Non Compos Mentis

withOut ORDEr NOtHING CaN EXISt; wiTHOUT CHAOS NOtHING CAN EVOLVE

2005 - 2009 Language defies reason and defines it, a continuum divides space and time, walls close in to make more room, the loudest sound comes from the greatest mime, when equilibrium so sane loses to an imbalanced rave, non compos mentis shall live on beneath its grave.

NON COMPOS MENTIS

Š 2009 Fashion Communication Dept., NIFT, New Delhi.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

The view expressed in the document are only of the authors and in no way represent the views of National Institute of fashion Technology.

Project Realisation Ms. Dimple Bahl Ms. Rupinder Kaur Compilation and Design Department of Fashion Communication, NIFT, New Delhi. National Institute of Fashion Technology Published by Anamaya Publishers

E-Mail: anamayapub@vsnl.net

www.noncomposmentis.in

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CONTENTS graphic design Thoughts by Rajesh Dahiya

fashion & photography 12 Changing Face of Fashion

by Harmeet Bajaj

Green Design in Packaging Online Brand Experience Cultural Identity Design Semiotic & typography Signages Influence of rock music on lifestyle Islamic Calligraphy The Designer as a Brand Promotion of Hindi Films through Posters Posters & Graphic Art

Styling in Fashion Advertising The Role of Fashion Journalism in India Understanding Indian fashion Blending of Art and Fashion Fashion & Bollywood Brand Extensions Hair In Fashion Photo Graphics Role of lighting in advertising

space design

advertising

30 tips on designing great spaces!

by Ambrish Arora Experience Design Narrative Environments 3D Graphics and Animation Trends in Visual Merchandising

54 Windows And Doors by Rohit Ohri The Power of Television Commercials Role of Celebrities in Social Advertising Advertising and Promotion of Video Games Humour in Fashion Advertising Surrogate Advertising Psychology in Advertising Evolution of Indian Women in Advertising Nobody Smokes Here Anymore Pester Power Fashion Shows as an Advertisement Strategy Retail Advertising Manual The Power Of Words

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Foreword from Director General, NIFT National Institute of Fashion Technology has established itself as a unique learning institution, spearheading fashion education and academic leadership for over two decades now. The institute has been playing a pivotal role in envisioning and evolving fashion education through a network of professionally managed centres.

The NIFT Act 2006 passed by the Indian Parliament bears testimony not only to NIFT’s potential in providing thought leadership to the Indian fashion industry but also to the talent, endeavour and accomplishment of its fraternity.

The rapidly changing fashion business is throwing open a plethora of exciting avenues in related Design domains. Interestingly, Design today stands suspended between tradition and modernity; art and technology; craftsmanship and industrialization; and finally, fast track economic growth and recession. Only through the understanding of these nuances emerges a complete professional.

Aligning itself with these demographics is the Department of Fashion Communication. With academic inputs that are integrative and interdisciplinary, young professionals from the Department are well equipped to face modern challenges.

It gives me great pleasure to congratulate the graduating class of 2009 from the Department of Fashion Communication, New Delhi Centre. With ‘Non Compos Mentis’ - a compilation of Colloquium Papers of the Class, a set of young ‘sound’ professionals with well measured sensibilities and unquantified spirits is ready at the threshold to pursue successful careers in the fashion industry. I further congratulate the members of faculty and staff from the Department of Fashion Communication for their concerted efforts in being able to provide the needed stimulus to the graduating students.

I wish the graduating class all the very best!

Rajiv Takru Director General, NIFT

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

Address from Director – NIFT, New Delhi Benchmarking professional standards; merging knowledge and industrial practice; imbibing best international methods, National Institute of Fashion Technology strives to create a cohesively stimulating environment of opportunity for young minds. NIFT – a centre of excellence and innovation in fashion technology has been a pioneer in the growth of fashion education in the domain of Design, Management and Technology.

The emphasis is on imparting a holistic education experience so as to prepare multidimensional capabilities in professionals that are much needed in the dynamic business world of today. With the burgeoning domestic and international brands in Indian fashion industry, there exist creative opportune challenges in the field of Design and more so in ‘Communication Design’. It has become essential for every design entity to develop a unique visual identity to maximise its outreach.

Realizing the multifaceted and diversified nature of the Fashion Industry today, the Department of Fashion Communication is providing its students the competitive edge by employing teaching methodology that is extensively integrated with fashion business.

It is with immense joy and pride, I congratulate the graduating Class of 2009 from Department of Fashion Communication, New Delhi Centre. I am sure that the Class is equipped with all requisite professional skills to pursue successful careers in the fashion industry. Congratulations to the members of faculty and staff from the Department who have yet again enabled the process of carrying forward the vision of NIFT through this new set of young minds, our new ambassadors.

My best wishes to the graduating class. Good luck!

Dhananjay Kumar Director – NIFT, New Delhi

NON COMPOS MENTIS

Address from FC Chairperson Even when you do not communicate consciously, you communicate. That being the case, it is a huge challenge for the communication designers to find an opportunity to be ever relevant and not become redundant.

In the fashion domain, there are many cultural and psychological undertones creative professionals need to be aware of. To unravel and understand these and be able to deliver creative and responsible solutions requires research. Fashion brands are becoming increasingly aware of this need and are demanding research for better business situations.

At the Department of Fashion Communication at National Institute of Fashion Technology, the analytical ability and attitude is nurtured in the students. The students pursue a research topic and finally present it as a Seminar and Colloquium paper. This is a documentation of the abstracts from the research topics of Semester VII, Fashion Communication Department, Delhi.

I wish the students success in their chosen area of interest. I sincerely hope the quest for new knowledge burns on.

Rupa K Agarwal Chairperson Fashion Communication

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The guide lines This book has been made possible only with the support of certain people who did believe in our ideologies & supported it till the end. Mr. Rajesh Dahiya, Mr. Ambrish Arora, Mr. Rohit Ohri & Ms. Harmeet Bajaj contributed with passion and dedication to obtain the best.

Particular thanks to Jairaj Suvarna’s from Sona Papers, Mr. Maneesh Divetia from Pragati Offset & Mr. Prateek Khurana who made sure that the T's were crossed & the I's were dotted, figuratively speaking!!

If a bit byte bites the beat, We are 'the bit'.

Mr. Vijay Kumar Dua | Associate Professor

Who shot the Serif?

We...the sheriff.

Ms. Rupinder Kaur | Assistant Professor

If Lines make Walls...

We make 'Heights' from Lines.

Ms. Pika Gupta | Assistant Professor

In the box?

Out of the box?

We boxed the boxy box!

Ms. Anupreet Bhalla Dugal | Assistant Professor

NON COMPOS MENTIS

Introduction QUESTIONS Since the day we start wearing uniforms and begin our journey down the road to knowledge, questions form the stepping stones. Finding the answer is, to hawk a cliché, the short end of the stick. So here are a few of the points of interrogation that we set out to satisfy.

Isn’t the corporate jungle full of the creative species who can churn out great turns of phrase, both verbally and in print? Isn’t aesthetic sense already flowing through the industry in abundance?

Is it all about clothes, this business of fashion?

What about ideas? Can’t a great idea be clothed to suit the needs of a client, of an identity, of a statement? Is a statement really all about words?

After all, even words can be twisted to form shapes, which in turn can mean so much. Now while all of these can easily find their way into the annals of banality, it’s a little more difficult to actually try and find the answers. So this is an attempt to satiate this particular thirst for knowledge. We prefer to call this quest Fashion Communication.

But how about this; how about someone who can recognize how a picture can speak exactly those thousand words that will enunciate the brand identity? Or someone who can look at a product and think about how its placement, both physically and on the camera lens will make the consumer reach for it without any second thoughts whatsoever?

No, it’s not a bunch of people attempting to use the verbal equivalent of haute couture to befuddle you into submission (head to the dictionary for this one!). It’s actually an attempt to simplify, to break down big words into fragments of ideas, where each shard can pierce through the clutter of communication. It can stand clear, and make that one statement that will clothe a whole identity so that it fits, looks good, and makes sense.

Back to the questions then. Really? A window display can actually communicate something more than just what you can buy behind it? Part of the answer lies somewhere in the pages you will soon turn. Since attention spans are so low nowadays, it’s always better to say it straight; to shoot from the hip, if you get the pun. There are many focus areas, the spotlights where the future professionals we mould have an edge over others including graphic design and advertising, visual merchandising, photography and styling, journalism and public relations.

Which, naturally, leads to some more questions... do we really need another great photographer?

Maybe; maybe not.

Simply put, someone who can communicate fashion will be able to look at the bigger picture; a holistic view would perhaps be a more fashionable term.

The answers then; we can’t claim to have all of them; there are very few who, in all honesty, can.

But honesty is something we hope you will see as the thread binding this whole tome together, if that sounds too prosaic for creative output, the hope is that the turning of the consequent pages will fan the sparks of creativity that are captured within. There’s the usual blood, sweat and tears of the diligent student, but what will hopefully shine through is the talent of a future professional.

P. S. – To paraphrase George Orwell, all are equal, but some are more equal than others. For example, Satwik‘s dislocated shoulder did turn out to be more equal at bearing the weight of a whole book.

Asha’s knowledge of the dots and the dashes was more equal than the normal computer spell check.

Mahelaqua’s patience with a variety of graphic ideas, both literally and figuratively, proved more equal than the pressing deadlines. Broti’s time spent entangled in the World Wide Web was more equal than others’ in web designing and space planning. Of course, the inhabitants of academia also were more equal to the task at

hand. Rupinder’s dexterity with the computer, with interpersonal skills and all round coordination for example; and of course, her graphic sensibilities were fortunately more equal to standing up to the rigours of bringing out a whole book full of the hot stuff.

So there, time to turn the page now.

Dimple Bahl Assistant Professor - Design Center Coordinator Fashion Communication Department National Institute of Fashion Tecnology

graphic design

NON COMPOS MENTIS

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

graphic design I don’t think students should worry about ‘industry’. It is design industry’s responsibility to welcome them on board and provide time and space to let them get acquainted with their new environment.

Professional designers should never forget that everyone has a different pace to soak in the new world.

Industry can be an unnerving word. With ‘India shining’ and proliferation of design practices in the country, it is perhaps not very difficult to become a part of it all. The point however is not to become a cog in wheel, but participate and contribute to the world by developing your own unique and meaningful design approach. The initial years as a student of design are valuable as an opportunity to absorb, reflect and continuously iterate your understanding of design as a way of life.

Untitled. For young designers…

My advice and thoughts are more relevant to those students who are in their early stages of design education.

I draw on my extended years of being a student of design, an occasional design educator and a 24x7 design practitioner at Codesign (www.codesign.in) and Box (www.boxdesign.asia), to share my thoughts on design learning.

Hard work and craftsmanship Doctors, managers, engineers are not born with the requisite skills and knowledge. Years of rigorous training, study and practice, equip them with specialized competence. Likewise, your profession is no different. While an inclination for design is a prerequisite, the need for diligent training and hard work is undeniable. It provides sharp focus to your intent and helps shape aptitude, interest and ambition into quantifiable action. Learn to draw, paint, weave, build, write... your mind and body are fantastic machines to support you relentlessly in your endeavour to excel. A healthy breakfast and 14 hours of work is a good goal to begin with.

As you work diligently, however be wary of limiting your ambition to merely excelling in the classroom.

Classrooms and student workshops are only training ground and this is the place to get your hands dirty, to venture into unknown territories and to learn from your blunders. It is far more important to be able to derive meaning and knowledge from what you do now, rather than bask in the glory of your micro-successes in your immediate environment.

Look around. Look beyond.

As designers you will draw upon different bodies of experience and knowledge in your practice. As students it is important to know that this learning is not limited to institutions, there is much to learn from people, places, events around us. Travel and look around. You will stumble upon interesting people, places, objects and stories. Only when you learn to observe, to listen, can you feel the need for design intervention.

History too has valuable lessons to teach. An understanding of design chronology will help you understand the impact of a body of work vis-à-vis its immediate context. Place yourself on the design history timeline to understand your responsibilities as a designer in today’s context in India or elsewhere.

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By Rajesh Dahiya

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Write a manifesto for yourself-your design goals, your beliefs and the causes & concerns that move you. Revise it every six months based on your collective learning and new interests, and share it with your fellow students. Soon you will have your own definition for design and a roadmap for your journey as a designer.

When you start to work, you may be commissioned a wide array of projectsidentity design, packaging, publication, websites and more. Each project will bring with it, its unique set of challenges. Each of these challenges is an opportunity to learn something more, something new. Keep an open mind. You will work with people, to design for people and their environment; let that be your guiding force for design solutions as opposed to ‘left-over’ remains of visual genres and fleeting ‘fashionable’ trends.

Good Luck!

Education is not a chapter in time. For designers especially, education is and must be an ongoing practice. We are surrounded by change and to orchestrate real innovation, we must constantly keep learning and growing with that knowledge.

As you graduate and move forward in your journey as a designer I wish you all the best, and hope that you will continue to remain ‘students of design’, in the true sense of the word. It is from students like these, that professionals like me, continue to learn.

Rajesh Dahiya & Mohor Ray Dahiya www.codesign.in www.boxdesign.asia

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

graphic design The world is shrinking; technology has bought us to a pedestal where nothing seems remote. With every second that passes by, mankind is unfolding the many ways that were not even considered science fiction about a decade ago. But there is another reason that is making our planet shrink; our ability to burn oil, brew chemical pesticides, produce cheap plastics and alloys and generate vast landfills are allowing us to support a lifestyle that is both more luxurious and more destructive than we could possibly afford. To cut it short we are using up the planet with such intensity that it is unable to restore itself.

Mahelaqua nishi1500@gmail.com

Planetary thinking for most of us is a hard task to accomplish, for just an individual, the planet seems incomprehensibly vast. Because the planet seems so large to each of us as individuals, it is easy to forget how many of us are there, and how much strain we collectively impose on earth. We are using up the planet one person, one day, one decision at a time without considering the consequences.

