Category: deep design

Physique Part 3: Three Escapes from the Grip of Physique

Physique is ‘the mental imprint of a brand’s physical image, as a sensory perception”. Its power comes from its automatic nature, which escapes formal or rational thinking. It’s related to the primacy effect, psycho-speak for the power of first impressions. Once imprinted, it decides whether we ‘accept’ products that don’t fit the ‘physiqual’ mould. If… Continue reading Physique Part 3: Three Escapes from the Grip of Physique

Dear Office, your services are terminated

Six weeks ago, 16 days into the lockdown, we speculated on the deep design of a post-corona world. The analysis had layers, from ‘layer 1’, the physical spaces that we inhabit, to the psychological ‘layer 3’: the arguable, hard-to-spot, broad, themes, sentiments and anxieties. These themes govern societies, and it appears, governance itself. The Prime Minister’s… Continue reading Dear Office, your services are terminated

Espressionism

This column is a paean to Espresso machines—their beauty, ingenuity and Eden-like diversity. It is about this much loved, yet somehow under-appreciated component of the unique status that coffee occupies among the commodities we consume. Design has been a part of coffee’s changing dynamic. A global culture has formed around it. Its progression is a… Continue reading Espressionism

Not a flash in the pandemic

Speculating on post-coronavirus life is a raging contagion that infects the worker-from-home. Prior susceptibility is needed. It attacks the mind, causing fevered contemplation of the design of things in a post-corona world. It’s harmless: once you’ve read this, you can wash your hands and move on. Caveat: how the pandemic will play out is unknown.… Continue reading Not a flash in the pandemic

Clear and present danger

Some innovations succeed to the point of redefining the problem they tackle. Some give way to better ones, or having served their time, fade into the section of the graveyard reserved for the no-longer-needed. Yet others fail flagrantly, and quickly: tagged as laughable, or a good idea poorly executed, or ill timed. A broad consensus… Continue reading Clear and present danger

Innovation and all that

If there’s a bigger darling than design these days, it’s innovation. We’re seeing a tendency to link, or in geo-political jargon, hyphenate them; in academese, conflate the two; at any rate, we’re &-ing them.  Most will agree that It’s a Batman and Robin thing, and innovation is the caped crusader. Design belongs downstream. An enabler,… Continue reading Innovation and all that

Distress Signals

First, a recipe. Find some lettering, carefully painted or printed on something solid, like wood or metal, an old nameplate, maybe, Then get to work on it with sandpaper, until the edges of the letters vanish here and there, and the entire surface is pitted, scratched and otherwise damaged. Now dust it off and step… Continue reading Distress Signals

Experiment and Reason

The 2019 economics Nobel Prize for Banerjee, Duflo and Kremer (hereafter, BDK) offers much to celebrate for Indians, Bengalis and Frenchwomen among others. Designers, in their modern role as global problem solvers, should join in. They have much to be inspired by.  The practices of economics and design appear to have little in common. But they share common ground when… Continue reading Experiment and Reason

Design and the future

Design, as a thinking style, is starting to be recognised for its contribution to tackling today’s most complex problems. Its role maybe even more important in the future, or the Future, that permanently fascinating horizon which occupies our dreams and fantasies. But not just in making the products and services of tomorrow.  Design is practical… Continue reading Design and the future