Product Design: Gadgets for security for women

Another rape. There seems to be no end to it.
And no one is there to help. These things always happen when there is'nt any one around. The victim is alone with the offenders  most of the time.

Can there be devices, may be stealth devices which can be hidden in a bag,  pocket, wherever, which can be pulled out and can somehow defend oneself. I think a pepper spray is  a good solution at the moment.

But there could be many more...

Contextual Sustainability : Global problems, Local Standards

Sustainability is a global concern. But the standards and mitigation practices need to be very local.
It just hit my mind when I saw some of the postures on sustainability in some of the Indian offices. For example: Recycle paper, a ton of paper recycled will save some whatever trees

For God's sake, this poster is just not for India. Every Indian sells his old newspapers, unwanted books, magazines, etc. The wealthy gives it off to their servants, maids so that they can sell in .

Sustainability need to be defined locally, in a context. Based on the problems, each country or region faces. There cannot be a global criteria. LCA analysis and carbon foot print values will vary signifcantly.
India and other emerging countries, will score less on energy efficiency but score high on recycling, while it will be just the  opposite for a product manufactured in the developing world.

Coming to the paper thing, waste is indeed a problem is India, but recycling is not an  issue. Waste is a resource, and it supports a  part of the population. For the good or for the bad, the very poor are the torchbearers of sustainability. Having better sustainable standards here will be to find out ways to improve the lives of waste pickers, employees working in toxic recycling units and how can a system be made so that recycling can be efficient and ethical and will not harm the environment in the process.

Has 2010 taught us enough for 2011

The recurrent major natural calamities make us feel more human than probably what we used to feel 20 years ago. Where everything was at our disposal to be used and destroyed at our own free will. 
As I have posted earlier. It is time we take this seriously and find ways and means and systems, products and processes to deal with it. I am afraid this is looking again the consumerist ways which we have been so used to, but at least here we do not have a choice.
 The time to take positive action has gone years back, but we are still playing the passing game: Copenhagen, Cancun......
At least Jairam Ganesh has taken a positive step by getting India into the negotiation table. The future world leaders will be countries who can lead the sustainable agenda. And who can have the preparedness 
to take care of at least its own countries' people and property from a furious Mother Earth. But bear in mind it is not just one countries struggle.when CO2 goes up it cannot choose....

Trends: Gen Y US vs 20 somethings of India

A very interesting article in the New York Times, says Gen Y is delaying adulthood. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/magazine/22Adulthood-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine.

In India is it the reverse? Today in India ( may be not the entire country atleast in the urban and tier 2 cities), because of the economic independence, availability of jobs and generally more money than earlier in the hands of the GenYs, the age of adulthood has come down. The 20 somethings are marrying early, buying cars and houses much earlier than it used to happen in India, say the eighties.

Earlier  marriages and settling down used to happen late. Financial security, large and joint families, mean the men wait for the ladies to be married off first. Jobs were less, money was meager and building a house for oneself  was just a dream. People used to plan for a house when they are about to retire. Men used to think of marriage once they reach the 30s.  Well, may not be a pan India trend, atleast it used to be that way in the south.

Today the GenY have far more independence than the earlier generations. Coupled  with the emotional security of the family system, lesser number of kids per family, money in the market in the form of easy loans, etc. times look really good for them.

Design for Disaster

There are far more disasters these days, than it used to be and we see the same things being played out. Buildings crashing: no equipments to lift the rubble. Flash floods: no vehicle to reach the location were people are stuck.

Haiti, Equipment took days to reach, probably there were not many earth movers etc. in a poor country like Haiti.

The earthquake today in China has also happened in a remote region, and the struggles are the same.

And it may not be just equipments. There is a need for survival kits, survival food, instant food which packs all required salts, nutrients,  portable operation stations, and trauma care.

Quite evidently there is a dire  requirement for equipments, devices products, which can be easily transported, easy to assemble and  install, and easy to operate. This will need radical thinking, or else how can an earthmover be converted to a much smaller and transportable device.

This could work as a decent business model too. These equipments/ products can later find use in many other applications.

Houses become hoardings for advertisers in villages.

