009Z

Social Sites, Laptops and Design Education

A row of empty studios greeted me.

It was as if the Christmas break had come early to my alma mater - the National Institute of Design (NID). The rows of studios were buzz of activity when I was a student there some dozen years ago. The open studios partitioned by plywood sheets of around 4 feet would be home to many throughout the day and often late into night.

Not any more, says Tarundeep Girdhar, my host and the co-ordinator of Graphic Design Studies at the NID. Remember the enlarger? A medieval device that would gobble us up as we entered its guts and tried to enlarge the drawings via a series of old-world reflections...

The studio was the hub of all activity - a place where we would draw, sketch, colour, cut, argue, review, critique. This was a place where revered (or hated) seniors would pass by, look over the partitions and offer insights, feedback and criticism. As would visiting faculty and the full timers. The drawing teacher could comment on logo design and vice-a-versa.

In the last week of November, I came to NID (after almost a decade) for the open juries - one of the evaluation method used to test students at the end of the semester. And by the end of day one, almost 9 hours of sitting through presentations - one thing was clear, there wasn't sufficient critiques happening on a weekly level. Context wasn't being clearly set for many of the theoretical briefs. Several student responses lacked the maturity or their very own perspectives that should reflect in the work of the particular year.

On day 2, it became evidently clear that far too many students were spending far too much time sitting in their rooms, glued to laptop screens, their interaction mediated by mobiles or sites like facebook. No wonder the studios were sparse. The revered, hated or even apathetic senior were missing as were wide-eyed wonder struck juniors. I had a chat with a group of students later that night, well past their dinner time. Most of the group seemed to agree with my observation - they were spending far little time in the studios chatting, arguing (and drawing/cuting and pasting in the real world in real time) and most importantly learning from each other and their peers. My furniture designer friends would have a point of view on the poster. Over cups of chai we would agree, or agree to disagree - and each would leave a little more enlightened (or corrected).

Real world interaction around a real printed or prototyped piece of work can not only help shape opinions and issues around the particular piece but also about design practice in a broader sense. Watching and participating in critiques is a surefire learning experience that stays well beyond the few hours that could be put in every week.

As I left Ahmedabad the following morning early, I couldn't help but think of all those who shaped my opinion about design - through examples of delightfully good, sheer bad and utterly ugly work. My classmates, the seniors, the many visitors who passed through and commented on work, the juniors and of course my teachers.

The challenge: how do we introduce the digitally connected generation to the real classroom and help them each find their own opinionated pathways through the richly layered world of design?

Above: Student Yash Misra's visualisation of his social networks is a fascinating study into the multiple platforms via which students interact at NID.

2008-12-01T10:43:00.001Z

Every end is a beginning...

What better way to restart the blog then begin with the end. Not just 'the end' but multiple ends. A selection from Dill Pixels' magnificent collection...

2008-07-21T08:18:00.002Z

I am not sure who will enjoy this one more - chocoholics or scrabble lovers. Either way looks like the game won't last for too long.

2008-07-18T10:13:00.002Z

The Brand Creature

Brand consultants are famous for asking those bog standard questions that define brand personality: If your brand was a watch...what would it be? Or What car would it be? Or if it were an animal what would it be? Designer Corey Holmes' taxonomy turns the question on its head....absolutely fab...

2008-07-03T18:10:00.004Z

Banking on listening to your customers

A recent letter seems to be doing the rounds on the internet - its author is allegedly a 96 year old unhappy soul, who, despite her age, seems to be as sharp as Edward Deming crossed with your earnest engineering grad. And with a great sense of humor. The reason for the letter is: "to thank you (the Bank Manager) for bouncing my check with which I endeavored to pay my plumber with last month. By my calculations, three nanoseconds must have elapsed between his presenting the check and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honor it.