The 21st century is undoubtedly a turning point in the human civilisation, one that will define the ways of our future and the reality of our existence. So how much resource does the planet allow each individual to have then? Ecologists around the world have answered this question through the concept of an ‘ecological footprint’ which is calculated by dividing the usable part of the world with the number of people who need to use it; which currently rounds upto approximately 4.7 acres per person, and we’d each have to find a way to meet our needs sustainably from a little less than 5 acres worth of resources. But this is a more optimistic figure, in reality the average global ecological footprint of an individual is a little too large; so as to say, that if everyone on earth lived like an average North American we’d need 5 planets like earth to support our lifestyles and 3 if we were Europeans.

But it is not about belonging to a certain part of the world, with technology spreading across every nook and cranny, and the emergence of a well equipped global citizen; these calculations require us to rather strike a balance. We are living beyond our ecological means, and paying our overdrafts with resources the generations to come will need and pollution they’ll struggle to clean up. What we need is a generation of everyday heroes, people who come from varied walks of life and have the courage to think in fresh more responsible ways to act to meet this planetary crisis head on. People endowed with great moral leadership and generational responsibility.

With immense development in all sectors, the growing public has a thirst for designed consumables, and designers are working towards fulfilling this through varied design solutions ranging from the product to the package. Changes in the way we package our products today can trace their development falling in sync with the changing consumption patterns of the masses. From preindustrial, industrial to the post industrial era, the package has evolved from fulfilling bare necessities to becoming a tool of successful marketing. But where is the consumption pattern of the masses heading now? It is here that we acknowledge the importance of planetary thinking in packaging design. The average lifespan of a package as compared to the product is extremely small and every package that goes to the bin ends up in a land fill. Be it a moral obligation or a duty for the greater good, design has the power to influence people and designers must use this to achieve sustainable results.

1: The Verb The dictionary defines the ‘package’ as a small parcel; in which separate items are presented together as a unit; any container or wrapping in which the product is offered for sale and the act of packaging as the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale,

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Green Design in Packaging

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and use, and also refers to the process of design, evaluation, and production of packages.

Packaging today has been heavily integrated into our daily lives, we see it all around us, on daily products, advertisements, stores, our own household etc.

There is not a single second when we are not in direct or indirect contact with a package. Transcending beyond its main purpose of protection, packaging has evolved as an essential tool of marketing which if put to use effectively can do wonders for the brand. It thus becomes necessary for us to look into the origin, past, evolution and usage of a package and trace its growth over decades of development.

2: Origin Cupping two hands together in a river, lifting water and taking a sip to consume the wholesome product, packaged in our own two hands – one of the most original, sustainable, reusable and multipurpose package design known to man. It is very difficult to track the origin of packaging, or the year it came into existence. Though it is evident that man got the idea of packaging products from nature, innumerable examples can be sighted in nature where things are packaged for protection, beauty, camouflage etc. By nature itself, be it the protective and vibrant skin of an orange or a hard protective shell of a coconut, or even a mother’s womb; the concept of protection, storage, nurturing, beautification and transport is beautifully exemplified by nature.

3: History and Evolution While tracing the history of packaging, it becomes important for us to trace the history of how products reached the consumer. Here one may divide this period of evolution into 3 eras, namely: The Age of Innocence (Pre-Industrial Revolution): In the rural society which prevailed before the industrial revolution of the 19th century, packaging was as rudimentary as the living conditions of the time. Packaging was often standardized and could be used for a number of different purposes.

Packaging fulfilled the basic functions of protection, storage and transport.

The Age of Reckless Exponentia (Industrial Revolution): During the years that witnessed and followed the ‘industrial revolution’, the world witnessed the emergence of a production based society, one where mass production was made possible. The industrial revolution gave a considerable impetus to the need for packaging where new manufacturing procedures and transport conditions determined the forms that packaging should take.

The Shelf Space Scramble (Post Industrial Revolution): The second packaging revolution came after the Second World War, parallel to the development of the post-war economy. After having been used to serve the needs principally

of the product and then the producer, packaging began to focus on the needs of the consumer. This is when we gradually shifted from a production driven society to a consumption driven society. Packaged products soon became a much-desired commodity and packaging had to adapt to the latest trends.

It is no coincidence that the mass introduction of plastic packaging dates from this era. With newer technologies and materials becoming available, the possibilities in design expanded drastically.

As in every aspect of human life, change is constant, while the speed and type can be influenced. Such is the case of packaging. Defined holistically, packaging is omnipresent; it is everywhere and has evolved into a massive design industry where designers are working hard to produce packages that would stand out in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

4: Current Consumption Pattern – Trends, Reasons, Effects But where are we heading post the ‘post industrial revolution’? What is the next step from the shelf space scramble? It is very evident through research that packaging has evolved in tandem with the consumption pattern of the masses; in that case it is important for packaging designers to rethink the way we consume and look through the consumer’s eyes to see the world through a pair of green tinted glasses.

Today we are entering an era of ‘generational responsibility’ that should consciously be introduced to an already aware and changing consumer; one that will give us ways to save our planet from the environmental crisis it is facing; to which packaging has been an avid contributor.

In order to study and forecast the factors and key concerns that will govern this new era, it becomes essential to study the current consumption trends, patterns and habits of today’s consumers. After drawing a picture of the past and studying the current trends of consumption one can see the many factors that will govern and pave the path that will lead us to a more responsible and green future.

Simplicity: The consumers today are busy, fighting hectic schedules and lack of time. Simplicity here becomes a key to success. Customers are busy and desire packages that are easy to buy, carry and understand.

Globalisation: The fundamentals of globalisation cover languages, graphics, visuals and the need to adapt to each country or region. Overcoming the challenges of a global package design will bring rewards not only in distribution and sales, but also in spreading cultural diversity.

The Age of Information: Price comparisons and composition are not the only concern any more. The new consumer is governed by factors like corporate ethics, country of origin and environmental responsibility.

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Convergence & Emergence: Technology today is combining multiple mediums to converge into a single product, which becomes an experience for the consumer. When the package becomes an essential part of the product experience, we witness a new level of convergence.

Personalisation: The concept of mass customisation is still at a very infant stage in the market; consumers today demand uniqueness and novelty in the same product that is being produced for hundreds of other people. Packaging design shows great prospects to bring mass customisation to life.

RFID: We are living in an age driven by technology and ‘Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFID) are the next big thing. A technology that can track where each package is, from the supply chain to our homes.

Buying Potential: Luxury is no longer reserved for the upper crust.

Consumers today buy small moments of luxury through the products and services they purchase. Design can create luxury for the masses and packaging to match.

In this consumption based society where the customer is supreme, it is the emergence of trends like these that indicate that the consumer is changing, becoming more aware and hence acting more responsibly. Whether it is a conscious effort or a habit developed sub-consciously, the new age consumer is giving importance to green design, to products that are environment safe and to practices that can help build a greener world. It is at this stage that we ponder on the ways in which packaging design can assist consumers take this movement forward. With the number of landfills increasing by the day, waste if utilized properly, seems to be one of the most abundant resources we have.

reuse where the item is used again for the same function and new-life reuse where it is used for a new function. Reusing can have financial and environmental benefits, either of which can be the main motivation for it. The financial motivation historically did, and in the developing world still does, lead to very high levels of reuse, but rising wages and consequent consumer demand for the convenience of disposable products made the reuse of low value items such as packaging, uneconomical in richer countries, leading to the demise of many reusability schemes. Current environmental awareness is gradually changing attitudes and regulations, such as the new packaging regulations, are gradually beginning to reverse the situation.

Recycle: It is the practice of sorting and collecting waste materials for new use, the act of processing used or abandoned materials for use in creating new products.

Reducing, Reusing and Recycling can thus help the consumer: a. Optimise the use of resources in manufacturing. b. Reduces pollution emission from transport. c. Presents no risk to the human health or environment. d. Minimise landfills.

6: Reusing Reusing packaging from different sources to store goods is an age old practice among Indians. Visit an average Indian kitchen and one can notice daily consumables like sugar, salt, spices etc., stored in transparent jars of candies, Horlicks or Bournvita. The Indian household had gone green way before the concept was introduced in other countries. To consciously reintroduce this concept to an average Indian is the need of the hour.

5: The Consumer Movement

Reusing can be done at two levels: When the consumer himself finds new use for the package, here the ways in which the package can be used by the producer, but the execution happens at the consumer’s end.

The aware consumers of today are also guided by a fear psychosis, one that generates concern and worry amongst them for the planet. The basic aim of a consumer movement should be to rethink the way we consume. This can be done through 3 ways:

Waste Entrepreneurship: This is a concept where designers pick up raw material from the most abundant resource – waste, and create reusable products from packaging that has been discarded or is of no use to the consumer. The step involved in this process can be:

Reduce: One can reduce the amount of waste we create by choosing what we throw away. Waste reduction starts at the supermarket. By making slight alterations to our shopping list we can significantly reduce the amount of waste created in and around the home by avoiding those pointless purchases.

Items that rarely get used can be borrowed or shared with others.

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Reuse: To reuse is using an item more than once. This includes conventional

Acquire the waste Segregate Study and evaluate its properties and features Find the key feature of the package Amplify the key feature Translate and redesign the package into a product or service which makes use of this key feature

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Green is the New Gold: Environmentalism and the new consumer are drawn to behaviours that preserve the planet we live on. Packaging design can make a large contribution to the fulfilment of this trend.

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Designers as a community have all the tools and ideas at their disposal to make an impact with every package that is designed. Although consumer recycling has great merit, yet the impact that is required to make the masses aware can come from new products and packages that use fewer raw materials, and make it easier to reuse and reduce the impact from the point of origin to the final destination. As in the words of Kevin Kelly – “the only factor becoming scarce in a world of abundance is human attention”.

Though these products are only symbolic of the concept proposed; it is the idea of ‘waste entrepreneurship’ that requires emphasis. Such a practice can play an extremely important role in saving the planet from the environmental crisis it is facing. It is a concept that can transcend the realm of design and be practiced in multiple ways in order to emphasise the role of reusability, as a means of saving the environment.

For the purpose of demonstrating how the concept of ‘waste entrepreneurship’ can be materialised, I came up with 3 table top products namely, a CD holder, a desktop calendar and a study lamp; that could very easily be created using everyday packaging that we end up discarding.

1. CD holder: Package used – Used tape rolls, Used pencil batteries Key feature of the package – Tape roll, shape Pencil battery – shape, sturdy 2. Desktop Calendar: Package used – CD cover Key feature – Transparency, storage space, slots on the lid 3. Study lamp: Package used – Pepper dispenser Key feature – Controlled dispensing

Top: Desktop Calendar Below: CD Holder

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

graphic design The objective of the entire body of work was to understand the experiential platform available online, how a brand can be experienced online and then to contribute to the making of an innovative online brand experience.

The entire research and study was conducted in various stages. Starting from the secondary research as to what experience design is to various forms of experience design, understanding online brand experience and how brands are formed in the virtual world. The first step was to understand the global market, especially that of the developed countries though various sources of information followed by a detailed case study of a few leading brands of the world and their popularity in the virtual world.

Puneet Gupta puneet15gupta@gmail.com

The next level was to understand the business of luxury online. Then an India centric research was done as to what Indian brands are doing in online experience design and how they are tapping this unconventional marketing media. An insight into the Indian Netsumer was framed through a series of interviews and surveys. The Indian online brand market is still at a very nascent stage and ‘generation X’ is the main target. Travel and hospitality are the biggest sectors that Indians are experiencing online and the rest remain unexplored. Fashion and lifestyle has taken a backseat in the online market in this continent.

But today the consumers are getting more quality and brand conscious every day and the mantra is ‘something extra’. In this scenario where everyone cares about his or her individual style and comfort, everyone wants to be pampered. Hence, online personalised styling services can be an innovation in this industry. Also the Indian mindset has already adapted to the various services functioning online thereby saving time and effort. I strongly feel that fashion is now an integral part of every individual and in today’s jam-packed schedules; people don’t have the leisure of personalisation. So there is the need in the market which can be fulfilled by an online personalised styling service for the people who care for fashion, can afford fashion and know the true essence of luxury. ‘Life is Not a Dress Rehearsal’.

Composition “Tell me and I will forget, show me and I will remember, involve me and I will understand.”

- Confucius “While everything, technically, is an experience of some sort, there is something important and special to many experiences that make them worth discussing. In particular, the elements that contribute to superior experiences are knowable and reproducible, which make them designable.”

- Nathan Shedroff “Experience Design is an emerging paradigm, a call for inclusion: it calls for an integrative practice of design that can benefit all designers, including those who work in the new, interactive media.”

- B. Jacobsen Before talking about promoting and selling fashion and lifestyle online I would like to first state what experience design is. It is driven by studying the ‘moments of engagement’, touch points between people and brands, the ideas, emotions, and memories that these moments create. It’s a practice of designing products, processes, services, events, and environments - each of which is a human

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Online Brand Experience

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experience - based on the consideration of an individual’s or group’s needs, desires, beliefs, knowledge, skills, experiences, and perceptions. Also known as experiential marketing, customer experience design, and brand experience, it is an emerging discipline that attempts to draw from many sources including product design, information design, information architecture, ethnography, brand management, interaction design, service design, storytelling, heuristics, cognitive and perceptual psychology, linguistics, cognitive science, architecture, environmental design and design thinking. Experience designers are often employed to identify existing touch points, create new ones, and then to score the arrangement of these touch points so that they produce the desired outcome.

From products, packaging and retail environment to the clothing and attitude of employees and customer services, far less formal attention is given to the design of the ‘experienced environment’, physical and virtual but though it’s unnoticed, experience design is taking place.

User Experience Design is a subset of the field of experience design which pertains to the creation of architecture and interaction models which impact a user’s perception of a device or system. The scope of the field is directed at affecting all aspects of the user’s interaction with the product: how it is perceived, learned, and used. User Experience Design is a highly multidisciplinary field, incorporating aspects of psychology, anthropology, computer science, graphic design and industrial design.

Now user experience can be perceived at different levels and one of them is experience through online branding. Internet branding is the process of establishing a customer’s viewpoint about a company and its product in an online environment through websites, e-mailing campaigns, opt-in system, blogs, social networking websites such as MySpace, etc.

