Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Designs on features

Desmania Design has won the Businessworld-NID Design Excellence Award 2005

It's no longer just about the functions, it's about features. Of late design has become an essential ingredient of products, and naturally the design industry is one of the emerging fields in the corporate world. "People have started to take it for granted that the products of the known companies are going to perform their basic function up to the mark. It is the looks and the add-on features that make them pick one and drop the other. For instance, recently a refrigerator company came up with a hands-free refrigerator, which could be opened by foot," says Anuj Prasad of Desmania Designs. Established in 1992, the multi-disciplinary design firm has only recently won the Businessworld-NID Design Excellence Award 2005 for Best Retail Packaging. The prize came for its creation of the Vicks Cough Drops Jar from P&G.

Unique features

According to Anuj, the unique features of the product include easy dispensing and a bottle lid that operates without threads. Also it stands alone (tallest), and brand recall is aptly translated in the overall form of the jar. Earlier Anuj did something similar with Whirlpool's Sensation washing machine. "We introduced an elevated podium at the bottom with a drawer to store soaps and detergents. It proved to be a huge hit."

Working with the mantra that everybody wants life to be a little easier, Anuj says these days foreign companies are also outsourcing the design aspect to India. "India is the emerging knowledge hub. Domestic companies can't afford to have in-house design staff for they need something to keep them occupied. New designs take time. So they outsource the work to companies like us on a project basis." However, Anuj adds this is not true with automobile companies, for they are very strict about confidentiality issues.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail