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Looking beyond the WWW

Asha Sachdeva

Designyatra 2009 is around the corner. Into its 2009 edition, Kyoorius Designyatra purports to redefine visual communication in India. The cerebral conclave that draws top talent from various creative disciplines, has to date been attended by over 4350 people, demonstrating the emerging design consciousness amongst the design community.

Designyatra 2009, scheduled to be held from September 4 to 7 at the Renaissance Mariott in Mumbai, has as its theme, "The New Norm," or "Thinking bey-ond the conventional." Among the eminent speakers lined up for this year are Sir Martin Sorrell, Carlos Muñoz and Michael Wolff, to name a few. Also for the first time, The Netherlands, the design capital of the world has been designated official partner country to the Mumbai event.

Another interesting element is a matchmaking opportunity between Indian and Dutch designers, under which 14 design companies will fly into India to discuss strategy development, joint ventures, or attempt straight buyouts with their Indian counterparts.

While last year’s Designyatra, held in Panjim, Goa in September, had the theme of "Convergence" as its focal point, this year’s event will cover more than a discussion of the new media, insists Rajesh Kejriwal, founder of Kyoorius Exchange, the organisers of the show. Kejriwal told this paper, "If you noticed from the speaker’s lineup, many are working in fields beyond the conventional, yet in one way or the other, they are also part of the communication business. The idea, he insists, is to explore "how the specialists are working in other spaces to help businesses communicate."

This includes integrating retail experience branding with visual communications, moving images that promote brands, product design that provokes consumers’ desires, or crafting new experiences for mobile phone users, explains Kejriwal. "The world is changing and the communication business must change too," he adds.

Unfortunately most design houses and clients in India construe the World Wide Web as the new media. However, any activity that involves a digital component should count as new media, says Kejriwal, including, for instance, interactive store environments, mobile WAP applications, ATM applications, interactive event design and blue casting etc.

Think for instance of Mc Donald’s using blue casting to give away digital discount coupons as a Bluetooth download! For the uninitiated, the concept of Bluecasting is based on the creation, delivery and transfer of content to mobile phones via Bluetooth communications. Bluecasting is a proximity marketing solution, which allows brands to communicate to users via Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones. Abroad banking, automobile and youth brands, such as Diesel, Nike, Burger King, Puma, and BMW are all pioneering the active use of such new media.

Kejriwal concedes that during recession-challenged times, it makes more economic sense to look at alternate media. "Alternate media, specifically digital media, has changed the way marketing and promotions are conducted across the world," he explains.

In his view, the disruptive model of advertising is changing. Today’s demand is for user-generated content and word-of-mouth buzz promos. "It’s no longer about "can you see my product," but "can you say a few good things about my product on your blog/facebook /twitter" etc?" he insists.

What Kejriwal is talking about here is essentially new media 2.0. "There are many avenues that we never paid attention to earlier, but were introduced as revolutionary concepts at Kyoorius Designyatra," he explains, citing for instance, branding exercises that craft totally new experiences, environmental spaces that bring brands alive, product designs that dramatically alter our perception of existing or new brands, communications designs that break through the normal paper and print clutter.

Kejriwal insists that what he is talking about here is digital space beyond the Internet that calls for a very visionary CEO, who has the courage and the foresight to adapt to any media, as long as it is conducive to pushing his company’s brand ahead of the competition.

"It’s a misconception that the Internet is just a database generation tool for further marketing efforts," he observes. "If the Internet is used correctly, it can be used to create thousands of brand ambassadors out there (for free) who can’t be bought with advertising / marketing money." The example that he cites is of a person who reposes great faith in a well-read blog but not so much in the full page paid ad of a product.

Driving home the importance of design, Kejriwal says, "Kyoorius has always been at the forefront of the design movement in India. At its roots, we believe, design is orchestrating how a brand is to be perceived by public eyes and also how it can unify a company or organisation internally."

This entails opening our minds to what design is. The playfield is actually much wider than graphics, advertising, or the Internet. "The best example of this," according to Kyoorius is to "imagine a hypothetical new product from Apple. Even without mentioning what it will be, the consumer can readily assume it will be well designed, from the packaging to the promotional campaign to the next iPhone application that will promote the product."

"If design is not the single most important component in Apple’s branding, I don’t know what else is," Kyoorius concludes.