Internet branding is useful in brand recognition & brand building, attracting a variety of potential investors because it has unlimited global reach. It’s a good mean to seek out niches and to strengthen customer loyalty and thereby result in an overall increase in sales and brand equity.

Today brand experience is evolving as an emerging trend, an online retail boom is happening, a cost effective media. It’s popular amongst the newly rich and is helpful in creating a bond between the consumer and the brand.

It results in a faster, easier and enjoyable shopping experience. Online brand experience is a way of approaching the customers directly and personally.

Online branding also allows the customer to shop whenever and wherever he is.

Today’s consumer is not just involved in buying and selling but conceptualising and developing of a product. Today, the online shopper is actually a leisure time shopper in a way that he takes his own time in whatever time is available

to him to relax. He is also fast moving; looks for convenience and always wants something extra. Also by the analysis of the online traffic, there is a vast increase in the qualified traffic because customer needs have evolved and different customers having different needs. With new technologies emerging and brand storytelling going online, a few important things that need to be maintained for the customers are authenticity, sociability, online privacy and consumer trust and bond. By keeping the focus on the needs of customers, the competitive landscape, the technologies available and the best practices that are resonating with users today, a brand can stay a step ahead of the competition when it comes to customer acquisition and retention.

Today online experiences are developing into fully immersive, marketing programs using virtual reality. The real is turning virtual and vice-versa. There is a new flood of digital branding; alternative, non-traditional & groundbreaking, with brands going online. With time, there is now a rise in creative campaigns thereby taking up a greater share of branding budgets of various brands. However, Internet as a means to increase brand awareness is still new in a developing nation like India. But there is no doubt that it is offering businesses new means to reach current and prospective customers at a reasonable cost. In the present ‘Generation Me’ society, every consumer desires to be recognised as important, treated with respect and provided with personal attention. A lot can be done in this regard by bringing together personalisation for customers and luxury marketing online.

No one would have ever thought that selling luxury goods online would be possible or even talking about it through online media practices, but it is possible now. Luxury and prestige fashion goods are targeted at consumers at the top end of the wealth scale. These products, which range from clothing and leather goods to jewellery and other accessories, are classified as sensory goods. This is because their aesthetic characteristics are best appreciated through the utilisation of the human senses of sight, touch and feel. High fashion designers such as Dior, Gucci and Louis Vuitton have created a colossal brand strengths through an emphasis on not only their product designs and quality but also on the aura of the brand, which is mostly reflected through the store atmosphere and the brand message communication.

The luxury experience is summed up in the store visit, the immersion within the highly aesthetic, creative and prestigious ambience of the retail atmosphere and ultimately interacting with the products through touch, feel and sometimes smell. The retail store plays a prominent role in the overall luxury buying experience and is one of the key elements of successful luxury retailing. Atmosphere is associated with words like mood, feel, impression, environment, character, ambience and sensation. Is it realistic to imagine that the physical luxury retail store environment can be replicated on the Internet? Or that luxury goods can be sold online? In the current technology and convenience-driven retail environment, e-commerce is becoming an indispensable, complimentary distribution channel for offline retailers. Retailers

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More interestingly, Internet penetration in several countries is growing at an alarmingly high rate. In the United Kingdom, more than 11 million people consider themselves as ‘heavy’ web users and this trend is similar in other countries. E-commerce is now part of daily living in several Asian countries including South Korea, which has the highest digital penetration in the world.

E-retail also influences store visits. The demand for global luxury online sales is on the rise. Recent reports indicate that almost all the wealthy are online and are pleased to make online purchases. In most developed economies, Internet penetration is as high as 95% and the ratio of wealthy people who have bought products worth over $250 online versus the rest of the population is 3:1. This has given rise to the issue of selling luxury goods online. Website and e-store designs seek to achieve more than basic functional requirements such as providing a conducive and pleasant shopping experience.

The challenge of selling luxury goods online is enormous. The luxury shopping experience is different from the conventional shopping experience. Luxury goods are sensory in nature and their purchase requires a high aesthetic appreciation and the utilisation of the human senses of sight, sound, smell and touch. This often requires physical store presence, which is absent in the online virtual environment. The Internet also lacks the exclusive and prestigious locations where the luxury stores are situated. Therefore the question of creating a prestigious online atmosphere, replacing the human senses in the virtual environment and matching ‘high class’ with the ‘mass class’ of the Internet world is justified. Online luxury consumers have high expectations and this includes their belief that although the luxury e-boutiques are available to the masses, it should be designed to feel right to only a select few.

Fortunately, with feasible strategies, this could be possible. Strategic luxury e-retail design and planning involves the utilization of certain key elements to transfer the look and feel of sensory goods and the prestigious atmosphere to the e-boutique virtual environment.

Although challenging, it is possible to transfer the luxurious and prestigious store atmosphere of luxury brands to the Internet’s virtual environment and it is possible to sell luxury fashion goods online. The appropriate application of the elements identified will contribute to strategic e-retail success through increased online traffic, website stickiness, online sales turnover and eventual profitability. India is the fastest growing free market democracy in the world.

India has the largest knowledgeable workforce in the world and with more and more people moving to the high income strata, India is a market that the world cannot ignore. The opening up of the Indian economy has given a level playing field for foreign brands against Indian brands. Several multinational companies

have begun to focus their attention on Indian markets. Global brands are threatening the existence of several Indian brands. The current brand strategy in India needs a dramatic makeover.

Brand is a promise made to the consumers by the company. A brand not only has functional and mental dimensions but also social and spiritual dimensions. The challenge for Indian organisations today is to first understand and then satisfy the needs of the customers. The need of the customers today is experience and not just the products. The Indian organisations have to concentrate on delivering the experience to the customers, leading to satisfaction and association with all the dimensions of the brand. These experiences can be delivered by involving the customer in the brand and to improve on their experience with the same, by improving their online presence and not missing out on the store presence as well. Today the Indian customer is looking for sheer indulgence and a top class luxury experience with the brand that they would buy.

Now after studying both the aspects the industry and the consumer, an interesting inference can be made: talking luxury online is possible and Indian netsumers have still not tasted the fruit of fashion online, so a lot of innovation can be made in this field. Along with this, personal style is a very big wave which is heralding the fashion scene. Today personalisation is the attitude everyone wants to carry. It’s very important to understand the customer and make a memorable experience which is convenient, worthy and something hitherto not experienced.

An online personalised styling service can be one of the solutions. It is a step to take luxury online apart from regular e-commerce as practiced in the first world countries. Life is about constant change and change is the catalyst for new discoveries and beginnings. With each change comes the opportunity to grow into a more confident man or woman. The way one dresses can affect the way people would relate to a person, make one feel good and give the power to deal with and even implement these important changes. It is going to be a powerful tool which will help its users to dress to impress.

It can make one feel at home with a personal stylist on hand at all times and allow one to step into their own fashion story. One can get inspiration of what to match with what and the colours and styles of the season. An insight into how to dress in a way to make him and others smile. With the fashion styling profile on one’s fingertips, one’s confidence and self-esteem can soar and give a fresh new individuality to a person and today such things are required to rejuvenate the senses frequently. The services would result in providing general and specific information on how to look great and shop wisely. It can cover everything from the best styles of underwear and coats, accessories to hairstyles for women and shirts, suits and ties for men. This online styling service will give every individual enrolled on the site, the freedom to relax and enjoy life. So the entire idea for any individual to use this service would be to

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seeking new forms of differentiation are turning to e-retail to tap the market constituting millions of people that make up the online consumer population.

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boost self-confidence, enhance personality, rejuvenate the senses and in a way it would act as a stress-busting exercise for a lot of people who want to try new looks.

This experience is suitable for any man or woman who has access to a computer, the Internet and a printer. It’s an online portal which creates individual style statements for people who subscribe to the service. This is one of the newest concepts in the industry and an untapped market internationally.

With the amount of brand consciousness and style consciousness, people can choose anything and want the best. To aid them in their choice, this service would be a perfect fit in the industry. People want to be pampered and this is the service which will help them in their pursuit of being fashionably ahead.

India is the fastest growing free democracy in the world. Also India is one of the fastest emerging fashion capitals and is a muse for the west to get inspired. In this pursuit of getting a place on the world fashion map, I feel this online styling portal would be an effective marketing tool not just to promote Indian fashion and fashion designers internationally, but also to convey our sense of fashion and style to the rest of the world. ‘The Rehearsals are over the show is about to begin’.

Project Future After the completion of my project my plan would be to get the business plan funded and work on converting this idea into a successful creative entrepreneurial venture and set a new level of online experiential marketing in the field of fashion and communication.

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graphic design At the offset, I believe that it would be apt to mention that this paper principally deals with the design and application of a system of visual identity for a cultural establishment or an organisation in the international culture industry.

Satwik Gade twix1311@gmail.com

It further takes the reader through a series of case studies and attempts to understand the basic underlying structure or procedure followed during the designing of a visual identity for a cultural establishment. The crux of why designing a cultural identity is so much different from designing a corporate identity lies in its economic structure. While a corporation’s main motive is turnover and further, the brand equity, a cultural establishment’s is self sustenance. Hence it becomes important for the visual identity to come across as something that is appealing and at the same time that which focuses on the culture of the establishment ensuring a developing interest in the eyes of prospective patrons. In a market economy, culture is often regarded as something that needs extra support, a flow of money, not generated by the prevailing system of supply and demand. It may be good for us, but we as consumers are not ready to spend enough to guarantee its survival. This view is common amongst the governments of various nations and, to a greater or lesser extent, they all spend money on what they regard as culture. As a result, leaders of art institutions are now required to combine good taste and flair, with a talent for raising money and a certain degree of parsimony. The motives of an identity adopting arts institution are not simple. As well as attempting to offset shortfalls in the government funds, they are also trying to meet the demands of a twenty first century audience. In India in particular (not that this does not apply to other third world countries) the problem goes deeper. Cultural institutions have to be introduced to this concept and need to be convinced of the fact that they need it in the first place. In this paper although no conclusive solutions have been given in this regard, I have tried to deal with this topic with as much maturity and information as I could gather.

This paper looks at cultural identity design from a historical perspective as a cultural product that reflects ideological changes. It further attempts to highlight the common methods used by different designers when designing a visual identity. This is done not in a manner where each topic is touched upon, but in a manner where each topic is again supported by comments, case-studies and criticisms while adding up to the bigger picture much along the same lines. Along the way, this paper tries to define culture inside and outside the context of visual identity and attempts to understand the differences between the two and further reflect upon the differences in the functioning of a corporation and a cultural establishment.

Culture is most commonly used to describe artistic activity and the works produced by it. Angus Hyland describes it as social behaviour aggregated in common experience- as in the arts, beliefs, institutions and all the other manifestations of human work and thought. The reason I mention this definition is its universality. The above definition can be applied to the Aryan culture or Buddhist culture or any other culture and it would still yield the correct result.

A typically contemporary idea of culture comes from composer and artist Brian Eno. He describes culture as everything we don’t need to do. We all need clothing, but we don’t especially need clothing with prints or embroidery; those parts of a clothing are called culture. The products of applied art and design can be viewed as cultural because not only do we need them physically, we crave them intellectually. For example, the primary utility of a watch is to tell time. The secondary aspect is to be aesthetically challenging or pleasing. The arts, both public and private, are often represented as the cultural sector of the economy, or the culture industry, that works in collaboration with designers and provides them with a platform for experimental and challenging design.

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Cultural Identity Design

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Opinions From Around the World This involvement is becoming lesser and lesser to do with the patronage of arts and crafts or in a much broader sense, culture. Institutions such as museums and zoos, finding themselves challenged by dwindling public funding and exposed to market forces, have become increasingly hard-nosed in order to attract and retain bigger audiences and private funding. This is as things stand in the west. In India, the organisations that have collaborated with other corporate institutes have survived as houses of the corporations that help influence public opinions. While across Europe and U.S.A., this has led to the adoption of a more focused and market driven approach to the way the institutions promote themselves, in India, this has led to more and more institutions taking the corporate route or else perishing. This is another main reason why a study in this area is so important. This ensures that establishments flourish without losing their cultural roots.

Branding now includes all of the above but extends its experience further and deeper- into environments, sounds, smells and attitudes. It is termed ’total identity’ by Angus Hyland. For example, something like typography would ideally be considered a part of specific areas like logotypes and other areas like notices, signages and brochure designing, but, research specifically in the cultural direction is being conducted in very great detail. Huda Abifares in her paper ‘Arabic type as Cultural Identity’ says “The dichotomy of globalisation versus local traditions has taken hold of discourse in all fields of human activity—from design, to art, to commerce, to social studies. As designers, we are at a crossroad, faced with the challenge to balance those opposing notions in order to create designs that are truly relevant and representative of our contemporary societies. Typography, by virtue of its ubiquitous nature, can be the ultimate solution to this end. Typography and printing have had major influences on human development; they stand as testimony to the benefits of cultural exchange, and they play an essential role in visually representing a culture’s identity. Through the ages Eastern and Western cultures have often interacted; shared ideas, knowledge and technological inventions. In fact, we have constantly shaped technological progress, which in turn is perpetually influencing and reshaping our societies.”

Although limited case studies have been provided, great care has been taken to ensure that the studies are exhaustive both in terms of the diversity of cultural establishments and diversity of geography. The culture industry in India must grow apace with that of the west and this paper is written to ensure that this particular area of identity design has the potential to meet the challenges and engender fresh and engaging solutions in the country.

which enriches our lives. As discussed earlier, much as it is good for us, we are not prepared to spend enough to guarantee its survival. The money spent by the government is not comprehensive, prompting more and more cultural institutions to behave like corporations.

In the west, this development has been particularly noticeable since the late nineties, but is a part of a long term end. In India, no trace of this has been found until 1999-2000 when certain theatres and cultural institutions started assigning tasks to advertising agencies to help with their promotion.

Much later since around 2005 these establishments have started employing designers to work on their identities. These changes have been most noticeable in Bengalooru and Mumbai in terms of Theatres and in New Delhi with agencies like Design Habit working full time only on such projects.

