Is design all about how your product ‘looks’? Let’s solve the conundrum.

A well-designed logo and website can be the difference between a sale and a hard-pass. A professional branding is not fully given the importance it deserves in today’s world. Building a brand does not happen overnight, but if the foundation is laid correctly, it becomes a solid stepping stone to success. Professional branding and communication design can immediately give people the impression that your brand can be trusted. A strong visual, in terms of logo, graphics, packaging, communication etc. can help create an image of cohesiveness and leave a clear brandmark on the customer through all marketing channels.

While the differences might seem small at first but eventually those small-small differences are what help ‘make a splash’. This brings us to point out another important factor that makes professional designers important to your business, which is differentiation. A designer’s creativity is not limited to visuals, their creativity also allows you to stand out from your competitors. In a world where the audience was buzzing with excitement over their BlackBerry and Samsung mobile phones, Apple took the market right from under their feet, not only due to the technology but also because of their strong visual branding and the PR buzz created around the brand.

A common misconception about design and designers is that design is solely about how a product or communication ‘looks’. While in reality ‘looks’ are secondary. There are so many factors that take priority, internal and external before a designer settles on how the product or communication would actually look.

• Socio-cultural differences: Culture is probably one of the most important factors a communication designer needs to consider when developing material for an audience. Cultural factors determine people’s attitudes towards the depiction of gender and gender roles, depiction of religion and the divine, of power and structure of society, the way we use public and private space, of sport and education, and that of power, wealth, work and leisure. Therefore, it’s safe to say that visual communication is a product of the culture within which it is created.

  So naturally for a designer to cater to an audience where no two people are the same, considering how vast and diverse India’s culture is, is like walking on eggshells. So how does one tip-toe around all these landmines and still pack-a-punch with whatever they are trying to communicate? It’s an easy formula called RACE. Research, Address, Consider, and Evolve. Research and make yourself knowledgeable about the culture you are creating content for, research the trends and likes and dislikes. You cannot enter this industry blind because then you’ll be both foolish and ignorant. Address cultural expectations because it is easier for the audience to relate to design that is more catered and refined to suit the environment they have grown up knowing and understanding. Consider everything about the culture before you finalize what to communicate and how to communicate it. Evolve with changing times because society is never stagnant and a good designer is always with the times, even better if they are ahead of the times.

  In a country like India where the culture is so vast and varied, a designer has to be extremely politically, socially, and religiously correct because even one wrong word can cause an uproar in a highly sensitive society like ours. An example of a great design that is culturally apt is the Emoji. Emojis are made to cater to the global audience and time and again have been redesigned to suit the changing cultural scenarios, like the addition of same-sex couple emojis.

• Technological: Do you remember the last time you wrote a letter? Or went to the phone booth to make a call? Or a time where you could not video call the person you were missing? Times were definitely simpler before but now they are faster, more advanced, and downright awesome. It would be safe to assume that the communication industry has had its Cinderella moment with all the technological advancements happening almost every day. The biggest blessing came in the form of Digitization.

  Today digital communication has taken over all other forms of communication and that has had its impact on the design industry immensely. The latest technology does not come cheap, but designers make that investment to produce better results, reduce wastage of materials, and save time and energy on the production of designs. But, the sad part is that the audience does not understand the time, money, and effort that goes into making one single design and refuses to pay the price demanded for it. Especially in India where people are slowly but steadily starting to realize the importance of design but are hesitant to invest in it.

  

  When we talk about technology in design we cannot not talk about two very prominent ones that are shaping the future of design, Artificial Intelligence and NFT’s. NFT’s are ‘Non Fungible Tokens’ also known as ‘CryptoArt’, have given designers a completely new way of monetizing their art. NFT’s can be anything, from an artwork to an article or meme, which is digitally made. The most promising part is every time the artwork is used the designer receives royalties in the form of cryptocurrency. It is a huge win for designers since cryptocurrencies are the future and investing in them now will bear fruits for many years to come. As for Artificial Intelligence, it is a concept that is still in the works but whatever we have seen it leaves us giddy with excitement for what the future holds. As for design, the way AR will interact with the customer efficiently and as ‘humanly’ as possible would be a designer’s job. This puts designers in a key position to shape the future, and at the same time provides them with a chance to become smarter.
  

• Environmental: We hear talks of sustainability almost every day. Everyone has become more conscious of the impact they have on the environment, or at least pretend to be more conscious because they want to follow the trends. Sustainability is avoiding the use of material that causes the depletion of our natural resources. A sustainable design, be it product, buildings, or print, will aim to incorporate environmentally preferable outcomes at all times, which a lot of times is not as easy as it sounds.

  A vast number of companies are shifting to using a more sustainable approach like, newspaper publishers who are shifting to having a solely online presence which has reduced the impact of waste paper on the environment. But with the growing use of technology comes the huge amount of power being consumed on a daily basis. For example, NFT’s which are the latest fad in the design community uses 35 kWh of energy on an average which is equivalent to powering a refrigerator for one month, So, for a designer to keep themselves relevant while still being cautious of the environmental impact they cause becomes quite a challenging task.

• Political: Visual communications play an integral role in politics. It’s a designer’s job to make the information meant for the public, to be made available in a format that will appeal to them, and make the message digestible. How the public is informed, educated, entertained, or provoked all falls on the designers’ shoulders. Therefore, a designer cannot afford to be apolitical.

  Political views are very individualistic and differ from person to person. Every designer, especially a communication designer, needs to educate themselves about the politics of their location and have an opinion because not having one is not an option. A designer’s views on political issues in a country can help save clients from making grave mistakes, like the Tanishq ‘Ekatvam’ jewellery ad which sparked an uproar with right-wing claiming the ad endorsed ‘love jihad. The sentiment of the ad might have been pure but in a country like India where politics and religion go hand-in-hand, it is the responsibility of communication designers to get the message across in a politically correct manner.
  
  To conclude, things are changing in the blink of an eye. There is a constant need to keep yourself updated, keep yourself fresh and new and always ahead of the competition. Sounds exhausting and exhilarating at the same time, right? Designers are a dark horse waiting to be used in an effective and efficient manner, they are the ones shaping the way your audience thinks, feels, and acts towards your products and services.

  Design touches many individuals on a daily basis and is part of a variety of disciplines from engineering, to architecture, to communication and even computer-based technologies. A designer controls and manipulates typography, illustration, photography, etc that are used in magazines, newspapers, books, television, movies, signages, advertisements, and many many more. Therefore, that makes designers extremely important and extremely powerful, it is just a matter of understanding and acknowledging the need to make an investment in good design for your brand now and reap the fruits for the long term.