Good design comes in great packaging. Or does it?

Designers, qualified designers, are supposed to be designing the packaging of products to enhance the product experience, attract the customer towards itself, keep the contents safe and be kind to the environment in the bargain.  If you analyse the Indian packaging design scenario, you would realise that almost all of this untrue.
If you have ever had a child requesting you to open a toffee pack and looks at the pack being opened with a mixed emotion of anxiety and expectation, coupled with the frustration of having to ask a grown-up to do so, you will understand what this essay is about. Is user convenience a factor for the packaging designer or not? Or, has packaging design been reduced to making the ‘Logo’ bigger and the graphics colourful?

Businesses can do well to try opening a prototypical package themselves to empathise with the whole process of user-experience. Have you ever struggled opening a shampoo sachet in the shower? Or a cellophane wrapper off a soap? Ever wondered why arthritic medicines are tightly packaged that is completely useless for the patient who is arthritic? Have you opened a large gift of a toy only to realize that the contents are tiny? Has your packet of chips ever burst on you and your friends? Have you struggled with milk powder sachets in a moving train? Have you ever wondered where to store or dispose any of these packs? If you said yes to any of these, then you understand the problem.

Several years ago, the Design Council in UK had conducted a survey on what people thought was bad design. The small milk pack in plastic, shaped like a drop with a tough metal foil top was unanimously chosen as the most frustrating example of bad design. If a similar study was done in India, we would find several examples.
A few years ago Carrier, the then largest manufacturer of air-conditioners called upon me for re-doing their AC packaging. The reason was that the ACs then, were mounted on wooden crates and covered with a corrugated board cover. By the time the product reached the customer, the packaging was coming apart. When the company wanted to make it better, all their advertising agency had done was to change the colour scheme of the pack!  But my design intervention was to get entire package was re-designed.  Which meant understanding safety requirements, understanding available materials and processes and design both the structural and the visual parts of the packaging. The wooden crate was replaced with laminated paper structural elements and the corrugated carton was designed to withstand the rigours of a road journey from Manesar to Pondichery and still remain intact. Today the design is being used by all the AC manufacturers as the generic mode of packing window air conditioners.

Packaging does contribute in enhancing the image of the product. But it is only as good as the product it contains. No good packaging design can substitute the experience of a good product design.  Ask a child who gets big toy packs that contain few frivolous elements and you get the picture. And often the image comes at a cost to the environment.

Packaging is also a large contributor to the landfills. It took a court order for pan masala manufacturers to change over to a more eco-friendly packaging. But a lot of your cellophane wrappers of soaps and condom and shampoo packs are finding their way into your own domestic sewerage systems, choking everything on the way.

Compare this with the elegant baskets that Japanese pack their stuff, in and you would understand how design could beautifully contributes in saving the environment.
We need to get there and the sooner the better.  Designers must engage their clients in the whole design process. Systemic thinking need to be applied to packaging design assignments. A strong lobby for keeping the whole process sustainable needs to be in place.

Till then the struggle with the  daily soap will continue.

A Balasubramaniam is a trained product designer who founded January Design. He is an early graduate of NID, Ahmedabad in Industrial Design. He can be reached at bala@januarydesign.com

Demand good design!

 By  A Balasubramaniam
Today is World Industrial Design Day. (29th June).

How does it change anything for you? Let’s say, by now you have brushed your teeth, put on a kettle, had a cup of tea and showered. That means you have been touched by the work of an industrial designer. The toothbrush, the kettle, the coffee mug, the shower, the lounge chair have all been designed by industrial designers. But the moot point is this: did you have a good experience? Did the toothbrush seem worth the price? Did the kettle safely dispense hot water? Did the cistern flush properly, saving water? Did the shower work well? Is the chair ergonomical to read broadsheet newspapers? If not, there is a design problem.

Design and designers influence the way we live, work and play. They work to make the whole experience worthwhile. They deal with form, function, safety, maintenance, graphics, packaging, colour and aesthetics of products and systems.

Designers are trained to make a product functionally better, aesthetically appealing, easy-to-manufacture and considerate to the environment. In short, it makes a product a delight to own and use.

When was the last time you were delighted by design? In India, very often, one feels let down by bad design. Have you ever wondered why an alarm did not go off in the morning as set? Or a toothbrush packaging that is difficult to tear open? Low slung Japanese cars always get stuck in the monsoon onslaught on Indian roads. Chairs in a conference room which are not comfortable for long hours. Door handles that don’t turn properly is a regular irritant.  All of us have mobile phones with features we hardly use. Washing machines have no programmes for chunnis, turbans and 9-yard sarees.  Public buses and trains that are difficult to climb for the elderly and the differently-abled. Bank ATMs that are too difficult to decipher is a common complaint. Toys that are unsafe for children are a common concern. The list can go on.

So why does this happen? Often times, the designers are called upon only when things go wrong. Businesses look at design as an unnecessary expense that add to the costs. Price of a product is still more appealing than safety features. And the lowest quoted contractor gets to build the park bench or the bus stand.

Companies do not realize that bad design works out to be more expensive in the long run. Brands lose their sheen, re-calls are expensive and bad word spread faster than good word.

How do designers work for a better product experience? By empathizing with the user. By applying design thinking, designers work towards creating better products and systems. Designers have been trained to be people-centric, business driven, eco-friendly and responsible.

Why do Indian businesses get away with bad design? Because, we still do not demand better design from our industries. Consumers are used to badly designed products everywhere around us.  We need to grow to expect better design. We need to build a constituency that appreciates good design. Lets demand quality and safety. Lets surround ourselves with good-looking products. Lets educate ourselves about making products sustainable. Lets put a premium on delight of ownership. When customers grow to expect that, businesses would have no choice but to cater to customer demands. And will begin to look at design as an integral part of the product cycle. An investment that is required for a good business.

Till that happens, World Industrial Design Day will only be a celebration of a select few.

A Balasubramaniam is a trained product designer who founded January Design. He is an early graduate of NID, Ahmedabad in Industrial Design. He can be reached at bala@januarydesign.com