Going back to Britain, the Thatcher government of the 1980s undermined the assumption that the extensive public funding of culture was desirable. This led to the introduction of admission charges at some formerly free-of-charge institutions and a few desperate stabs at marketing. Most notorious of all was the Victoria and Albert museum’s ‘Ace Caff with a quite nice museum attached’ campaign produced by Saatchi & Saatchi. Not surprisingly, this slogan did little to assuage negative public feeling about the museum’s introduction of a hefty ‘voluntary’ admission charge three years earlier.

Attendance at the Museum had plummeted and morale among the staff was very low. Since then things have changed and improved markedly.

Whatever we might feel about the shift from public to private funding for art institutions, Britain probably benefited from it from being at the helm of these developments. An excerpt from an interview with Miguel Zugaza will help us, understand this shift better. He is the director of Museo Nacional del Prado in Spain.

“Do you think that it is a problem that public museums are forced to act more like private corporations?

A: No, but one has to know how to do it well. A museum like Prado will continue to receive the greater part of its funding from the government, but it should also be responsible for providing part of its funding itself, through selling tickets, services or products, or through private societies and private companies that help develop its programmes. I think you can do this perfectly well without selling yourself or presenting yourself in an overly corporate manner. I am against corporate interests affecting the policies of the museum.

I think you have to avoid that. But if someone wants to share the prestige of the Prado, and if it’s good for the project.... the private sector comes in only when the museum has decided its needs, once it has determined the programme. Then we turn to a few select benefactors, each with a lot of money, rather than opening ourselves to any kind of benefactors.”

Tweaking the Corporate model to suit Cultural Identity Design Roping in the Audience Culture is a nebulous term. By common consensus, the more of it we have, the better off we are, but closing a lexical circle, is often defined as that

In spite of the growing range of alternative activities, there seems to be an

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Here I present one of my very important case studies. In Britain, where the above mentioned is particularly true, institutions such as Tate Modern are receiving all time high audiences. These visitors are coming with increased expectations. The 2003-04 Olafur Eliasson weather project installation in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall set the bar for the kind of experience that new art audiences demand. Events like this become a part of the cycle in which spectacular shows generate large number of visitors, which in turn generate the need for more spectacular shows, which in turn generate larger audiences and so on. The corporate model requires a wholesale institutional and philosophical shift, a transformation that brings both gains and losses. The benefit to artists of working in well-run, popular institutions is obvious, but smooth professional practice will always curtail a degree of idiosyncrasy and flair. Levels of public funding for culture vary widely from country to country. In 2000 a survey found that the United States government spent $6 per capita on culture, where the German government spent $87, the French $57 and the British $27. The German government may spend a fortune relative to America, but the embrace of corporate culture in the arts is becoming near universal.

the arts. All in all, it seems unlikely that there ever was or ever will be a time when public money came with no political strings attached. It may even be the case that private sponsorship allows for more artistic and curatorial freedom than its state run equivalent. The benefits that corporations receive from their association with cultural activity are often fairly nebulous and it is not usually in their interest to attempt to dictate the activities of artists and curators. Miguel Zugaza is exploring new ways to fund the building work and exhibitions. Fully aware that privatisation (semi or complete) moves could be controversial, he is very specific about the museum’s priorities: a curatorial programme based on scholarship and expertise first and fund-raising second. The purpose of this paper is to explore how corporate practises, specifically identity design can be best tailored to meet their needs.

The following case study takes us to New York and the project is BAM: Brooklyn Academy of Music. The Brooklyn Academy of Music opened in 1861 and has operated almost continuously ever since. The only prolonged cessation of its performing arts programme occurred between 1903 and 1908 when, after burning to the ground, the academy was rebuilt on a new site, its current home on Lafayette Avenue. In recent years BAM has made a virtue of its grand, but ageing, beaux-arts premises, becoming a landmark of Brooklyn’s heterogeneous and increasingly fashionable Fort Greene district.

Public to Private Between October 2001 and June 2002 a number of major international museum directors delivered lectures under the auspices of Harvard program for Art museum directors and the Harvard University Art museums, called Art Museums and public trust. These lectures amount to a defence against the over enthusiastic pursuit of the corporate model. James Cuno argues in favour of the traditional model of museum experiences and describes the models of visual identity as factors that impinge on the viewer and object interaction and therefore as visual clutter. Having thus explored two extreme views on the subject we are now set on our way, much like Buddha, to find the middle path.

The Middle Path Far from being a matter of concern only to museum directors, anxieties about corporatisation of culture has also been raised by academics and cultural commentators. In the book ‘Culture Incorporated: Museums, Artists and Corporate Sponsorships’ (University of Minnesota Press, 2002), Mark Rectanus examines the way commerce shapes the cultural experiences that are available to us. His conclusion, broadly speaking, is that cultural institutions ought to make full disclosure of their commercial interests.

His position is fairly moderate when compared to that of New Left review contributor Chin Tao Wu. Wu’s data rich volume ‘Privatising Culture: Corporate Art Intervention since the 1980s’ (verso, 2000) asserts that all links between commerce and culture are pernicious and her standpoint begs the question of whether there ever has been an entirely uncompromised system of funding

BAM’s present-day dynamism owes much to its erstwhile executive director Harvey Lichtenstein. He arrived in 1967 at a significantly depleted institution, where language classes were being held in performance spaces and a boys’ school had setup in the ballroom. Lichtenstein embarked on an ambitious, long-term programme of renaissance. By the time he departed 32 years later, BAM was internationally acclaimed as a forward thinking centre for theatre music and film.

Although BAM has a consistently high critical profile, presenting avant-garde performances by artists such as Robert Wilson and Mark Morris to rapturous audiences, it is constantly seeking to expand its constituency. BAM’s best known programme is the Next Wave Festival, an event season that brings together experimental theatre and music from all over the world. Taking place each autumn since 1981, its reputation is such that it draws crowds to a previously uncharted neighbourhood in Brooklyn to see unknown acts.

Pentagram’s designer Michael Beirut, designer of BAM’s identity, was first brought in to create the graphics for the 1995 Next Wave Festival. Working with colleagues Kaern Paolek and Bob Stern, he formulated a consistent look for a printed communication, the hook of which is partially concealed typography. After a single season it became apparent that Beirut’s graphic metaphors stood for the institution as a whole and the design was extended, as he puts, ‘pan-BAM’. As well as creating a coherent identity, this allowed the cachet of the next festival to rub off on the rest of the BAM’s activities.

The next stage of BAM’s identity came when Beirut (in 1997) was asked to

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increased appetite for the arts as exemplified by the recent Vistaar exhibition at the Lalit Kala Akademi.

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collaborate with architect Hugh Hardy in the renovation of BAM’s Fulton Street building. The work included the design of way-finding signs, information kiosks, a donor wall and street signage.

we strike at a more grass root level. Project the cultural identity work as a city beautifying or tourism related project. Strike at the state level or even at the city level. It always begins with a single step!

This adaptation of graphic identity to the architecture has been particularly successful. Beirut and Hardy’s combination of clean type and elaborate architectural detail is a perfect illustration of the virtues of combining the twoand three-dimensional elements of an institution’s identity.

Having completed my research and noting down the inferences, I proceeded to look for cultural establishments in need of identity designing. I could have collaborated with a firm that was already working on such a project, but I was intent on doing the entire thing on my own. The likelihood of being able to work on every aspect of designing was extremely slim and I was hell bent on doing it alone. I believed it would be much better than working under restrictions under a firm. Finding such a cultural establishment was not difficult.

Having come thus far in the research, an ability has been created to define the terms that we would dabble with in the process of cultural identity design.

Identity Design Identity design can be described as the face an institution puts forward to the public. This is usually done in the form of logos, letterheads, signages and other, primarily visual media, which begs the question. What is cultural identity and its relationship with identity design?

Cultural Identity Cultural identity is the (feeling of) identity of a group or culture, or of an individual as far as he or she is influenced by her belonging to a group or culture Visual Identity Visual identity is the overall impression of an organisation which is projected internally and externally through letterhead, brochures, newsletters, advertising, signposting, vehicle livery, buildings, reception areas etc. A logotype often forms an important part of a visual identity, but it is only a part.

Visual identity is not optional; it is something every organisation has. What is optional is whether it is neglected, to the detriment of the organisation, or managed and developed so as to become an asset.

A professionally managed visual identity, supports and projects institutional cohesion and efficiency; differentiates from other organisations; facilitates the building of reputation through the association of achievements and values to the organisation; and facilitates consistency in key areas of design.

As I conclude, I would like to mention that many of the solutions given here might not work in the Indian context as is. However, that is no reason to lose heart. These illustrated examples can act as an inspiration for us to do something about cultural identity in a country that is so rich in culture.

Refusing to conclude still, I would like to state a hypothetical example of how we may use examples here and convert them into a workable solution: Developed countries like Britain, US and Germany have a certain amount of their money going into culture related work. If such a thing is unavailable to us,

The Delhi Zoo, National Zoological Park, is going to turn fifty in 2009. I visited the zoo, took pictures and some ideas started taking shape then and there. I came back discussed them with my mentor and finalised this project almost immediately. So the last part of my project deals entirely with my efforts to create an identity for the zoo and promotional campaigns for the upcoming 50th year celebrations.

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graphic design Semiotics is broadly known as the study of signs. And signs refer to anything that stands for something else. Signs take the form of words, images, sounds, gestures and objects. Here semiotic approach has been used to analyse text typography, which is the communication object of study. The purpose is not to come up with a semiotic theory but to explore a methodology of investigating the functions of sign vehicle (type), its production and interpretation.

Text based communication tools are widely used these days. As I am hoping to illustrate in this paper typography can be seen as bringing up some of the expressive powers of content, such as its ability to convey emotion, portray compelling characters and visually direct attention to the strong communicative properties of text. Designers today apply strong complex knowledge, use sophisticated expressive means and pursue functionality and high aesthetic quality enticing the user to interact with the design to complete it in the process of using it. Although typography offers substantial promise for expressive communication it has not been exploited outside a few limited application areas.

Anindita Neha Murmu anindita.sm@gmail.com

This paper presents the first step in remedying this situation. The findings from the study inform design guidelines through semiotic aspects of design for designing content that uses typographic presentation.

Design happens to be a rather unsettled field of human creativity, without a critical method (and without methodic criticism), and without the means to construct one for itself. People who worked in typography, printing/printmaking, jewellery design, architecture, textile, heraldry, ceramics, fashion, and the arts started identifying themselves as designers less than a century ago. Design is a general concept, reflected in the underlying quality of objects, actions and representations which various people make possible in a given culture and within a value framework. To design means, among other things, to plan, to anticipate according to a devised course of events in view of a goal and under the influence of the environment. Designers are among those professionals who have shown a first and continued interest in the modern revival of semiotics.

In search of a theory, for a field of human practice characterized by a lack of conceptual discipline, design did not degenerate into sign. It acquired, in the post-modern era, qualities reflecting semiotic awareness of designers. While problem solving is a general principle of design, certain semiotic aspects (characteristic of industrial or graphic design) should be specified in order to better understand this type of design before attempting to propose a model for it. Among these, semiotic aspects are a type of representation, consistency of representation, means used, type of interpretation made possible/necessary, and relation between design and final product. This makes possible the understanding of the semiotic process through which designs are created.

The process of designing is quite difficult to describe due to the interdisciplinary nature of design.

The “specialised� components (e.g., planning, aesthetic quality, the social and psychological aspects of design and the product designed, communication, science, technology) require an integrative procedure as well as a self-critical moment (reflected in the historic parameter according to which designers as well as users of design compare new designs to previous work and situate design in the broader context of culture and civilisation). The design process, in its close relation to design products and their use, implies design intelligence, cultural sensitivity, and a critical attitude—semiotic components of many other forms of human activity.

Designers work towards a goal (product) to be achieved with the help of representations of this goal,

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Semiotics & Typography

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i.e., with the help of semiotic means, sometimes used according to identifiable aesthetic criteria and/or cultural, economic, or political factors. The discussion of whether design is intuition, or requires a method (semiotically based or otherwise) could not produce univocal answers, and presumably never will.

Design does require a great deal of system (or method) especially in precise area such as typography, signage, and specialised communication. However, elements of inventiveness, spontaneity, even randomness, confer ‘life’ upon design, the touch of humanness, without whose expression perfection is quite often dead.

Knowing one design does not mean knowing every design. But in reality people using design (for public signage, for devices in the form of displays, instructions, buttons, etc.) infer from previous interpretations to new ones.

Advertisers for instance, take advantage of the public’s inferential tendency by maintaining characters (look-a-likes are a particular case), music, scenery, and product identifiers. Even if designers do not study semiotic principles, they apply the common semiotic knowledge we all acquire in the environment in which our social life takes place.

Design as Applied Semiotics

The first, and probably the most relevant to the subject under discussion, is: design principles are semiotic by nature. To design means to structure systems of signs in such a way so as to make possible the achievement of human goals: communication (as a form of social interaction), engineering (as a form of applied technical rationality), business (as a form of shared efficiency), architecture, art, education, etc.

Design comes about in an environment traditionally called culture, currently identified as artificial (through a rather romantic distinction between natural and artificial), and acts as a bridge between scientific and humanistic praxis.

Along this line of thinking, Herbert Simon (1982) stated, “Engineering, medicine, business, architecture, and painting are concerned not with how things are but with how things might be—in short, with design. ‘The object of semiotics is sign systems and their functioning within culture. For a long time, one type of sign, the symbol, has been considered a representative of all signs in human culture’, for most of us, the significant part of the environment consists mostly of strings of artefacts called ‘symbols’ that we receive through eyes and ears in the form of written and spoken language and that we pour out into the environment—as I am now doing—by mouth or hand.

Actually, we perceive signs through all our senses, and we generate signs that address the same. Correct interpretation of a design does not mean that the interpreter can generate designs of a comparable value. But it acknowledges the symmetry between the structure of design work and the structure within which the design is interpreted.