Along the way to Bangalore, India homes in villages are being painted by companies with their advertisements. Its a great sight, with advertisement being directly painted on houses. The houses themselves become the hoarding. This is interesting in many ways. For the advertisers they get a great view and it stands out so well, because you get such a big hoarding space. For the villagers their houses get painted, which otherwise would cost them a lot of money. What happens to visual culture? Hmmm. That is a difficult question. Across India the way the homes are decorated are very unique to cultures, and this may not be a good thing to happen. There were many homes where the front patio retain the traditional colour schemes and only the side walls were given. On the other hand for the villages it is a way to earn money and also to get their houses painted quite often. A win win situation!

It is a unique and creative solution the advertisers have identified. It has got great visibility. There are no costs of erecting hoardings, and you dont need to worry about the hoarding being exposed to the vagaries of nature.

Newly built homes for flood victims, rejected by the villagers: A case for Participatory and Inclusive design for emerging economies.

Villagers of Karnataka , who were devastated by the floods  were given corporate help by Biocon, a major life sciences company in Bangalore to build houses. They came with a really good low cost technology. The model house was built and shown to the villagers and they liked it. But once they started building the homes and people started really observing it they rejected the houses upright. The villagers gave their reasons. And it seems to be a lack of research and participation of the villagers in the design process.
The villagers found the the full concrete wall does not allow them to put nails in the wall(manually) for hanging pictures. The footprint of the homes were too small for the villagers, who during the rainy season, keep their goats and sheep inside.
Participatory and inclusive design are very strongly needed especially when the user is miles and miles away in distance as well as culture. (In places like India and other newly growing economies were there is so much of polarisation between the rich and the poor, the house next door is actually miles and miles away). And it is not just in cases like this one involving villagers.

This is something which businesses should look into when they look at India and other emerging economies as markets to invest and sell their products and services. Its cliche, but you should be knowing what you are selling to whom.

Green Initiatives at Auto Expo 2010, Delhi. How Green are they?

Quite a few automotive companies showed off their green solutions.
Most of them are electric cars, save the Prius which is a hybrid.

Which is more green; Hybrid or Electric.
In the Indian context most of the electricity is generated by thermal power, mainly coal. Our coal plants are inefficient and it really need to be analysed whether the electric cars will genuinely reduce carbon the carbon footprint. But then there are hardly any emissions from the car if it is electric. Another point is a completely electric car will most generally be a second car. You spend so much on a car, and it can only be driven around in the city? How sad. So you have consumed more...Phew

The hybrid holds a lot of promise in the present situation and I think these are the technologies which we should promote in the short term.

The Electric car is definitely the future. By the time our energy is renewable and we have better battery technologies which would give more running kilometers, services like the Better Place to make charging and electric power hassle free, there is a lot on the horizon.

What we do need is government support, both for the consumer and the ,manufacturer.

Trends for India | 2010

This is a trial and currently is a draft. And I will be editing this as I go on and learn more and consolidate my thoughts and observations.

But first let me make a start:

Downturn. India is said to have recovered from the downturn.

Yes. And not so sure. The major industries have: like the automobile sector, steel, IT to an extent etc, etc. But most of the masses lost their jobs in the small scale sector, real estate, middle east. These jobs are not so well accounted. Though there has been a recovery all around, to what extent still remains to be seen.

So what does this mean. Common people still do not have much to spend and are cautious, but sectors like automobile, computer hardware, white goods, high end cosmetics, etc have made a comeback. The middle class are also cautious. They are taking lesser risks. See the splurge in affordable housing, for instance. People want to make themselves secure, but are not redy to take huge risks. This is here to stay for quite sometime.

So what are the broad trends for 2010 in India, let me make an attempt.

MIND THE GAP: The common man
In 2009 the UPA (Comprises of the Congress party and allies) government,got re elected on a thumping margin , which was completely unexpected.
They were very focused on the 'Aam aadmi' , the common man, throughout their campign. What has won the hearts of the people were two programmes; the NREGA and the farm loan waiver. The mid day meal scheme for school children, which was run by some state governments even before, was centralised and extended to the whole country.
The farm loan waiver gave respite for a lot of farmers from debts, which traditionally cripple farmers, because they are left to the vagaries of nature like drought, and floods, lack of distribution, etc, etc.
Through the NREGA, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, for the first time in independent India, the government takes some kind of responsibility for its citizens. It guarantees to give one person of a family 100 days of work, at a wage of Rs. 100 (roughly 2 dollars) a day. This is meagre, but it helps to keep the fire burning.
More than elevating hunger to an extent, it raised the minimum wages, which was denied to the poor landless farmers and other small time labourers. It benefited around 36 million households last year. There are issues like corruption, criticisms, etc but on the whole this is going to create a sea change in the rural society.
Now what is the trend and the future it unfolds?
Assuming that this scheme will lead to a cascading of work from 100 day to more, when the infrastructure and other projects will start based on what has been started by NREGA schemes. There will be an increase in the minimum wages, which has already started with landowning farmers complaining very bitterly about the scheme because of the higher wages it provide.

