Forty Shades of Purple

BANGALORE, INDIA: What can be actually be said to exist? What are the various meanings of being? Is existence a property? How do the properties of an object relate to the object itself? What features are essential, as opposed to merely accidental attributes of a given object? When does an object go out of existence, in comparison to just changing? Do beings exist other than in the modes of objectivity and subjectivity at all?

No this is not a monologue in the intricate, esoteric mind of Howard Roark. Yet, as we are talking about 'whatness', 'howness' we are not very far from the world of architects. It's just that here the concrete can be anything- from silicon to polymers to Lycra. Consequentially, the buildings that come up vary every day. Some day it's a sleeker phone, the next day it's a video app, and a day later it could be a pair of stilettos.

It's really eerie in a way to talk of design and metaphysics in the same breath. There's no getting away from it though as we bump into the mystic world of Ontology every now and then in the by-walks of designers. There must be some reason why this philosophical study of being, becoming, existence and reality is suddenly acting as a muse of sorts for artists worldwide.

Once we get a grip on that, probably we might be able to crack some elusive design-world equations like style vs. functionality or aesthetics vs. pragmatism or simplicity vs. complex abstraction or software's role vs. hardware's evolution. There is another one that intrigues equally well here - Design+Art+Technology.

Will o' the wisp? Depends on how the top sculptors at Moonraft Innovation see it. And while we decipher this equation, we also take their vantage view to understand the palette of style, software against hardware, discoverability, learning curves, customizations, 3D printing type of break-the-curve technologies and how do they affect this constantly dissolving-into-something- new fluid called Design. More in this chat with Sreekumar Paramu, Chief Design Officer and Co-founder, Moonraft Innovation Labs.

Company's co-founder Somakumar Kolathur just explained to us how moon (for imagination-up-the-sky) and raft (for navigating the big distance) were blended together to christen your venture. Tell us how much distance has the Labs covered till now and why is this relevant for the industry here?

We are a design and innovation firm and the idea is to create differentiated customer experiences for companies and this is done as we conceive, design & create interactive experiences at the convergence of the physical and digital worlds. The result can be products, or services or interactive spaces across all customer touch points. Our labs division is focused on experiments, and prototypes on emerging technologies. The team is different as it balances research, interaction design, service design, experience design and advanced engineering skills in mobile, web and other interactive technologies and interestingly it is packed with formidable talent, combined with the work and educational backgrounds as varied and finest as Domus Academy (Milan, Italy), Copenhagen Institute of Interaction, Design (Copenhagen, Denmark) and National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad, India); Interaction Design, Institute (Milan, Italy), Design & Arts College of New Zealand (Christchurch, New Zealand) among others.

Our clients span across Banking, Automobile, IT Industries, etc. There are so many touch-points in business models today that creating a service perspective around products is important. BFSI for instance, is exposed today to an entirely new digital way of doing business and that calls for a lot of and right interactive interfaces. Ubiquitous interactivity gives a slew of opportunities in retail, promotions, product launches etc.

So you deal with design day in and out. Do you face that almost cliche conflict between complexity and simplicity? How can the thrust to add more features be managed while keeping a simple backdrop intact?

Well, complexity is something that you will still find people asking for. It is rather easy to build complex work and simplicity, by the same yardstick, is tough to manage. Simple is always easy to handle and sell to customers and customers understand that too. In some cases, management may want a lot more depth for positioning work, but I would still maintain that simplicity is catching up like never before, more so with the kind of time constraints and attention spans we have started dealing with.

 

What about that other debate - style vs. functionality?

That's really a good old debate between form and function. In my opinion, form has to follow function. In certain cases, customers may ask the other way too. But it usually it's about function.

Is that why technology is an inherent piece of your design+art+technology mix?

Today, design is seen as a tool to solve major problems. Now one has so much data at hand and by the same argument, so much business is possible. It is a tough situation for markets at the same time that requires a major level of differentiation because focus on attracting and engaging customers is crucial than ever. That's how design is a silver bullet.

Why ‘Art'?

Art has a specific role. Most products during war times were manufactured in factories and soon people got bored of them. Art is what made them desirable again. Design can bring in functionality here while that emotional connect is taken care of. We cannot leave this vital third piece to be taken care of at customer level so we have to integrate it at our desks here.

Lukas Mathis highlighted the notion of discoverability from the world of video games in his book ‘Designed for Use: Create Usable Interfaces for Applications and the Web'. Would you agree?

He probably wanted to show how people interact with games. It is about simulation and first-person narrative. It pushes you in an environment where you, the player, are the protagonist. What if we are in Dhoom 3, for instance - that means a new environment and these kinds of experiences can have a huge impact in the way we market things or sell experiences to customers?

You know that strange polarity in our industry about software - while Moore's law shows hardware to keep pace with design, many (like a German Scientist and Mathematician recently) have poignantly argued how software algorithms have done a great deal too and yet they are seldom acknowledged. Why? Is the top seat changing?

Software is an integral part and hardware is not taking a backseat either. You cannot surmise that from desktops as new hardware is coming that is entirely driven by customer needs. Desktops could have been a bit limited in the past but now a lot of design thinking is happening around them. All these pieces will go hand in hand to give a good total experience instead of silos. It will not be as usual - first hardware and then software on top of that.

 

Does personalization (in case a customer demands that) interfere with design? Or is it the opposite way?

Personalization is bound to happen but it depends on what kind of customers you are talking about. You can accommodate it by design or let people figure it out. Yes, it can get expensive at times but then, it again depends on what products you are working on. You have to figure out different means in terms of design impact too.

Have you encountered learning curve resistance or anything else in your work?

Users are fast today. Their needs have become simple too. It's actually about how fast we can deliver. That becomes a challenge. That - when put on to the backdrop of a still-very-much-an-old-world-economy - also becomes a challenge but things are changing fast.

What are your views on 3D Printing's entry and its spillover on the design world?

This technology is incidentally, one of the few new things I am excited about. It has a lot of potential in itself and it is very interesting to look at. Look at the entire aspect of service innovation where past bottlenecks are being wiped away with so much re-invention happening. Yes, it will impact how we live in future. It may change the way people purchase (or download stuff) while delivery is done by service providers. You can design a cake or furniture for your specifications and that's it. As the entire technology evolves, more products will enter its scope. It is a beginning at the moment. It's hard to predict for two three years ahead now. But in a span of 10 to 15 years, I guess a major part of our lives will be produced differently and that adds a lot of opportunities as the mediums (who deliver the product) won't be able to make us too dependent. Connecting directly to customers will finally happen.

Does your line of work intersect or overlap with digital slices of advertising industry or OPD (offshore Product Development)? What is the ‘new' piece then that you bring to the table compared to other existing players?

We are not exactly in that space. Marketing and innovation are two different functions and we are engrossed with the latter. The intent is to apply new meaning to products and services. We do not deliver design in graphic form but in implementation mode and at the front-end layer. Rest of the product development is done by product companies. Traditional design firms do only graphics but we bring in the implementation layer. This is because we do product mapping and we understand interactive dynamics around it. It's all about the interactive element of design from a customer's point of view after all.