By extension, to design means to constitute a language, with identifiable units that have meaning in a given cultural context. This language has the characteristics given by Jakobson (1967), i.e., it consists of signs belonging to two systems: 1. The system of combinations through which various meanings are brought to expression; 2. The system of selection through which designers opt for what they consider a better way to accomplish their goal (in particular, their commission).

The main sign operations—substitution, insertion, omission—are actually the rules of design language. They are applied over a repertory that is practically infinite (as opposed to the 26 or so letters of Western alphabet). Consequently, we have not an overall language, but sets of design languages. Reporting that, “the trouble with modern methods of communication is that whatever medium you choose, you’ll find it doesn’t suit everyone,” Robert Matthews (1986) puts the issue of design as applied semiotics in its proper framework. There is no universal method that, once applied, will ensure good or effective design. The reason is simple: design is interpreted or used by various interpreters; that is, the interpretant (all the instances of interpreting a sign) is infinite.

Matthews describes four classes of learning (our relation with design is fundamentally one of learning): 1. Pragmatists like to get down to practicalities right away; 2. Philosophers try to look at things in their overall context; 3. Activists prefer trying things out and getting feedback from what they do; 4. Abstract learners are the only ones likely to benefit from chalk and talk.

For designers to apply semiotics does not mean to design with a treatise of semiotics on the drawing board or under the computer keyboard, but to consider the semiotic implications of whatever they design. Whether these complications are acknowledged by the four types of learners mentioned above, or in some other typology, is not relevant to this discussion. What matters is the understanding that the designer has to know for whom, user not commissioner—he designs, i.e., to establish a semiotic system with precise, appropriate, consistent rules. Using one of the most pervasive forms of design, signage, I would like to exemplify this, while expressing several practical requirements.

Semiotics, as a rational system for the analysis of communication and design problems, also provides a methodology for the evaluation of communication and design from the perspective of their functions.

It allows the designer to: 1. Understand and effectively use optimal means of communication; 2. Generate and evaluate various answers to problems solved through design;

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

The use of semiotic means of analysis and evaluation implies the need to integrate a signage system into the broader system of visual communication, making sure that it will perform according to its basic functions (as derived from service offered by a transportation authority): expressiveness, precision, user-friendliness.

Since signages, together with other forms of communication, exercises an educational function, it is important to define the values embodied; in this case values characteristic of our society. Some of these values are still in the process of implementation, such as considering the specific needs of the transportation of disabled or of the growing number of tourists. This makes the problem of signages more complex. Designers need qualified support in the problem-solving aspect of their work. And they are willing to accept it from professionals dealing with how people interpret signs, how people design signs, how signs become a part of the culture, and how cultural changes occur in our time.

Semiotics, as a new development determined by the fact that today’s society uses more signs and people rely on signs for the information they need more than ever before, solves problems that until now were either ignored or treated superficially. Among such problems I can mention: 1. Appropriateness of signage, i.e., how well signage is integrated in the life and cultural tradition of a city, how well it is adapted to the function it fulfills, to the means of expression used; 2. Coherence, i.e., whether the signage system takes into account the manner in which potential users will perceive and interpret it. Coherence does not exclude variety if the designer applies semiotic principles of identification; 3. Integrity, i.e., whether the design quality and the quality of communication made possible by design complement each other or are contradictory. The same applies to the integrity of signage within urban structure since each signage package functions in a given, often rapidly changing, architectural environment; 4. Significance, i.e., the importance assigned to information made available to potential users, as an implicit statement about the quality of the service and the user, as well as about its social function.

The semiotic function requires: 1. Precise identification of all components of signage system; 2. Optimization, i.e., the use of minimum necessary sign components;

3. Contextual definition consisting of acknowledgment of the given environment and designing new signs that are: a. Acceptable in the given environment b. Consistent within the entire system; 4. Critical evaluation of each component and of the entire system.

Semiotics applies several procedures: 1. Descriptive (comparative analysis) 2. Functional (based on defining structural characteristics) 3. Generative (using a knowledge base to generate new models, test, improve, and finalize design) Semiotic implications for design can be determined for other cases. Important is the understanding that there is no universal answer to complexity, and that semiotics suggests a very concrete analysis of the context for which an appropriate design is created.

Semiotic Functions For the designer, all those function categories are important in view of the purpose of design. Within each category, some functions are more important than others. For instance, while the theoretic function is almost ignored in the process of designing, representational and practical aspects dominate.

One can say as a general thesis that the content of design semiosis is that in which, the pragmatic dimension of sign dominates. According to the specific goal of each type of design application, the pragmatics are actually represented by the functioning of designed products within the intended contexts. If such contexts are not appropriately identified, the result is misinterpretation, even if formally the design is right. As applied semiotics, design is the process through which signs appropriate to intended contexts of interpretation/use are generated.

Design as Interface People communicate using signs. Such signs can be simple or very complex, homogeneous or heterogeneous, sequential or configurational. Interface is the meeting place between two different entities that are supposed to come in contact, to be brought together, i.e., to communicate. It follows that interface has the nature of a sign. Simon (1982) even introduced “the artefact as interface”. While it is true that the concept of interface became fashionable in the “computer age”, actually a product of human culture as an artefact environment, and it is in this respect that Simon regarded “the artefact as interface” and “the environment as mould”, Interface is also a problem of human-to-human relations, especially in the context in which human contact and inter-influence become more and more mediated. Defining the sign as a mediating entity and semiotics as the theory and practice of mediation, I suggest that despite the diversity of signs and sign processes characteristic

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3. Choose technological means to solve problems; 4. Consider the dynamics characteristic of design.

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of design. These all fulfill the basic function of an intermediary, medium between two or several distinct entities brought together through a specialized human activity which we call design. The contingency of each mediation—its likelihood, relative unpredictability, its dependency on and conditioning by other factors—that is, the contingent nature of design, is a reflex of design’s double nature as science (in respect to the scientific principles of design) and as art (in respect to a particular, original way of designing).

All that we understand, know, we know through the intermediary of signs used by designers - and in signs. All that we apply from our knowledge of design is semiotic in nature.

Based on these elements, I would like to introduce a generalized concept of design as interface: The product of design is the reality through which user and designer communicate. I should repeat that interface, no matter what kind, specifies the optimal set of signs for the interaction between two entities, be they animate or inanimate. In a limited sense, user interface specifies the action the user is supposed to take in order to access different parts of a system to the design of the conceptual model that is the basis of that particular system.

Display Typography In traditional typography, text is composed to create a readable, coherent, and visually satisfying whole that works invisibly, without the awareness of the reader. Even distribution with minimum distractions and anomalies are aimed at producing clarity and transparency. In this paper I have only drawn attention towards the expressive nature of the type in kinetic typography through the static. This I have done keeping in consideration the semiotic aspects of design.

It is seen that while designing, the practical and representational aspects

dominate while the theoretic function is ignored. Coming down to display typography it is a potent element in graphic design, there is less concern for readability and more potential for using type in an artistic manner. Type is combined with negative space, graphic elements and pictures, forming relationships and dialogues between words and images. Colour and size of type elements are much more prevalent here than in text typography. Most of display typography exploits type at larger sizes, where the details of letter design are magnified. Colour is used for its emotional effect in conveying the tone and nature of subject matter. The whole idea is, not to change the perspective but to look at the object from the point of view of perspective that gives us more areas of possibilities to explore.

The purpose of this paper is to: -- Communicate the expression of this art -- To develop a practical method for designers of interactive media to apply display typography -- To build a bridge from abstraction to application.

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graphic design Life is so much easier when it is directed by someone or something. A good signage system helps one understand an institution better. It ensures that you reach the right place on your own, without depending on someone, but on something. It directs you, it informs you, it warns you, and it orients you.

The reason for this study was to evolve a new signage system after secondary and primary research which first required me to understand the subject; look for the existing information through Internet and books available on the topic; compile all the data; find problems if any. My final design product is a new signage system which will help me understand how one needs to think while designing one.

Arushi Agarwal arushi862002@gmail.com

In my primary research I planned to have some personal experiences and see for myself what all has been done in Delhi as far as signage is concerned. I visited a lot of places, malls, local markets, residential complexes, flyovers and roads. I specifically studied the BRT corridor, since it was newly designed and wanted to see if there were any flaws in it. My first hand experience while talking to the commuters and the security personnel there gave me quite an idea as to what problems people were facing. I myself drive a car, so I could also identify the problems which drivers experience. I went to some flyovers and areas that I was unfamiliar with, and analysed the situation thoroughly. The problems which I saw were that the legibility was poor, the material used was not good enough and there were no lights. Some signages were even hidden behind trees or behind other larger signs.

When I did my primary research, the one problem I wanted to solve in my signage system was removing the clutter which so many signboards create. They distract instead of helping.

As for my final product, I decided to design a signage system for the Commonwealth Games. This would involve examining the trends in design and solving the problems which I have identified. I took into consideration, the organisation for which the signages have to be designed and the logo for the Commonwealth Games. I also tried to find out the palette of the buildings and graphics planned to be used, the games which would be played, and the people visiting. I then identified the symbols and forms which were associated with it.

This event is at an international level, thus, the aesthetic sense will have to be international, and not much of traditional design can be brought in. Although, since it was decided that it would be held in India, Indian sensibilities had to be incorporated.

Finally I designed a signage system which solves the problems identified and is simple and effective.

My experience of designing signages has been very fulfilling, since I got to learn how one should go about it, and learnt to think in advance about what all signs and notifications a place will require.

Signages A signage is a notice, bearing a name, direction, warning, or advertisement, that is displayed or posted for public view, e.g., a traffic sign or a store’s external signage.

Types of signages The different types of signages include directional, informational, ornamental, regulatory, orientation

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Signages

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Studying the Local Signages In India the biggest problem is traffic and time. Everyone is in a hurry. People take out their cars and feel they will rush and reach the destination on time.

But they forget one thing that most of the other commuters are also in the same situation. One tries new routes and gets frustrated even more, when they don’t know the way. Couldn’t they have put a few signages to make life simpler?

and identification.

Directional signages are explicitly navigational tools. They are required everywhere, whether it be roads, stadiums or an office complex. A good directional signage system is becoming more important in Delhi, with its increasingly congested road system.

Informational signages are everywhere in the environment. It may concern opening hour, merchandise arrival, forthcoming events and so on. Provided they are well placed, at entrances and decision making points, they help reduce confusion and enquiries. These signages tell people what to and what not to do. They are generally placed separately from all other signages.

Ornamental signs embellish, enhance or beautify the area or the general effect of an environment and its individual elements. Such signs include banners, flags etc.

Statutory or regulatory signs display rules of order, conduct or prohibit activity, prescribed by local regulatory bodies, owners, or other authorities.

They exist mainly to safeguard and protect people against danger. They are mandatory on dangerous chemicals, machinery, public buildings, and various forms of transportation. Signages in this category include legal notices, security regulations, and exits. They also inform people about protocol in the event of emergencies such as a fire, sinking of ships, earthquakes etc.

Orientational signs locate users in an environment. Such signs include maps, exploded views, and plans at the entry, decision points and landmarks.

Identificational signages are essentially labelling devices which confirm destinations or establishments, or location. These signs may label works of art, a structure, a building or a group of buildings and environments.

With so many flyovers and underpasses, if you take one wrong turn, you have to travel 2 km to get back to the same place. In such a situation there is a need for a better and an innovative signage system. The government is trying its best to improve the existing traffic conditions of Delhi, by starting the Delhi Metro and the BRT (high capacity bus service). But the only way they can be successfully used is by implementing a good signage system.

My observation: People are unable to find stores easily as they can’t remember the sign after looking at it just once, thus there is a need for repetition.

The signs which indicated the various parts of the mall were not doing their job.

The mall is actually quite confusing and without the proper signages, the information counter is crowded with confused people.

After making all the observations and interviewing people, I analysed the questionnaire and finally concluded that: There is a need for a single comprehensive signage system instead of so many.

Signage system must be easy and simple to understand.

Signage system should include a map of the nearby area indicating where you are.

The maps need to be simple.

When one looks at a map, one should feel as if he has entered the map himself.

Major landmarks should be indicated.

Signages should be of different colours for different kinds of indications.

The distance at which they are placed is very important.

They should not misguide people.

They should be easily understood by first time users.

People feel that the signages right now are stagnant and something more should be done to them.

We need a better signage system in terms of both typography and graphics/symbols.

Function of Signages Some factors and information before designing a signage: A good signage system can perform multiple functions. On the most basic level, it provides effective information and direction for people to find their way around a space, a building complex, park, or any other public space. It can also encourage learning experiences, create and maintain an image for a place, communicate rules, and provide a sense of place and local pride by incorporating historic or cultural details.

Signages can meet specific needs and target certain areas. But their location is the key. Placing signages in conjunction with other amenities such as benches, cafés, restrooms, and phones can create a mini destination or places within a place. When they are well located, signs can help create a comfortable and social place where people can relax and spend time.

Some of the factors one must keep in mind while designing signages are: the size of the board, font size and type, symbol size, the distance from which it is supposed to be seen, the colours, the identity of the place, the utility, the number of words per sign board, material being used, the design trends at the time, positioning, background, facilities available at the place, and ambient light.

Through the researches I found out that a good height for a sign is around 145 cm. But the height can vary according to the placement of the signage.

The fonts which are to be used in a signage system are sans serif since they are straight, cut to cut and do not divert your mind. A sans serif font seems suitable for a sports complex since serif fonts give the impression of a mildly

Commonwealth Games Delhi, India, 2010 Firstly the logo, the logo of the Commonwealth Games is like a mashal, a torch or a chakra. Spiraling upwards it depicts growth of India into a proud and vibrant nation and its billion people coming together to spread joy and warmth.

The games’ Indian mascot, Tiger, is the national animal and represents a billion hearts in one identity.

Yamuna Sports Complex is in east Delhi, and is the largest sports complex in Delhi. Spread over 27 acres of land, the complex will play host to 6 games namely; table tennis, hockey, hand ball, archery, aquatics and gymnastics.

There is only one entry into the complex and one exit. There are also two VIP entrances. In the complex no cars except for VIP vehicles are allowed.