When people move just above the line of poverty and raise to a slightly better standard of living, do we have products and services to cater to them? There is a huge GAP here and it is high time companies and businesses start planning to fill this gap. Not just for the small local players but for large corporations as well, since the volumes are going to be huge. Right from toothpaste, toothbrush, sanitary products, services like power, communication...Products have to be created and new brands ushered in, so that it is possible to cater to high volume, low margin basic products. Companies like Unilever, P&G, Tata which already have a vast network can come up with new brands and products, so that it will not affect the higher margin brands.
Design thinking can play a major role in identifying opportunities here. The solutions may not be as simple as creating one product, but an effective product sevice network, so that innovative ways can be found to bring down costs.
The IDEO drinking water project, which was done in collaboration with the Acumen Fund is a an excellent example. With a participatory design process, which included the villagers and the community, very unique system level solutions were generated for each village/ community, by setting up a a central purifying center and distribution network thereby reducing costs for individuals substantially.
Mobile service providers and handset manufacturers can come together and create very unique customised local solutions.

SUPER REALISM: Caution, caution, caution.

People are cautious of wht they are spending on they have become super realistic. All lunches and dinners are accounted for. Some of the recent projects in Bangalore for affordable housing has found huge demand.Folkds want value for what they are spending on. The tariff plan of Tata Docomo, in which every second is a pulse in place of a minute and consumers have to pay only for what they use, has become a huge hit. To the extent SIM cards were sold in black.

So what does this mean to the industry and businesses: Show the value upfront. Tell the consumer what they are paying for and make it obvious. Is there a niche product to be created , you may well do, but show the benefit upfront.

CONVERSATION> INTERACTION

More and more marketers are looking at having a dialogue with the consumer, and even going to great lengths. Tata Docomo, a new entrant in GSM Mobile network in India, is asking talented, enthusiastic consumers to create their own animation commercials. Tata Docomo in turn runs these ads with credits to the creator. He or she will be thankfull and loyal to the company for a lifetime. Most of them will be a true talented animator working in some corner of an office. Perfumers are prompting clients to create their own scents, restaurateurs are inviting menus from the discerning patron. This has gone to the extent of becoming a fad and branding consultants are cautioning the businesses to not lose their focus.

Will this trend stay: Of course it has good potential. This is becoming the reality TV of advertising and sooner than later advertisers will have to find novel ways of engaging consumers. If possible, find ways to keep the engagement. This is gratification for the consumer as well. I could see the happiness on the face of the animator of one of the T-Docomo ads to believe it.

ME IN THE MIRROR
Suddenly you are told in your face that you are aging, you look darker, go run to the mirror and have a look at yourself! A sudden splurge in high end cosmetics, with glossy secondary packaging, lots of chrome and metal to stop every natural process, which are to happen, well naturally. And for men, every brand has a fairness cream and the affect is supposed to be measurable.
Though this trend seems to have been forced by advertisers. There definitely is a market for them. Which only shows there is a sizable amount of affluence and disposable incomes, which can be spent on products like this. Though wellness stores swelled in 2008, the brands and products grew a lot in 2009. We can expect to see more grooming products in the market, and also services, like fitness, spas, high end saloons, etc

Society, Culture, People and the Maya of Design

I have always envisioned design to be all prevailing, transcedantal. Design has always been there and has been used, represented and made to evolve as a society , wanted it to be, as a culture wanted it to be.

Now why strategic design and sustainability? Professionally this is what is really getting me interested. And as I consider myself to be always in a state of flux, the gentle churning, I think the title might change ( I hope google has planned for people like me!). 

But this blog will always be about Society, about Culture, about People and this all prevailing Maya of Design around it.