I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly deposit of my entire salary, an arrangement which, I admit, has been in place for only eight years. You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account $30 by way of penalty for the inconvenience caused to your bank." And the solution is ingenious:

"In due course, I will issue your (Bank's) employee with a PIN number which he/she must quote in dealings with me. I regret that it cann ot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modeled it on the number of button presses required of me to access my account balance on your phone bank service. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Let me level the playing field even further. When you call me, press buttons as follows:
1. To make an appointment to see me
2. To query a missing payment.
3. To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there.
4. To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping.
5. To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature.
6. To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home
7. To leave a message on my computer, a password to access my computer is required. Password will be communicated to you at a later date to the Authorized Contact.
8. To return to the main menu and to listen to options 1 through 7.
9. To make a general complaint or inquiry. The contact will then be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated answering service. While this may, on occasion, involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will play for the duration of the call." Click here to read the complete letter.

Obviously it isn't real (I mean the 96 year old woman story) - it was written by a Peter Wear a columnist for Brisbane's Courier Mail and inspired by an incident of his cheque bouncing. This was 1999 but many brands and businesses even today fail to answer the simple core question: "who do we exist for?" IBM of course has a brilliant campaign that drives home the point, less eloquently than Mr Wear, but spot-on nonetheless...

2008-07-03T09:14:00.004Z

There is more to Bangalore

than just IT

In its June 28th edition, The Bangalore Mirror lists 10 interesting organisations that the city is know for other than the usual big IT names that its famous for like Wipro, Infosys, TCS, HP, IBM et al. The list features US Pizza, The Himalaya Drug Co., Avesthagen, Cafe Coffee Day and Ray+Keshavan.

2008-07-02T10:35:00.012Z

The journey of the BIAL brand mark

Looking through my collection of hard-to-decipher file names, I came across this interesting little travelogue (below) - albeit in a visual form. The journey of the BIAL mark - from a sketch on the back of an envelope to a recognised marque. A good companion to my earlier rambling on the BIAL identity—therefore this post.

Most journeys for a brand creation or transformation are often seen one fine morning in the local newspaper or on blogs frequented by brandistas like me and my colleagues, or on one those hate-forums of designers that feel that they could have added far more worth and value.

After all design and branding are a profession that are subject to extremes of subjectivism and open to criticism of the n-th degree. The objectivity that one can bring to the subject is the context (which in case of this particular logo was centred around an airport for the city of bangalore); production issues/constraints and long term strategic intent (in this case BIA wanted to get connect better with the city - else they already had a logo). Most skirt around the third issue conveniently - but it is often the most critical trigger for a brand change. BIA ceo Albert Brunner and his team took a strategic decision of opting for a fresh new mark instead of the corporate mark (with multiple arrows) which had no geographical connect.

As the little road map above shows - many objective decisions shaped the final identity, as did several subjective opinions too. Several worth logos made it to the quarter-finals and sem-finals. Some dropped due to subjective preferences and many due to a lack of fit with strategic intent. My European biased colour palette was finally injected with a riot of tropical hues by my many wonderful colleagues, the dots were dropped, the type became stronger, the forms became sharper - perfectly fit for production, legibility and readability. The pleasing part was the partnership that was forged between the client, stakeholders and consultant teams to define what was right and relevant for the airport brand - not was was 'good' or what 'I like' or what 'my son or grandchild loves'.

2008-04-16T09:25:00.000Z

A Brand New Airport

While I was still deliberating joining R+K, Sujata Keshavan (R+K | Brand Union MD) mentioned to me that we might be doing the Bangalore International Airport Identity. It was a fantastic piece of news I thought - after all you don't get to do an Airport identity every other day. Its a once in a career opportunity - or as it was to prove with my first year at The Brand Union - twice in a year one. My first interaction with the Bangalore Airport (the old one along Airpot Road en route to Whitefield) was a complete disappointment. It was a chaotic, overcrowded terminal - the outside was no more reassuring - neither was the traffic on the arterial roads. My memories of Bangalore were of a city in the ago when the Airport was pretty much on the outer fringes. Over a period of time as I began to accept the city as it was - I began to find other facets. The flowers on my windscreen, a number of roads where the trees criss-crossed and hid the skies, the changing colours in the misdt of greens - bright orange, flaming reds, soft lilacs, pinks and whites.

We had already started the work on the Airport logo by then, emphasizing that the identity must connect the airort to the city, just as the airport would connect the city to the world outside. A number of routes were explored, hundreds of sketches revised, redrawn and reviewed. The crossroads of in our approach ws at the juncture of the old and the new. Should we look at a youthful, vibrant Bangalore - India's Silicon Valley or the timeless city of mild weather and gardens?

We opted for the latter, supported by the views of Bangaloreans both young and old, the ones that would frequent the new Airport and the ones who would possibly watch from a distance, until someday they to were passengers. Our choice was ratified by a number of articles in media (around end of 2007), questioning the good that sudden implantation of western MNCs had bought to cities like Bangalore - questioning if all citizens of the new Silicon Valley were indeed happy on the newly acquired status. The answer, the articles suggested, were a clear negation.

The Garden city route was the preferred one, after all Bangalore was better known for its various parks and gardens (and lakes or kere) than its monuments (some of them fairly recent in comparison to its Parks). The current logo, in different hues, made it to the shortlist. And then to the next round and the one after. My colleagues changed the colours, refined the forms and redefined the transparency. The clients voted overwhelmingly for this option (they could have retained an existing marque but didn't). It was a journey of over 7 months, a journey marked by learning and discovery - of losing and finidng a city that many of us now call home.

The graceful, soft forms hints at the act of air travel - of converging and again of flying outwards. The colours are vibrant, the overlap emphasizes the rich tapestry that is a multi-cultural cosmopolitan city such as Bangalore. The colours of the logo are meant reflect the natural environs - the bright hues of the flowers, the softer teal green that represents both water and greens - leaves and grass. The symbol hovers above the typography like a hummingbird in perfect balance. The decision to put in the words Bengaluru instead of Bangalore was in a sense, to pay tribute to its founding fathers - to uncover its roots and be proud of it, whilst being contemporary, responsive and modern in every other aspect. The abridged BLR still holds as good.

Seen against a number of Airport logos that with the city-connect the Bangalore Airport logo is fresh and distinctive - its colours typically Indian - a free, festive spirit, reflecting the spirit of Bangalore.

2008-01-17T18:26:00.000Z

New year, new event...

Its been close to a year since I last wrote on Blogspot. My last post stands roughly 12 days away from the 365 that make up a year. And what a year it has been. The move from Manchester to Bangalore via so many accidents, incidents, worries and apprehensions, triumphs and adjustments. Its been a year of great and drastic change - some for the better, some for the worse. So what made me revisit blogspot and write again?

I am wondering - is it because tomorrow we launch the first Indian preselections for the Webdesign International Festival 08. The posters have been done, the T-shirts are being printed, the invitations sent out - not the ones for the press. We have decided to hold them back - it may have meant a bit of chaos once the brief was read out and the teams scrambled for ideas and action.

The posters were addictive - after a long time I sat down and did something that I couldn't move away from. No client constraints, no brand guidelines. Time was running out as usual - but in someways it froze as I worked across the type, the leading and kerning - the images, the lines. It was a fluid, quick series of motions transforming a blank canvas into a live piece of work. I am sure Pooja enjoyed working on her posters as much as I did. Tomorrow comes the big day, and Aude and the 12 teams. More then.

2007-02-01T07:52:00.000Z

Typecast?

Have you been out font-shopping recently? I must admit I haven't been.

Its not the fear of the overcrowded shelves or the shopfloor, or even the delay at the checkouts. Or spending too much time at your favourite shelf - of sans serifs or those block egyptiennes. Its just that time- slips out of our hands like fine white sands.