Since only pedestrians will be visiting, the signages are designed accordingly, keeping in mind the time at which the information is grasped, the readability, and also the use of colours. The signages are mostly placed at turning points and corners as those are the points when a pedestrian has to make a decision, unlike cars.

Coding the signages can be a tricky job. The user should be able to decode them at ease. In India colour plays a major role. Whether it is for festivals or just decorating their homes, it’s a mark of joy and celebration.

I colour coded the signage system that I designed. Each sport and the stadium along with it have been assigned a particular colour. This helps in a lot of ways, one it categorises, two it makes the signage system easier for both the user and the developer, and three it streamlines things.

Adventurous, analytical, bitter, dependable, environment, evil, faithful, free, greedy, harmonising, outdoors, sharing, vigorous.

Green is the colour of its field, hockey.

Blue

Accepting, antiseptic, balanced, calm, cautious, clean, cold, deep, dignified, flexible, fresh, reflective, self, controlled, serene, soothing, tranquil, uniting, virtuous, wet. Blue, the colour of the waters is ideal for aquatics.

The way the coding proceeds are, the signages which talk about the particular sport will have the colour of the sport. If we talk about table tennis, the signage will be in orange. The coding will be followed everywhere and on every sign.

The maps will have the stadiums coloured in the particular colour, thus making it more understandable and effective. Also, there will be ribbons flowing overhead, which direct people to follow the particular colour and reach the destination without even looking at any signage. This adds up to the colour vibrancy of the sports complex, and also strengthens the signages. This in itself becomes a signage without any symbols or text.

Primary signs are mounted higher up, while secondary signs are at a lower level. The layout of the information begins in accordance with the relevance of the information which leads the visitor in a logical order.

The colour of the signage depends on which area of the complex we are talking about. If it is related to the stadiums, the background will be of the specified colour. Likewise, if it’s general information, the background colour becomes grey (50% black).

The main or initial signs will be directing people as to which colour leads to which sport. The usual signage board will also be there along with the ribbons.

The symbols which I have designed for every sport talk about the identity of the sport. Rather than having a similar or common background for every sport, which I think makes it difficult to understand the sport by just looking at it and deciphering the graphic inside. I thought of making the symbol a complete identity of the sport, whether in the form of the shapes associated with it or the qualities associated with it. So, the background is not the same of any of the symbols, yet the posture and the elements of the symbols make them all fall in the same family.

Each sport gets its own colour, according to the feel of the sport.

Purple

Artistic, ambitious, balanced, cool, creative, dignified, enchanted, extravagant, gracious, individualistic, refined, sophisticated, and stylish. This is perfect for gymnastics.

Yellow

Active, aspiring, alert, imaginative, inspiring, intuitive, logical, optimist, spontaneous, stimulating, philosophical, uncertainty. A colour which also symbolises accuracy is best suited for archery.

Orange

Active, ambitious, changing, charismatic, cheerful, constructive, determined, disordered, dominating, dry, enthusiastic, excited, fun, gregarious, secure, tiring. This represents table tennis.

Red

Active, alert, aggressive, battle, bold, brave, dangerous, dynamism, excited, hot, impulsive, intense, powerful, rage, rebellious, strong, warm. This colour goes well with the excitement of handball.

The problem solving method which I have designed is inspired by the building blocks with which children play. The signages will be made in blocks which will be stacked one on top of the other. This leaves no scope for mistakes, for if something was left during the execution, we can still make a block and attach it to the other signages. This helps reduce clutter, since all the signages can be placed together, they can be changed easily.

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In directional signages, the audience is generally on the move and needs to be able to quickly absorb the information without stopping. For a signage to be read from about 2 -3 m distance the height should be approximately 35 to 45 mm. For a distance between 5 -10 m the font size can be somewhere between 100- 150 mm. It is better to place information pertaining to different areas on separate signs.

Green

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laid back attitude. But a font which is bold yet curvy and flexible needs to be chosen.

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graphic design Influence of Rock Music on Lifestyle Pub Rock Fest, Rocktober Fest, Rock Against Discrimination, Great Indian Rock Show... the list of events is just endless. Yes, the rock scene is taking over India. Various countries of the world got influenced, at some point of time in history. Late 1960s witnessed this genre’s German take over, Italian progressive rock came into existence sometime in the 1970s, and mid 1970s was the period when Turkey became a part of the race. The epidemic hit the Indian subcontinent in the 90s. In fact, the year 1993 is called the ‘Golden year of rock and roll’ in India. This period witnessed the growing popularity and launch of albums by various Indian rock bands like Agnee, Indus Creed etc. But very soon the craze died a natural death. Past few years have been showing symptoms of revival of the rock scene in India. Brands like Jack Daniel’s, Rock Street Journal, 95 FM, Channel V, MTV, Kingfisher are cashing in on the growing popularity of this genre. Even Bollywood is doing its bit to encourage what exists. The rise in popularity is becoming evident from the fact that television channels have shows dedicated to promote the Indian rock bands.

Houses like DNA networks, Gigpad.com, Barcode entertainment are leaving no stone unturned to promote rock music in India.

Chitwan Loond chitwanloond@gmail.com

Why it is that rock bands in India can’t make a living for themselves? Why do they have to resort to other alternatives to earn money to raise their families? If other creative professions can be so well paying in India, Then why is it that rockers have to suppress their talent and think of various other ways to earn their bread and butter? I, under the guidance of my mentor Mr. Sam Eric Lal, studied this problem in great detail.

Reading about the career paths of various Indian and International bands, talking to people who form an integral part of the Indian rock scene, attending events to see how things work, researching on what is lacking in the current infrastructure that hampers an assured future for these creative individuals is how I conducted my study. In the process I found various strengths and weaknesses and drew conclusions from the same.

The most problematic area was found to be that of the production. Industry big wigs hesitate before investing in these bands as they find them non-marketable. Without doubt talent exists in abundance. The original compositions of Indian rock bands are being appreciated world over. However their public relations are very weak, thus hampering complete exploitation of the talent pool. A good branding exercise is the solution to this problem. If a band strikes the right cord and it grabs the attention of the masses with every opportunity that comes its way then it will undoubtedly see success. With constant guidance and support given by my mentor, I came up with a summarised branding plan as a solution to this problem.

Music is a very powerful medium. It has the ability to influence our emotions, actions and reactions.

Scientific studies have shown that music possesses the power to cause a multitude of physical reactions in our bodies such as changes in hormonal levels, surrendering one’s autonomy to follow a crowd. Rhythm has the capacity to control the activities of large groups.

Rock music is communication without words, regardless of what ideology is inserted into the music.

Repetition is the key to hypnosis and the main ingredient of rock music is repetition. It has an overwhelming driving beat. That steady rhythm can place the listener’s mind into a dangerous state of suggestive hypnosis. Hence the facts show that rock music has the ability to grow on people. Since rock music has already been accepted by the Indian scene, its popularity would only increase in the coming few years.

Over the past few years newer genres of music have noticeably been finding favour with record

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

increased the ‘brand stickiness’.

Branding a band Time span: this branding exercise would extend over a period of 3 years.

Despite growing popularity, Indian rock bands are faced with several problems that hinder their professional success causing them to go in search of an alternative career. The areas that need immediate attention include music production, funding and even acceptance of rock music in vernacular.

Indian rock bands have enormous talent but they are crippled by the lack of marketing.

If a band builds a brand identity for itself, not only will it tell on its popularity but also on its marketing. All that an industrial investor really cares about is returns. He would invest into a band only if he knows that some benefit is guaranteed in return.

No one would be willing to sponsor a bunch of individuals who cannot even present themselves. On the other hand a presentable lot of people, who make a good first impression, have been able to win the right audience, would give the sponsor an assurance of a successful investment. Hence branding is the need of the hour.

The branding of Metallica: a case study Heavy metal super group Metallica took a refreshing new approach to the brand Metallica and marketing strategies around the launch of their ninth studio album, ‘Death Magnetic’.

The album sold more than 500,000 copies in its first week and hit the No. 1 slot on the British album charts. This was accomplished as a result of several new developments that the band had initiated. First, in good brand management style, the Metallica brand identity was revamped with a new logo, a ‘signature’ typographic style and a brand kit that incorporated logos, imagery and graphics, as well as promotional items including a flag, a coffinshaped special edition album and a vinyl boxed set. The band brought in the Cannes-award-winning design firm Turner Duckworth, which traditionally works for consumer brands including Coca-Cola, Dolby and Amazon.

The band pushed out quite a few new marketing initiatives. For instance fan-club members ordering tickets for Metallica’s live shows would receive an ‘e-voucher’ they can redeem to have the new CD mailed directly to their home for no charge. They’d also receive more ‘e-vouchers’ to download; again, free of charge, a video recording of the live show they are going to see.

Evolving the look and feel of the brand and offering consumers a chance to interact with it in new and compelling ways helped keep the band fresh and

Aim: Positioning the band as a premiere band.

Band name: Carefully selected, matching the music, catchy, easy to remember. It represents a bunch of talented individuals and thus should be reflective of the same.

Graphics: Hire a good graphic designer who understands the music sensibility of your band. Your band’s graphic requirements would be as follows: Band logo Business cards, stationary items Customised guitar skins, drum tattoos Line of merchandise Posters, Invites

Styling: The band members should be presentable from head to toe. It’s the group of individuals that needs to be marketed hence each individual should have something distinct about him that leaves an impact on the onlooker. For example a metal band could have all band members in dreadlocks. The idea here is to have a unique presentation of your band as a whole. And the most important thing here would be to wear your attitude at all times even if you are shirtless.

To start with (September to February): The band should be sent for all college level competitions like – Roctaves: BITS Pilani, Antaragni: IIT Kanpur, Blitzkreig: IIT Delhi, IIT Powai, Strawberry Fields: National Law School – Bangalore, St. John’s – Bangalore. This would not only help the band build a huge fan base but also win them cash prizes that can be added to the band funds.

Post outstation gigs (February to next April): After the hectic outstation tour, time is right to get into a fully geared up jamming and recording schedule. Get some songs ready to perfection for uploads and performances.

This stage needs to be a step ahead of the initial college competitions.

Acquire the virtual world: Web publicity is the cheapest and the best publicity of the modern era. It reaches the masses at the speed of light. Your first step in the acquisition would be getting yourself a URL. A www.bandname. com would ensure a constant audience and a rising popularity. Your website should have your band description, interesting band history, the latest updates, along with your pictures, achievements, future plans etc.

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companies. In addition to this, the support provided by the electronic and print media is enabling rock music to have a greater reach among its audience.

Finally and most importantly, rock is now being absorbed into mainstream Indian music. The release of ‘Rock On’ was a milestone is this regard.

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Get your band an article on Wikipedia. An account on MySpace is a must have for any band. It allows you to upload your songs, lyrics, pictures and is an excellent medium to make contacts. Social networking sites like Facebook, Orkut can help you make a fan club through which you can keep your fans posted about the latest news like new song uploads on MySpace, release of your E.P., your next gig schedule, venue change etc. Active blogging can also help in maintaining a good fan base.

Debut gig: After winning hearts of people all over the country, the time is just right to launch the band. A debut gig on a noble day like Earth day (22nd April) can be perfect. Goodwill strengthens the backbone of a foundation! Be loud about the launch. Make sure the news reaches as many people as it can.

Post launch (May to September): Regular gigs at clubs like Retro Sushi, Mezz, Pebble Street, Opus, Hard Rock Cafe, Cafe Morrison, Blue Frog etc.

September to February: Repeat the out station gigging once again. These festivals have the capacity to increase you popularity manifolds and hence shall not be missed at any cost.

North east tour (March): North east has a very strong rock scene. A tour that includes performing at places like Shillong, Gangtok, and Manipur etc. would make a lot of sense.

Manager’s role: While all this is happening, a good manager’s duty would be to get pictures taken at each one of these gigs. The manager must then make a dossier. The dossier should include comments by celebrities about the band and a few pictures of each gig the band has performed at including images of the crowd having fun.

Get the band a Godfather. This works wonders! It could be someone from an already established band like Palash Sen or Shankar Mahadevan or even a Saif Ali Khan could work.

Launch of the first E.P. (April): The time is right to release an album now.

The first E.P. launch of the band should be conducted in great style. Make sure you bring in good sponsors. That says a lot about the band’s image and potential. A big name like the blue frog or kingfisher, once associated with you band’s album would increase the album sales manifolds. The CD cover should be eye catchy. We should never judge a book by its cover but at the end of the day it’s actually the cover that makes the first impression about your product.

Word of mouth publicity follows.

Make impactful music videos for a couple of songs from your album. Styling of band members would be of prime importance in this case as we are selling not only music but a group of individuals. Get media partners that support rock music as they would get you the audience you target. For example: Television

partner- MTV or Channel [V] and Radio partner – Hit 95 FM or Meow FM Rock music grows on people. Repeated showcasing of videos and playing of album tracks would get people hooked to your music.

Launch a line of merchandise (October): If your launch has been successful, if people like your music, if girls are coming in specially to catch a glimpse of your band, if sponsors are dying to collaborate with you, you know the time is right to only be that much louder.

October is the month that witnesses the maximum number of gigs. Rocktober fest dedicates the entire month to some very popular gigs. This is the right month to first grab a good gig with popular established bands and to launch your line of merchandise. Get funky prints on T shirts, caps, bandanas, boxers and sweatshirts. Present a line of value for money, good quality, and designer products that one would take pride in owning. Don’t worry about the profit at this stage. Bear in mind that this is direct promotion for your band that you earn from.

Keep up the good work: Spotting your merchandise at random venues?

Congratulations! That is your popularity on a rise. You are a big band now.

Keep up the good work. Don’t let fame get to your head. Follow regular jamming schedules, be a part of every popular gigging event, because out of sight is out of mind and also there are too many fish in the pond now. Support social causes, hold fund raising events and keep producing good music.

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

graphic design Calligraphy is the art of writing often done with a special pen or brush. A passion for the written script constitutes one of the fundamental traits of Islamic culture. Many treatises in Arabic, Persian and Turkish have been devoted to its study, retracing its history or fixing its technical and aesthetic guidelines.

