Design is the King

By - Urmimala Banerjee - Mid Day, Feb 12, 2010

ALPANA   Aria   has   recently joined Future Brands as the president of DMA Yellow Works. An IIM-Ahmedabad graduate, Alpana has worked with firms like Rediffusion and Titan. She tells B2B how the tight design makes a huge difference

The right design

While verbal language is easy to define and evaluate, a visual language is very hard to decide. And yet, visual communication has the power to get embedded deep in consumer minds in a way that no amount of words can. A picture speaks more than a thousand words.

I remember working on an Amul Shrikhand campaign. Now, shrikhand was found only in traditional Gujarat and Maharashtra homes. It was a baring dessert, but it had on opportunity to enter homes as a replacement to ice-cream. Design was entirely responsible in successfully generating trials for shrikhand in national markets and becoming

part of a household's purchase as well. The new design helped to achieve a change in consumer behav¬iour and generate volume.

Brands with great designs

The new Citigroup logo and its simple arch that communicates brand values and houses all verticals for a highly diversified set of services in B2B as well as B2C space, is fabulous in its simplicity and conveying of an overarching broad value.

Google — for its use of inclusive design makes it a 'living brand'. Us regularly changing face underwrites its brand values of customized experience and people friendly values.

Changing perceptions

In India, we still live with transposed design, whether it is airports, most of the retail chains or even products. We do not create for the Indian context. I am still hoping tor on Indian solution to our contextual needs.

Businesses designed around the understanding of the Indian consumer behaviour have done phenomenally well. For example, Big Bazaar or Muthoot finance or Nano yet we transpose design.

However, I do think that the Indian consumer is demanding and rewarding design that caters to his/ her needs. It is up to the marketers to wake up to that need.

Future plans

We want to partner diverse organisations to provide solutions that accrue quantum gains. We are picking up business aggressively — nationally and internationally.

We are also growing rapidly employee strength (85 and counting 2nd 2010-11 will see the emergence DMA yellow Works as a serious player in providing complete brand solutions — from brand strategy advertising, BTL and direct marketing. We hope to help create a launch innovative products and service formats in the country.

urmimala.banerjee@mid-day.com