But grab a moment and have a look at Font Shop - a great resource, and almost after a year or maybe more, the site looks fresh, relevant and unobtrusive.

The new fonts (typefaces if you will, please) and the most popular fonts are great for the designer 'on the run' - a quick check on where fonts are headed for in a post-Brody, post-Carson, post-post-modernist era. The best feature, though, has to be the type navigator. I have often asked my friends in the past to help me recall a name - trying to draw or detail typefaces in the process. Its a bit like a Pictionary with types - just that in this particular instance even you yourself can't recall the name. And likewise, we have all struggled to put a name to the face or a face to the name. But the the type navigator is a great help in sticky situations like these - it is an intuitive way and promises a few happy accidents on the way.

Choose by form, font or designer - though it has to be the form search option that is appealing to the typographer in us all. The form gives a number of choices - in terms of weight, width, serifs or sans, angle, axis - and voila - at the end of it comes a list of your fonts. Some completely off from what you imagined it to be - but worth a go. I suppose its far more exciting out seeing and shopping for fonts rather than read my essays, jump to the type navigator.

2007-01-16T18:41:00.000Z

Remember Segregation?

Few websites can claim to have the brevity of a Google's home page - Google's minimalism is packed with performance and high on the popularity list. The Remember Segregation home page beats Google's minimalism - it's home page is home to merely four words - and yet the idea is effective, powerful and potent:

Remember Segregation remembers the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and other illustrous figures from all walks of life who fought to make segregation history — in the US. The textured background, the grayscale images, the Grotesk and serif typefaces - all contribute to give it the look of archived material but not exactly dated. After all segregation didn't exactly end centuries ago.

I remember an Advert from my student days that eloquently put events into historical perspective. The full page advert (I can't remember who designed/wrote it) had the image of Neil Amstrong stepping out into the Lunar landscape - the headline below read: "And a year later black Americans could vote".

The "Remember...' site itself has this sense of serenity - of peaceful 'reconciliation' a term I found being generously used in South Africa - a coming to terms with the past and of moving on.

You may not notice the lack of colour on the site - the shades of black interplay with the tones of white - a hint of sepia in the gallery and the warm grey of the background. The minimal palette does aid a minimal but effective menu system, clearly laid out and demarcated by 3 horizontal lines.

I am reminded of Steve Krug (I had the good fortune of working in the same organisation as him) and his wonderful book - Don't Make Me Think. For those who haven't laid their eyes on the inside pages yet - the book simply demonstrates how clear and highly usable sites can be built with a big dose of commonsense and an simpler principle - let not thy visitor fret or fume or try and make sense of what the site is or where to go and how. In line with Krug's advice, the RS site is clear and it is highly unlikely that you will struggle with the navigational basics.

Although, site may be visually quiet - almost mild mannered and softly spoken - but its message is powerful. It is the that content makes you think. Spelled out loud and clear, lingering on long after you have closed your browser window.

As I write this - in one part of the world Martin Luther King Jr's birthday is being celebrated while in another part, over 20,000 complaints are pouring in on alleged racial discrimination/abuse on a (popular) reality TV show.

2007-01-07T00:48:00.000Z

Enlightening inspirations

Ikea has a series of inspirators (I have borrowed the word from expedia) online. These are part guide, part illustrations of its product range and part carrot - the idea being to indulge in a little more Ikea stuff (of any sort). My favourites are the lighting guides. Or to be more specific its the the inspirator entitled Furnish with Light (aka Light Up Your Light). The use of Flash gives a very relevant edge to the guide (an equally eloquent print version is virtually impossible) while being quite playful and charming. And there are opportunites to up-sell and cross-sell other products.

Unfortunately its other inspirators (on storage, on bedroom moods through colour, texture etc) fail toprove their leading edge via the online media. Some of there could have looked equally good, and done the job as well, in print. However, my key complaint is the slightly unplanned way in which these can be accessed - a little flashing (not animated) light bulb shows the way to different inspirators scattered around different pages on different country sites. Some countries, unfortunately dont have these on their site. Then the Ikea site (or rather the landing page of the individual stores) itself looks like it could do with a spring clean - a case of information overload. Or redefine its own storage (or layout) logic wrt these inspirators.