However, in India, now the art of calligraphy is declining. The major reason for this is the introduction of typewriters and computers in the daily lives of people in the recent past. Financially this art gives the artist no prospects of a bright future. Thus there are no takers for it. Nobody wants to learn the art anymore.

Hardly anyone now particularly in the Metropolitans knows of calligraphy as an art. This study is an attempt to look at what is happening to this art and the calligraphers in the present times.

Hashim Akhtar Naqvi is the winner of Limca Book of World Records is an expert in 5000 different calligraphic styles. Inspired by the calligraphy of his late father Hasan Akhtar, who died when Hashim was barely two years old, he copied his father’s designs and later he made his own of the names ‘Panj-Tans’ and ‘Imams’ in adolescent age during his school days. He took up calligraphic designs of the holy phrase of ‘Bismillah’ at the behest of Janab Maulana Kalbe Abid.

Kanika Gupta 87.kanika@gmail.com

Initial Awards First prize for the ‘Innovative Calligraphy’ at the All India Competition of Calligraphy organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Arts, Culture and Languages, Srinagar in 1989. Tauheed-ul-Muslimeen Trust awarded certificate of merit in 1991-1992.

Mr. Javed Abbasi is a Delhi based calligrapher. He does calligraphy using small wooden sticks. He lives in the Nizammudin basti.

Sz Mumtaz Ali Khan is a Calligrapher from Tonk, Rajasthan. He does a distinct style of calligraphy done on animal skin. This has influences from Rajasthani traditions.

Raza Zaidi uses calligraphy on canvas.

Agha Mohammad Hassan does calligraphy with pulses. He lives in Lucknow.

Maulana Abdul Moid Kamil is a calligrapher in Mau, 120 km from Varanasi who earns his living by doing calligraphy. He also makes wedding and invitation cards with calligraphy on them for people. He teaches in the village’s Madarsa for which he takes no money. In this village, children in the beginning are taught to make their own ‘Kalam’ using bamboo and use wooden slabs ‘Takhti’ to write on. These they wash every evening to prepare it for the next day. This is a culture which was followed in the past, even by our parents’ generation. However now it has faded away. None of us have ever used this kind of pen or notebook while learning to write the alphabet. In this village of Mau this still continues only to fade away sometime in near future.

The Film Alif – In search of the one above…

Genre – Informative Documentary Synopsis Alif is a documentary on the art of Islamic Calligraphy. Shot in a small village called Mau, 120 km from Varanasi, the film takes its viewers into the studio of a calligrapher who actually manages to make a living out of his art in the present times. The film creates a parallel between the students of the Madarsa of

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Islamic Calligraphy

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that village and the calligrapher, who also teaches them. The calligrapher still makes his own ‘Kalam’ using bamboo sticks and teaches his students to do so as well. The students start with the bamboo pen and write on ‘Takhti’ (wooden slab).

In the film we see different nibs being made and the very basic of this art, that is Alif, the first letter of the Urdu alphabet.

With every Alif there is a new beginning, a new style of writing waiting to be explored.

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graphic design The Designer as a Brand The name alone of Jean Paul Gaultier makes you instantly think of sailor stripes and the peroxide blonde hair. Manish Arora would conjure up images in your mind of a riot of wild colours and creative imagination.

John Galliano, the swashbuckling Salvador Dali ignites romantic fantasies. Rohit Bal is the quintessential maverick making a style statement on and off the ramp. Tom Ford and his perfect stubble and white shirt makes the most daring and sexual assertions with his design style and sensibilities.

What makes these designers into the brands that they are? Why is it that these designers are not just unique as a brand but are also defined by their personalities, style, sensibility, image and identity as a brand?

This paper tries to understand ‘the designer as a brand’. It is the study and analysis of designers whose personal image helps transform brands or transcends the brand itself. This case study is based on how an individual designer’s persona is the identity of the brand. This is achieved through creative repeats, and also maintaining a distinct or signature style through all their work.

Shradha Johri johri_shraddha@hotmail.com

The study also indicates how this creation of the brand identity based on the designer itself could prove to be a very effective marketing tool for the brand.

This body of research is based on the information gathered through the Internet, books and interviews with media professionals from the industry. As a conclusion to my study I have developed a brand building exercise for an Indian designer who has a unique and distinct style and identity which can be carried forward.

When Designers Become Brands When the fame of the designer transcends that of the brand itself, a designer is said to have become a brand. These are the few designers whose personal image itself has helped transform the brands.

A dormant brand, whose founder has passed on or ceased to be involved, often uses an identifiable figurehead to reincarnate itself in the eyes of its consumers.

The topic under study explores the idea that the designer’s persona can be the identity or the heart and soul of the brand. The brand can get its character or life from the designer’s personality and is thus recognised in the market.

These identities and signature styles of the designers are then carried forward through their labels, products, stores, logos, websites, etc. The designers also ensure their styles are not compromised at any front. The brand extensions of designers into various lifestyle products like shoes, eyewear, furnishings, chocolates, flowers, etc. are also only successful if their styles and standards are well maintained.

The Designers Studied The Father of Fashion Charles Worth, the founder of Paris haute couture was known for his talent as a designer and had a very savvy head for business. He was the first dressmaker to sign his name to a label on the garment, also the first to use young women as models for a collection and the first to show an entire collection in advance.

After he became a notable brand name to maintain his identity and the signature styles of his luxurious

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The study involves how designers become brands and then maintain their brand image and identity in the mind of their customers. Further studies show how their identities can be carried forward through their label, products, store, logo, websites, etc.

Designer John Galliano is primarily known for his wildly romantic and outrageous imagination which comes across through his designs and his labels, namely John Galliano and Christian Dior. He has managed to strike a perfect balance between the true essence of Christian Dior and his eclectic styles inspired from bygone eras: a fantasy of theatrics.

Manish Arora is known for his use of wild colours and kitsch designs. He favours strong Indian inspirations like Bollywood and Indian graphics. He is wildly popular for his loud and eye catching shiny glamour and the shock value of his shows. To wear a Manish Arora garment one has to have a particular attitude and personality first.

Other examples of international designer brands include Karl Lagerfeld, Jean Paul Gaultier, Tom Ford etc. While Jean Paul Gaultier is the bad boy of fashion known for his erotic details in garments, deviating from stereotypes and a non conformist attitude, his personal style is peroxide blonde hair and sailor stripe sweaters.

Rohit Bal on the other hand is more popular for his appearances at the Page 3 parties, creating fashion trends with the way he dresses himself and controversies in his shows. Rohit Bal garments are hugely popular for their perfection in tailoring. Each garment has minute details and techniques. He borrows and adapts a variety of Indian styles ranging from Kashmir to South India. His garments are also often adorned with his signature Lotus motif.

Karl Lagerfeld’s name itself is enough to inspire luxury, style and the instant image of dark glasses with a grey ponytail. He has even defined the style and fashion for Chanel as five essentials - audacious, perfection, unique, passionate and visionary.

Tom Ford, always appearing perfect with his three day stubble and crispy white shirts, is the only designer who calls himself a businessman, being proud of the fact that his designs are commercial. Gucci suffered a great downfall in their sales when Tom Ford decided to leave and work on his own label. This clearly exhibits the impact on a brand when a recognisable designer is at its face.

These are some of the examples of established international designers who are the faces of their brands. They are highly recognised figures in the fashion world and their personal styles make headlines just as often as their as their designs do. However, there are some designers who let their work do all the talking while they themselves stay in the shadows.

Miuccia Prada is one such example who does not overpower her brand, Prada, She is not a public figure, yet her brand is as successful as Gucci or Dior. Prada is synonymous with luxury and the avant-garde, but it is not overshadowed by the designer who is the genius behind Prada products and garments.

Indian Designers and their Identities The analysis of this study was then carried forward to the Indian scenario where the designer brands studied were Rohit Bal, Manish Arora, JJ Valaya as compared to Ravi Bajaj and Shahab Durazi.

JJ Valaya and the House of Valaya are the epitome of luxury and high fashion in India. Valaya garments are treated as heirlooms to be passed on from generation to generation. Valaya is known for his inspirational designs and excellent quality of work. The blue blooded royal elegance always shows through each and every aspect of the House of Valaya’s brand extensions.

Then there are designers like Ravi Bajaj and Shahab Durazi who choose to stay out of the media glare and let their work alone do the talking. They do not even participate in the fashion weeks and have carved their own niche in the market with very loyal clients. These designers do not advertise either, their marketing strategy is to stay behind the scenes and not to let their private lives be scrutinized or be the centre of media attention.

The designers and their identities are so distinct that even at the doorstep of a Manish Arora or a Rohit Bal store you will know what to expect inside. Their identities are carried forward to their websites, logos, advertisements, etc as well.

For the research of the Indian market and how these identities are created and maintained, interviews with those in the media industry were essential. These professionals helped generate the buzz about the different designers and thus helped the brands grow.

These included design studios who designed the websites and logos etc. for the designers, junior designers and store managers who work directly under the designers and even the public relations manager who ensures that the designer is always in the public eye. The interviews with the industry professionals proved to be of significant importance as it helped me understand how to carry forward a designer’s identity in all kinds of ventures.

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garments he adopted autocratic mannerisms, and nurtured every bit of attention showered on him by his fans. He was always dressed in rich and colourful silks and was mostly known for his large ego and a loud and glamorous lifestyle.

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Brand Building A designer brand once created also has to be nurtured to sustain and survive the competition of the market. To ensure that the brand does not fade away and is always there in the customer’s eye, the designers have to take up brand building exercises. These exercises are taken upon according to the identity and style of the designer.

Designers use various marketing tools to build their brand from strength to strength so it can last even beyond their lifetime.

A very successful brand building exercise is brand extensions, where designers venture into various product lines other than their original one.

Examples of brand extensions by Indian designers are: Manish Arora and Fish Fry: a line of shoes and clothes with Reebok.

Tao by Sabyasachi Mukherjee: a collection of home furnishings for Bombay Dyeing.

JJ Valaya’s extensions include Valaya Quantum (prêt line), Valaya Base (new version of Studio Valaya), Valaya Muse (exclusive single pieces), Valaya Life (couture), Valaya Fleur (flowers).

Rohit Bal has Balance, his prêt line and Veda, his own restaurant in New Delhi.

The Ravi Bajaj café above the Ravi Bajaj store in GK-1 N-Block market in New Delhi is another example.

Raghavendra Rathore’s gourmet chocolates and exclusive custom made jewellery lines.

Other brand building exercises and marketing tools are fashion shows, advertisements and promotions, events, books, press dockets, media, overseas showings, etc. The designers according to their style and identity take up these brand building exercises to maintain their market position and brand value.

Conclusions After the study and analysis of the designers and their market niche along with interviews with professionals in the industry the following conclusions were derived. It is very important for designer brands to build upon their identity and keep it consistent. Through all their ventures, they must aim to have a trusting and loyal relationship with their clients. The customer base of a designer increases when a designer is consistent and maintains his signature style and identity.

Indian consumers are aspiration driven thus they look towards the personality and identity of the designer. They indulge in labels and brands that can add to their personalities, and an identity that they can relate to as individuals. When you buy a Rohit Bal garment you also buy the identity attached to it and it

makes you feel different. When you wear the Fish Fry shoes by Manish Arora it’s like wearing the identity of Manish Arora, that of wild colours and spunk.

Designers in India have not fully explored the arena of brand building. It is still at a very small level, thus they need to understand the fundamentals of brand building first and create their own exclusive identities to reach out to their consumers.

Indian consumers are driven by labels and brands more than a product itself.

This can prove to be a very strong marketing tool for designers who are well established as well as those still coming up. Brand building exercises are very important to keep the designers as top-of-the-mind-recall for the consumers, as competition is immense among brands and designers.

Product Development As a conclusion to my study I decided to develop a product based on it. My study shows that once a designer has a definitive identity in the market he/she has to take upon brand building exercises to not just maintain but also carry forward the identity in various arenas. Designers take upon several ventures and I have designed one such venture for a designer whose identity I have studied and understood well. The product is an event for a designer whose identity is very distinctive and whose style is inspirational.

The event is called ‘Horn Please’ and it is a ‘Cycle Rickshaw Race’ for the designer Manish Arora. Manish Arora always uses India inspired themes and so based on that concept I have designed an event that act as a brand building exercise for him. It will be held in winters at night in an open area, either in a sports field, a large farmhouse or the unused Safdarjung Airport.

The event does not directly promote Manish Arora’s garments or products. It is designed keeping in mind his identity and the ultimate aim of building the existing brand image. The event could be sponsored by Reebok as Manish Arora has collaborated with them for Fish Fry, and sponsoring this event will also give mileage to Reebok as a brand.

The guests invited for the event will hail from all fields including sports, Bollywood, arts, music, Page 3 people, media, etc. Other guests will be informed about the event through media like Facebook and direct mailers and will have to register for the race to participate.

The event will foster an ambience of Indian streets and the magic of local arts and cuisine. This would be created with elements like ‘charpais’, hookahs, fortune tellers with parrots, bi-scopes, trucks, ‘mashaals’, autos, etc. The cycle rickshaws will be custom designed, as will be the autos and trucks. The event will begin with local performers and the race shall begin after all the guests have arrived. This would be followed by an after party.

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graphic design I share an immense affection for Hindi cinema. I love every single aspect of it from the exotically located dream sequences, foreign locations of songs describing ‘desh ki galiyan’, over dressed grand weddings many more. For some, Hindi cinema is always overdone, but for me it is a piece of art beautifully imagined.

Every scene of a script writer’s dream is beautifully composed into a 3 hr film. Our cinema proves that we Indians are very imaginative.

My book is an eye opener for those who make us dream. Those who make us see these dreams must even see the realistic part of it. What happens when that dream is advertised through posters? Are they seen, are they appreciated? Where are they seen mostly? Is so much money invested on posters worth it?

My book will be a guide on the success or failure of posters, their life and death.

Bollywood is the informal name given to the popular Mumbai based Hindi language film industry in India.

