In the protected Indian economy, design had languished. The Indian companies were at best copying or undertaking reverse engineering in most of the products available in the country. Original designs existed only in the traditional sectors like handlooms and handicrafts and a majority of design interventions; during the period of Post Independent India till the economic liberalization began in the early 1990s were directed at those sectors. The economic liberalization initially brought in an atmosphere of fear of globalization and competition among Indian Industry constituents. The opening up of markets and rule based world trade regime made it necessary for Indian industry “to shape up” or “ship out” in quick time. The manufacturing sector underwent rapid transformation led by sectors like Automobiles, two wheelers, light engineering etc. The manufacturing sectors became lean and robust. A hunger for innovation began to surface in watches, appliances, lifestyle goods, automobiles, two wheelers and a host of other products. The consumer goods riding on an emergent retail boom also began to look for the design edge. Along with sweeping and rapid technological developments, FORM began to overtake content in India and design arrived with colours, shapes and new affordances. Even the humble refill pen like Lexi, the ubiquitous Anchor switches and Stainless Steel led by Jindal Group began to invest in Design.  Life-styles underwent dramatic changes with telecom and media revolution; Connectivity through Mobile phones and internet, fast and cheaper air travel, all began to impact all aspects of daily life. The economic boom led by improvement in infrastructure and increasing pace of urbanization brought in heightened demand for new products and services. The increase in young working population and women in the workforce along with the changing demographic and psychographic profile of Indian consumer increased the demand for designed products. The new value customers especially those who were born in 1980s and 1990s formed two distinct waves of consumerism. The first wave of consumers are already earning well and are having either “Double Income No Kid families” or “Full Nest families” with high disposable incomes and are residing in the expanding metropolises like Delhi, Mumbai, or Calcutta, Chennai or in the new boom towns led by Information Technology like Pune, Hyderabad, Gurgoan, Cochin, Chandigarh etc. The demand for Design has been a result of these mega trends.

Design appeared as a major force in the fashion industry and is now coming of age with 10-15 years of work by designers, educationists and the media. The fashions began to synchronize with the aspirations and “Feel Good-Look Good” tendencies of the first wave and second wave of population of India. The fashion designers became household names and fashion crept into small towns, mofussils and took a big sweep in metropolices. The shirts which became “ready to wear” paired with readymade trousers and then morphed to suits with increase in climate controlled offices and automobiles. Fashion started influencing the women’s wear by making Salwar Kameez, bags, accessories and jewellery go fashion forward. Design to most people in India therefore meant fashion. The industrial and communication design began to be noticed, only in the last 7-10 years with the increasing efforts by leading Institutions like NID as was the case for fashion by NIFT in the late 80s and early 90s. Magazines like Images and earlier Clothesline etc. and the general print and electronic played an important role in developing a fashion culture in India. The retail boom began to surface from solo stores to specialty stores and chains, Department Stores, factory outlets, discounts stores, destination shops and malls in the last few years. The organized retail fuelled the need for more branded products and services with consistent standards, quality and design. This led to vitrified tiles being imported from China to Samsung and LG making deep penetration in white goods and electronic goods from Korea and automobile majors joining the bandwagon in India. Mobile sets unleashed competition between Motorola, Nokia, Sony Eriksson and the mobile services ushered in a new “Design Democracy”. The screens of computers, mobiles, and hand held devices have become part of everyday life of a large middle class and upper middle class population of India.

Design edge was seen earlier as purely tactical and as a variety and choice creating activity. It was mostly understood at a peripheral level, as the connection between designs and brands, design and businesses, design and consumer, design and emotions and culture, were not necessarily understood. It is important to understand that design is truly inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary. Unlike management and technology which are based on “analysis” design is about “synthesis”. The competencies need to be both “Hands On and Minds On”.

Some of the recent examples, indicate that from the peripheral levels, of colour and form, design is moving through the higher echelons of business strategy. The fields of management and technology have appropriated the word “Innovation” to define the response to an idea driven world. It is very clear that the 20th Century was an “asset based” century and 21st Century is an “idea based” century. Design is the application of creativity in the process of innovation. The creative economy is different from knowledge economy, as creative economy places premium on ideas and the ability of the organizations to bring ideas as products and services to the market place at the shortest possible time to create value, wealth and quality of life. However the Indian companies have been generally focused mainly on “Business Strengths” and have been investing heavily only in this area. The design strengths have been very weak with hardly any investments in design research to understand Cultures, emotions, senses, feelings etc. and therefore original Indian designs also have not hit the marketplace in adequate numbers.

Technology has been the dominant force in the last part of the 20th Century. But the 21st Century has proved through the iconic “ipod of Apple” that contexts are going to redefine products through design and companies with Design Strengths are going to outwit the companies with only Business Strengths. “ipods and iphones” have become the new symbol of strategic design showing the ascendance of design from a skill and competency level to one of lasting economic value with an equal impact on emotional retina. The recent example of Swift by Maruti in India is a good instance as to how a bold new approach to design could create a sensational success. Swift has addressed the feelings by a sporty look and has married technology and ergonomics very well. In India the success of Indica, Indigo and multi-utility vehicles like Scorpio, Bolero and two wheelers have been extremely influenced by design and the adaptation of global design directions to Indian sensibilities.

The retailers like Pyramid earlier & Pantaloon have put a lot of emphasis on design. The Future Group is an active promoter of “design as a strategy” by enveloping the business with design as an integrating force. Setting up of “Idiom” as an inhouse design provider shows that for this company, design is an integral part of Business Strategy. The same is the case with “Samsara” of Satya Paul “Atmosphere” of Himmatsingka Seide and Tanishq of Tata Group.

India’s heritage as a civilization, high level of diversity of cultures, religions, festivals, festivities, rituals, practices, visual icons, vernacular languages,  ethnic food, fashions, and multitude of colours make it possible for design to play a critical role unlike in other countries which have yet to create a design culture. At the level of skills whether in metals, wood, or materials, India has a huge talent pool. In the recent years, the engineering and IT talent have come of age. There are experts in anthropology, humanities and liberal arts who can contribute to design along with specialists in art, music and performing arts. This makes it possible for India to become a major “Creative Outsourcing Hub”. In the case of IT industry the talent pool had reached a critical mass and mostly the absorption of the man power happened owing to expansion of Services Sector across the developed world. In the case of design talent since, only originality and innovation can lead to an eco-system which absorbs design, it is important that Indian companies do not give up on the face of competition, but use higher level of design research and design to push the envelope. Along with the increasing number of R & D establishments setting up roots in India the design consultancies will also grow and it is important to scale up the operations of the existing design firms though they are few in number for a vast country like India. In the case of fashion, the failure of Haute Couture to become mass labels in good time have affected its growth curve. In design the lack of rapid “Mind to Market facilities” and ability to scale up the operations and availability of sufficient number of trained designers in proportion to engineers and technologists will come in the way if focused attention is not paid. Design being contextual, designers need to have global exposure while having strong empathy and insight of local realities. Above all, they should learn to marry business strengths with design strengths to make companies reach out to produce successful Brands in the marketplace. Designed in India, Manufactured in India, and served from India is not just a slogan but a statement of hope and conviction for India poised to become developed India by 2020.

Dr Darlie O Koshy