Anyway, have a wander and go at switching lights on and off. And while you are looking at the lights you might fancy buying that picture, the vase or even that sofa.

2007-01-01T00:40:00.000Z

A Brand New Year

The start of another year - time for optimism - time to remember all those positive promises, those brilliant, marvellous, shinning list of things-to-do - hope you manage to tick off a big number off that list - and a happy and healthy 2007 full of great moments...

See you online, this weekend.

PS: All the good folks at ideasfoundry join me in wishing you a great year ahead!

2006-12-19T23:02:00.000Z

Person of the Year: You

Time's cover uses a print gimmick: sleek, shiny metalic print - emulating a mirror like surface and reflecting you - the reader.

Time has decided to give its person of the Year award to you. And you and you. All of those those millions of people who are the powerhouse behined what is commonly referred to as 'Web 2.0'. Web 2.0 is a leap in technology and a leap in terms of the way that users like you and me relate, create and co-create content. The notion of DIY webstuff, the non-famous, non-celebrity, man and woman on the street as author, film-maker, designer is not a new notion, but possibly has seen a definitive peak in 2006.

Phil Korbel, director of Regen Radio - says its too much 'me, me, me' out there. Well, after all the word media starts with a me and now the technology actually allows me to quickly, easily publishin to a global audience. The notion of brands as conversations is neither new - brands, besides their logotypes, products etc, exist primarily in the minds and conversations of individuals - the word of mouth (or now blogs) propagates it. Myths, rituals, stories position the brands firmly in our mindsets. Horror stories from our neighbour can make it fall off our mental map.

And then there was the Cluetrain Manifesto as old as 2000 which spoke of powerful global conversations, initiated and created by you and me. If you haven't read it yet - its worth a visit and read. The core message: markets are conversations. And in the cyberspace - as much as in real life, culture is conversation too - not just words, but pictures, sounds and moving images. Which we co-create.

2006-12-11T00:53:00.000Z

Mashup Man

By day Amit Gupta is a busy, mild mannered (my guess) IT manager of a Fortune 100 corporation. In his spare time Amit transforms into a super mashupman - ideator and coder of the E41St that has won him a xBox 360 and jury's acclaim - a place in the annals of the Adobe Flex and of course praise and the big 'wow' from users (and bibliophiles) like me.

When looking for my RSA library books over the internet, or my audio books on Audible, my search reveals a long list. Sometimes I am looking for a specific book and often I am looking for a surprise discovery. A few new titles are interesting, or authors I have heard of - and so to check out what other readers are saying, I head off to two more browser windows and internet sites: amazon.co.uk and amazon.com

This is what countless others do as well - the difference being that Amit decided to put his skills to good use and combine all info in one place. There was a challenge in form of the Adobe Flex Developer Derby, a carrot in form of the xBox 360 and the love of books. In 30 days the E41St was up, built in Adobe Flex (Amit's first brush with Flex). However he commends Adobe for "keeping the ActionScript syntax similar to C/C++/C#/JavaScript/etc and providing samples & documentation. Surely, a seasoned Flash/Flex developer could have designed the app's internals better than me, but for my purposes, the desired outcome was achieved quickly". Flex could well be called the next Gen of Flash - delivering RIA - Rich Internet Applications and experiences.

E41St is named after NewYork's Library Street and the site marries the online catalogue of your own library with user reviews from Amazon. A true mash-up since the richness of the site does not lie in it's database - but in its dexterity to combine and communicate two distinctive, but useful sets of information. And save your choices in your virtual online bookshelf. The site is work-in-progress, changes are being incorporated everday (my request to add RSA London is one of the many).

