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Design in daily life
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Anand Aurora of Tessaract Design feels design sets a trend and makes a lifestyle statement
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IN THE previous article (Metroplus, September 9), the basic objective of good design, which is to improve the quality of life, was explored. This point was much debated in lieu of the fact that most design these days is accompanied by a designer, who comes with a label attached. And the label has a hefty price tag. Therefore, this makes a product with a design element involved accessible to just a chosen few.
However, according to Anand Aurora, at Tessaract Design, we still have design inputs, which are relatively underplayed but omnipresent in our everyday lives. These also come with a cost attached but there are various factors that influence this.
To begin with, he focusses on the people who make design what it is. He bifurcates design into `Professional design' and `Designers'. Professional design is employed in areas of mass production where quality clearly runs through all aspects of the ideation to manufacturing process. A good instance would be the automobile industry and the watch segment. These products are available to all, yet have strong design inputs. Products involving huge volumes would obviously cut the design cost involved. Here, design would be used by a manufacturer as a strategic marketing tool. It's what separates the wheat from the chaff. But even within the mass manufacturing area, there are price differentiators, which are determined by whether the design inputs come from an expensive or lower end design house. It is also determined by the positioning the product adopts. So, you have curvy sports cars with specially designed features destined to lure paying customers, and you have the city automobile with a more conservative look.
For this article, `Designers' stand side by side with `Professional Design'. They offer exclusivity. A competitive edge. They are the stuff labels are made from. They cater to the market, which want one-of-a kind and are prepared to pay for it. These products are niche and produced in small batches, or limited editions and therefore, the value attached is higher.
But as we go down the list, there is another category where products are created not involving professional design. This segment is occupied largely by engineers, artists and crafts people. Engineers create for the mass market. Artists are individual and craftspeople are largely non-individuals with small-scale production capacity. Obviously in these cases the design cost would be marginal.
The next element that comes into play in costing is the development cycle. It begins with a detailed market study and brief, which naturally includes the positioning, psychographics and demographics of the target segment. From this evolves the design brief. Designers then get to work, as individuals or a team and explore concepts. Forecast some as well. Then begins the process of filtration and evaluation. They hone in one or two approaches, which will then be developed. 3D models are created and then technology is considered. Appropriate materials are examined. Concept models have to be created and then the product goes into testing. Focus group studies result in a stringent selection process, critical engineering design is discussed, prototyping, test marketing and then final production follows.
If a product is craft-oriented then certain processes may be waived aside. For a mass- produced successful design, which creates a quality product almost every element in this cycle is critical. Therefore, there is a price to pay.
You see this process at work from the car industry to home furnishings. In a boutique, product, non-economies of scale would add to the price, so there is an inclination to use expensive materials to justify the mark up and therefore, the perceived value of the product is higher. For every feature added, there is the cost of the feature, the material and the very fact that the feature has been added which influences the price.
So how does design improve the quality of life? Primarily, design is used as a tool. It differentiates. It influences. It creates a lifestyle statement. It is used to carry through the creation of a trend.
It works not just for products but services as well. Corporates use design to establish their philosophy beginning at corporate identity and ending at packaging. At the workplace it helps to reflect the ethos of an organisation and stimulate people. In less formal places such as retail it works on the mind and helps to change a mood, stimulate appetite, influence a decision and loosen purse strings in the process. It also helps build homes that truly improve the way man lives.
Well-meaning ideologies aside, some well-designed products, which were meant for mass production, ended up becoming icons along the way. These much-coveted classics generated a legion of admirers, who are willing to pay any price to own them. But they received their elevated status by conforming to the primary requirement of quality. They stood the test of time.
NEELAM CHIBBER
(In conversation with Anand Aurora, Tessaract Design, for the Design Store, 79, C.P. Ramaswamy Road, Alwarpet, ph: 499 7157.)
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