The site is clean and simple, incorporates AJAX elements and is quite intuitive to use (I shall not go into a detailed discussion here). The clear hierarchy of categories and sub-categories leads to the right panel with a visual display of title pages. A great treat for many designers. And you can keep searching for more. Its like a search along the x and y axis - with some interesting surprises along the way. Then there is your own bookshelf and if you are in the USA, you may find your own library there as well. E41St is worth a visit - and I am sure your comments and feedback will help Amit make his site better - or simply incorporate your library.

Its interesting that users like you, me and Amit can create or contribute to creating sites that can match brands and corporations in terms of size, reach or usefulness - a true media democracy. Marx would have been a happy man for the tools of production have been truly claimed by the workers themselves.

For more details about AJAX, RIA and Flex just run down to the list of the tech links on the right column.

2006-12-02T23:47:00.000Z

Bending Light

A magazine, a website and more importantly an inspiration, Bending Light draws upon submissions (around a theme) from enthusiasts and professionals and compiles its periodical flashzine. Though its not a DIY site like Flickr, the website is indeed a testament to media democratisation - the non-professional's opportunity to showcase their talents. Sunrise over the Pagodas in Bagan, Burma, by German Geophysicist David Haberlah is one of the many interesting takes on our rich, diverse world. The flash mag itself is an excellent example of clean, uncluttered design with thoughtful functionality. The site necessiates a visit (and a bookmark) - and I must let the pictures do the talking. After all a picture is worth a thousand word.

2006-11-29T23:27:00.000Z

"Know thy customer"

I met the cheerful elderly man in the corridor of the London bound Virgin Pendolino train. He must have been close to 70, or maybe 70+ (I am not particularly good at guessing people's age). He had been advising another elderly lady on the perils of being trapped in train's disabled toilets - or worse, to suffer the embarassment of not having pushed the right button to lock the door. Seeing me - he shrugged his shoulders and expressed his inability to understand the 'ways' of the new world of laptops, shuffles, mice and sliding doors.

I could see his point perfectly - pushing a similar set of buttons to do dissimilar things didn't make sense to man who was used to closing a door with a handle (or knob) and locking with keys. Shapes communicated purpose - or function. In the electronic/digital world, it wasn't shapes - but symbols that communicated function. The buttons were all the same.

We both agreed it was to make the toilet 'accessible' to people who might not have the same ability as many of us to push, pull, twist etc. However - this set of buttons had made it inaccessible to some users. The law of Unintended Consequences. Would colours (the thick rings) have helped - stereotypes like red, amber and green?

He was however, genuinely surprised with one brand though. A brand called Saga. He called to renew his car insurance - when the voice answered his call, he fumbled for a number to press (maybe he hadn't heard the instructions: "press 1 for...") - he was reassured to hear an actual person at the end of the line. His insurance requests were actioned in less than the full 6 minutes.

Saga follows Prof. Porter's directive to the T - "stick to a niche". Saga serves the 50 year+ market and obviously knows what makes them tick. Saga itself has been around for well over 50 years and possibly is know better for its cruises/holidays for the age group. Apart from its holidays and insurance business, Saga also has a magazine, a search facility online to find old/new friends and a radio station. IA-Centre has an interesting case study on the Saga105.2FM.

Like my fellow traveller in the corridor - Saga has possibly managed to delight thousands of other elderly customers in a world where marketing and advertising are increasingly youth oriented. Saga's website has an over-emphasis on text - and may be fine for some of the 'readers' that scans the pages and reads it aloud to visually impaired. Though there is no indications or marks of its ccessibility credentials (those rows of neat logos at the bottom or a visible accessibility link on the home page itself). Very strangely, its home page and the second level looks distinctively different - I mean the buttons are different, the menu items on the left look different - almost everything apart from the colour. Saga's travelshop is different too and every possible pixel is covered by a rectangle of some size or a border - and I wonder what my fellow traveller would make of these.

Like the Pink PSP I wrote about earlier, Saga seems to have developed some new peripheral (and add-on) services/products for a niche market. However, like Dodge - their excellence in one area can be undermined by the lack of brand unity - in another area. The message for brand owners is simple - regular routine audits is the key (one of my former clients, Goldfish - was a master of this) as well as to avoid the temptation of adding too many features/buttons and links on their communication pieces. And of course - keeping in touch with what the customers think. Simple? Thats just the tip of the iceberg... [Virgin train image courtsey Yappari.co.uk]

2006-11-26T22:57:00.000Z

Ploughing on...

My last post dwelled on the Fiat spreading its brand values too thin - and of some of the emails I have had from you, including one of my former students pointed me to the Dodge Nitro 'planet' advert. And my good old academic instinct of 'compare and contrast' finds the perfect springboard. Dodge and Fiat. Its all about cars - but these two brands are worlds apart.

Dodge knows it customers - and in every generation there are customers who seek out their Dodge machines. Dodge leverages on its military tradition - being suppliers of 'tough' vehicles to the army. Many of the customers know that these cars have nothing to do with the Dodge family - the brothers sold the company in 1925 and after several mergers and acquisitions, its currently part of the Diamler-Benz stables, who in turn have carefully kept the brand distinctive and as undiluted as it possibly could.

Some of you (esp the B-Schools types) may recall Prof. Porter's theory of Competitive Advantage - its either differentiation or cost leadership - or the third, a tricky path, is to focus on a certain segment while maintaining cost leadership. The Professor warns of a certain consequence of not following either - "stuck in the middle"! Does that describe Fiat? And can its new logo, revisiting the past, et al help it come unstuck? Dodge, in the meantime keeps ploughing on - its entrenched itself into a position that seems like home. Environmentally friendly, it isn't - and it isn't trying to be. Not as yet. Ploughing through the depths of the earth, knocking a few of those extinct creatures unconscious, isn't really much of a bother for the head strong brand.

Unlike the Dodge advert, the Dodge website - while being informative (and ever so slightly overloaded), lacks the imaginative touch or the creative spark of its adverts - or any ability to bridge the wide gap between media campaign and online communication.

2006-11-20T17:36:00.000Z

Fiat's brand mojo

Ambling along the 20mph speed on a Monday morning rush hour you can't help but notice the interesting number of marques, badges and names on the various cars. This morning I seemed to be in the midst of VWs, Fords and Mercs (who isn't) and Fiats. Interestingly, if you have noticed you may see a number of different Fiat badges or marques - quite unlike, lets say, a VW or a Merc. Look at VW or Merc registered in the early 1985s or this year. The 85 model looks dated, the curves aren't as elegant as the ones today, the grills are plasticky, the colours lack the sheen. Lets face it the 1985s model isn't exactly new. But notice the VW badge. It will be in the same place, it will be the same size - almost. And if you look into the Think Small ads, its the same for the B&W beetle advertised in another generation.

Not Fiat.

On any day you will see a few distinctive marques - the italic capitals FIAT, reminiscent of the BBC (top right, logo from 1968-2003), the one with the wreaths - which looks straight from the early 1900s (bottom left, 2003-2006) or you might even come across the recently unveiled logo - reflecting "Fiat's new strategy". Fiat has a heritage of a good dozen or so logos, sometime lasting a mere few years (like the top left logo from 1901). Though many sites talk of Fiat's new strategy - few spell out the relationship between the new logo (bottom right) and the new strategy.

Therein lies the paradox...

The new logo predates the capitalised italics logo - and according to Fiat's site: "is a basic, strong logo that sums up in the best possible way this ongoing change that distinguishes Fiat today. A company travelling into the future which is, at the same time, proud of its historic identity." As car manufacturers move across horizontally and vertically - in search of new markets and new customers they are at risk of diluting their core brand values and propositions. When you begin to mean a lot of things to a lot of people, you often do not stand for something - but end up being commoditised for the masses. Is this what Fiat means when it says "to move forward you sometimes need to take a step in the other direction." Can logos truly change the culture and nature of the company or do companies and their internal change actually add a distinctive meaning to their existing logos?

Lets wait and watch if the new logo can help Fiat find its brand mojo...

2006-11-14T23:47:00.000Z

Another Pink wash...

I was quite surprised to see the Pink PSP adverts in the bus shelters. Though I shouldn't be. Cars are appearing in shades of pink and so are phones and many other electronic gadgets. This has been the marketing 'make-up' mantra of the not-so-creative variety. A veneer of pink may help some products fly off the shelf - but Pink PSPs?

Allow me to expand on that - Games and gaming seem to be the domain of males. The players are males (a decent 85% if stats are to be belived), the game scenarios are designed for males and predominantly by males. I have yet to come across a serious female game player - essentially because games are designed to be bloody (or blood thirsty) - lack adequate attention to detailing characters (or developing them) or a strong narrative. The fights, blood and gore often substitutes for storylines or characters. Games are symbolic of gender stereotyping.

Should games be for men or women - commonsense suggest otherwise. I am sure that there is a healthy middle ground or a gender neutral scenario. Or more female game designers. A shallow Pink-wash simply isn't the solution.

A quick search over the net led me to a Wired.com article by Janelle Brown - Girl Gamers, written on 19 Nov. 1996 - almost exactly 10 years ago. Little seems to have changed apart from the skins on PSPs. And will the Girl gamers who compete with the boys on equal level, trade in their Black PSPs for the Pink ones? Or is it an optimistic illusion of some of Sony's bright marketing/sales execs? Lets keep an eye out for the latest pink Phenomenon...

Also see: The Girl Gamer's Manifesto

2006-11-13T23:29:00.000Z

Sales versus Design?

The debate was getting emotional and charged. One side represented by the evergreen salesman - DR and the other side by yours truly. "Nothing happens until you sell it" - is DR's contention. "Good design can only make the sales process easier - it sells itself", I add pointing to the iPod. Can you imagine a door-to-door salesmen touting iPods or telesales agents calling up with deals?

Or think of time when the 'think small' advert became etched in a generation's minds. That may have driven a decent number to the VW dealership - though I have no idea what is the ratio of people who saw the adverts to the those who made the final purchase. A good few decades later the brand is still etched in the collective consciousness.

"Selling is equally creative" adds DR. I think creativity is an attitude - anything can be approached in a creative, inventive or child-like manner: as if seeing it for the first time and bringing a fresh pair of eyes, ears or head, to the issue. As long as one isn't creative with numbers, even accounting problems can be approached with a creative hat.

"What about the John Abraham's Flu Relief Lozenges?", quips in DR. I am sure design can help it sell better, possibly not faster. Though we must always remember that good design can merely make a bad product fail faster. I don't disagree with DR on the issue of selling - "until it's sold nothing happens" - but the process, structure, routine and ritual of sales are widely varying - and more often given a bad reputation by those who are out to make a quick buck. Perhaps I can get across the point that design is about enhancing desireability of a product or service, thereby making it more 'sale-able'. Or perhaps DR knows already.

2006-11-12T00:01:00.000Z

Of Cabbages and Kings, my original and the longest surviving of blogs (a record month with a post almost every week) isn't exactly dead. As the name suggests - the subject area of the blog was rather wide - ranging from Type navigators to London Underground. Nothing wrong about that you may say, but it certainly lacks a certain focus - and thats what I intend to do in this blog.

A deep dive, without casting the net too wide - is the intention here. There will be the usual and occassional posting on the C&Kings blog - but again for topics that are wide off the margins and the columns.

Key question is if I can make a habit of transferring those random notes, thoughts and observations from my sketchbooks, my palm, my diary and (more importantly) from my head on to this public domain? Thoughts on Design, branding, design management and brand stickiness.

Let me give it a good earnest shot...