The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema. Bollywood is only a part of the Indian film industry.

Shrutika shrutika_26@yahoo.com

Introduction to Indian Cinema The Indian film industry is the largest in the world in terms of ticket sales and the number of films produced annually. Movie tickets in India are among the cheapest in the world. The industry is mainly supported by the vast cinema going Indian public. The Central Board of Film Certification of India cites on its website that every three months an audience as large as India’s billion strong population visits cinema halls.

Cinema was introduced in India on July 7, 1896. It began with the Lumerie brothers’ cinematography.

Unveiling six silent short films at the Watson hotel in Bombay, viz., Entry of Cinematography, ‘The Sea Bath’, ‘Arrival of a Train’, ‘A Demolition’, ‘Ladies & Soldiers on Wheels’ and ‘Leaving the Factory’.

The uniqueness of Indian cinema is songs. In generic films they serve as filters, often amusing distractions. In artistic commercial films, songs convey emotions and passions of the protagonist or of the situation-ranging from love and pathos to triumph and celebration. The lyrics in the latter type are usually well written and set to music with catchy tunes that go on to become popular songs. These songs are sung by professional singers. This composition of good lyrics, catchy tunes and melodious singing makes the film a musical hit even if the story or the cast is not up to the mark. A lot of movies have become musical super hits with new or aspiring actors and directors as ‘Aayi Milan Ki Raat’, ‘Aashiqui’ etc. In India, music and songs are a huge medium of film promotion. They have the ability to drag people to the theatre.

Commercial Indian films generally tend to become long, they stretch to about 2 to 3 hours and they are a mixture of drama, melody, comedy, romance, suspense and other generic elements. Our films are always guarded by the Indian Censor Board. They certify all the films and only then can they be released.

Advertising & Promotion The earliest mode of advertising in Indian cinema was exhibiting the picture abroad. Another was hand printed movie bill boards and posters. The well known artist M. F. Hussain was a poster painter early in his career. This was because human labour was cheaper and easier than printing and designing. Though now the place of hand painted posters has been taken by vinyl. Once found hand painted posters have now

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Promotion of Hindi Films through Posters

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became a collectible form of art.

Releasing the film music, or film videos and trailers is another form of advertising. Today most of the metro audiences are lured into watching a film by viewing trailers on several channels. Bollywood publicists have begun using the Internet as a venue for advertising. Most of the films releasing now a days have their own websites. Bollywood movie stars appear in print and television advertisements. By latest trends Bollywood stars have started appearing in reality shows which is both useful for stars and the show.

Alternative Promotions Indoor Branding (within theatres) Branding on entrance tickets Screen branding Show windows Outdoor Branding Hoarding within cinema campus Space for silent display at idle locations Backlist, kiosks etc.

Branding on buses of RSRTC. India has one of the oldest film industries in the world. The first film advertisement in India appeared in the Times of India on 7 July 1896, inviting people to witness the Lumerie brothers’ moving pictures, ‘The Wonders of the World’.

Marketing Marketing is a step followed by the company to create its brand image and to establish itself in peoples mind. It involves inbound activities such as market research to find out the target customers, their need and how you can meet them. Outbound activities involve promotion through advertising, promotions, public relations etc. In recent times it has become a trend for stars of films to appear on television shows as the television is becoming more popular in Indian households.

History of Promotion of Hindi Cinema In the early 1890s ‘magic lanterns’ that showed a succession of slides were popular in Europe and America. In India Mahadev Gopal Patwardhan created slides of sequences from the Ramayana and the birth of Lord Krishna, experimented with the idea of making the characters appear to move, and started holding shows to exhibit them. One of the most popular medium of marketing and publicity in the silent era was exhibiting the film at London and America as Dhundiraj Govind Phalke did for Raja Harishchandra in 1913.

Usually, the budget for marketing is 10 to 15 percent of the total cost. Earlier there were only music rights but now there are only popular rights. One can easily recover the money by selling rights, like wallpaper and ring tone downloads etc.

Target Audiences of Indian Cinema With the onset of the marketing era, no matter what you sell, the prime focus has to be on two words; target audience. Film making is one of those businesses in which considering the target audience is very important as the fate of the film is entirely dependant upon them.

Aspects Of Promotion Of Indian Cinema Styling: The major fashion trends created during the cinema are a deliberate step taken by the film makers to promote their films. Such as the bearded look of Amitabh Bachchan, in Sarkar; the bell bottoms of the ‘70’s; the famous white mufflers of Mithun Chakraborty. Every film stylizes its star cast to create an individual identity out of the hundreds of films released every year. This can be done by fashioning different costumes or hair styles.

Posters: The graphic identity created by posters for every film is different and largely contributes to the promotion of the film.

The dictum of the age is to draw the audience into the cinema halls. Any gimmick would sell, provided it gels with the target audience’s mindscape.

‘Kabul express’ was advertised using a music album while it was primarily a song less movie. Ekta Kapoor advertises her movies through her daily soaps.

Marketing strategies are constantly evolving. ‘Bhagam Bhag’ was launched amidst much hoopla with a race conducted before the movie release in Mumbai, and an added surprise whereby the runners had to unearth gifts hidden at various parts. ‘Vivah’ went on to greet the audience at the theatres with mouth watering ‘ladoos’ true to the spirit of the wedding depicted in the film.

Movies are cultural artefacts which are in sync with the tempo of the age. They create brands, commodities, games, contests, and blogs only enhance the viewership and box office collection.

The Need for Film Posters One big question that rose before me when I started my research was this: Do we understand these posters? And if we do, do we like them? Why are the film producers investing such a vast chunk of their budget in designing and printing so many posters and bothering to send it to every nook and corner of the country? After so much effort do people bother to see it?

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Who are these Posters for?

Since childhood I have shared a huge affection for Hindi cinema. This attraction has led me to the subject of my research. I am writing this book for all those filmmakers who consider the art of poster designing as serious as any other promotional activity. Some of our directors take this art very seriously. Ashutosh Gowariker, has the designs of his film posters clear in his mind from the time he starts making his films.

As an emblematic instance of popular culture, the poster’s entanglement within forms of experience, performance, fashion codes, urban spectacle and desire are clearly evident. But these are difficult to pin down unless we trace the poster’s life as a journey that moves through the complicated routes of film production, distribution and circulation.

An object can have many biographies based on the desired focus of the narrative. And like every other biography there will be gaps and absences, particular thrusts and engagements.

It is difficult to give an exact date for the origins of the film poster. Lithographic printing was introduced in India in the late 19th century and was used to first print religious imagery. The first full length feature made in India, ‘Raja Harishchandra’ (Dada Saheb Phalke:1913) was a mythological film.

Newspaper advertisements, handbills and publicity booklets of the film can be traced, but no references to the use of posters have been found.

The journey of posters has been full of glory and adventures. Initially posters were just informative and were stuck on city walls was to inform people where the show was and who the stars were; there were just text and no visuals. Gradually we started painting stars on the posters and then a mix of photography and painting as the background was painted and the visuals were pasted. Now with the immense development of techniques and design methods, posters are digitally printed with a beautiful finish, so much so that kids display them in their rooms beside the posters of back street boys.

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Before I went in looking for the future of posters, I wanted to know the present.

Through my research I also found out the effects of electronic media on print media in this sector of our society. In olden times posters used to deliver the necessary information with charm of a ‘start fever’ but now the same thing is done in more effective and alluring ways by trailers. Earlier some glimpses from the movie were displayed on still posters but now the moving videos from the film is enough to outdo the function and need of posters. But still there is so much of effort, hard work, research and money that goes into posters.

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graphic design Posters & Graphic Art A poster is typically a printed paper announcement that is displayed publicly and functions as a tool for the promotion of a product, an event, or a sentiment or cause through image and/or text. A poster’s principal task is to be noticed: it must attract attention and influence the passer-by. It’s known as the seven-second rule. A poster must be able to communicate its message within that period of time. That seven-second limit was the given measurement a century ago but has no doubt diminished considerably with the increasing speed of transport and the shrinking of attention spans.

History The poster is a product of the big city. Theatre companies and (book) printers in London and Paris were the first to make use of the poster. Food or household items were not really advertised until the second half of the 19th century when more goods were offered and similar products began competing for their customers. The political poster, the third largest group after cultural and product posters developed with a few exceptions, only around World War I. Vaniya Sahai vaniyasahai@yahoo.com

Jules Cheret and Lithography The poster as we know it today started to develop after 1860 with Jules Cheret, the undisputed father of the modern poster who gave the poster a distinct identity since the discovery of lithography in 1798.

Poster Craze The 1880s and 1890s marked the beginning of ‘L’Affichomanie’, the poster craze; the colourful, large billboards were euphorically greeted as ‘Art of the Street’ and were suited to raise the art appreciation of the masses Art Nouveau In the early 1890s, the poster discovered ‘Art Nouveau’, the ornamental style that flourished between 1890 and 1910 throughout Europe and the United States. As it combined decorative brilliance with a faith, that fine art could be popular and useful, thus the movement found the poster to be a natural form of expression. Posters then became a common sight in Paris.

Jules Cheret and Lithography

The 20th Century: Beyond Art Nouveau Art Nouveau was losing its vitality in France when the Beggarstaff Brothers in England became the pioneers who reduced the text to a minimum and designed large, strict compositions. In France, a young Italian caricaturist Leonetto Cappiello sought to combine the popularity of Cheret’s happy posters with the large flat areas and simple motifs of the Beggarstaff. This became the Capiello poster style.

After 1905, Lucian Bernhard, in Berlin gave birth to the ‘object poster’ which placed the central focus on the product, eliminating the feminine eye-catcher and other metaphors with a stark simplicity. Bernhard’s radical new approach to poster design, dramatically simple use of form, flat colors, shapes and bold type became the ‘Plakatstil’ or ‘Poster Style’.

Art Nouveau

‘Designing posters’ soon developed into an accepted artistic profession. Labour unions were formed (e.g. the ‘Union of German Graphic Designers’) and professional journals were published (Das Plakat). Posters started to be printed in uniform, standardised sizes. In France, printers used the outdoor format 160 x 120 cm (63 x 47 in.); in Switzerland, the Weltformat 128 x 90 cm (50 x 35 in.), in Germany, the DIN-format 119 x 84 cm (47 x 33 in.) and 84 x 59 cm (33 x 23 in.). Numerous poster exhibitions with international participation and awards helped enhance the quality and standards.

Prior to the ascendancy of motion pictures and television, it was politically the most important of all visual media. It was easily produced and immediate in impact, and it could be posted wherever there was a public to see it. Given such a role, posters of war and revolution may be quite forceful, varied, and revealing.

Streamline and Art Deco After World War I, an increasingly industrial society arrived at new definitions of the proper relationship between art and society. In stark contrast to the florid creations of the Art Nouveau, this machine age led to the development of the Art Deco movement. Art Deco placed a strong emphasis on striking geometric shapes and patterns and bold, streamlined typeface; representing a machine age aesthetic. It replaced flowing, floral motifs with streamlined, geometric designs that expressed the speed, power and scale of modern technology.

World War II and Beyond During the Second World War, the poster was once again a fundamental propaganda medium to rally support for the war. But in contrast to the First World War, the poster was now forced to take its place among other media, mainly radio and television. An important transformation was under way in which the poster had to redefine its own significance and purpose.

The enormous destruction and dislocations caused by the Second World War led to a disruption of the modernist enterprise. The modem art movement emerged as the preferred art of the free democratic world where it moved towards a lyrical abstraction, accentuating painterly qualities, anecdotal and humorous drawing. The emphasis was on light entertainment, now presented in the context of modernism.

In 1950 Switzerland emerged as the most influential centre of graphic design since it was unscathed by the war. This new graphic style with a strong reliance on typographic elements took over the world by the 70’s. The ever-growing dominance of radio and television and a complete dependence on photography in the field of print advertising, resulted in new and re-defined forms

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of poster art. The pop art and the counterculture movements of the mid 1960’s led to the development and rise of a new (if brief) visual style, the psychedelic poster.

The Virtual poster The last decades of the 20th century have been largely coined by an experimental use with electronic technology and data processing. Since the 1980s, graphic design has flourished through the use of computer design and the construction of digitized images and texts. The posters met computers along with other media, gaining a new outlook in terms of design while facing a growing commercial redundancy.

World War I

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World War I A new trend developed with the deteriorating political developments and the outbreak of the First World War: the political poster was born. Before 1914, political posters were censored in most countries. During the World War I, however, they became the most powerful propaganda tool. With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the poster became an art that could influence history.

Types of posters Propaganda and Political posters Posters have long been considered an obvious vehicle to spread ideas, arguments, or allegations and to promote causes. These posters that intend to sway public opinion and spread propaganda must communicate strongly and effectively. They must speak from a position of authority, and aim to unite us under a common cause.

World War II and Beyond

Product Commercial images often appeal to our desire for new products in new styles. The early commercial posters have given rise to the modern advertisements.

Movie Posters With neither sound nor movement, a movie poster must somehow communicate the spirit of a story. In a single frame, it must attract a viewer’s attention, impart key information about a complex film and distinguish itself from the riot of similar advertising flooding the marketplace. Social and cultural Posters advocacy and social-issue posters tend to utilize images and expressions that are well known and produce an emotional response in the targeted audience.

Psychedelic poster

Music Posters Just like a movie poster a Music poster has to communicate the identity of the band and the feel of the music and it is targeted at a certain audience.

Poster-a silent noise Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of posters is the way they reflect, magnify, and even alter culture. Posters mix art and commercial interests; they communicate phrases and can depict the various forms of advocacy that form our unique history. They need to embody not only the

The Virtual poster

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aspirations of the group that produced them but those of the entire people to whom they were addressed.

Posters are a part of the democratic process, as they encourage us to form groups around issues, such as saving the planet or preserving the right to vote. Posters communicate, invite action, and build consensus.

No matter how graphically striking posters are, it is their content, the reminders of past events, the glamour of film stars, the need to fight wars, that captures our attention. Since the 1950s, supplanted by television as a means of reaching out to large groups, posters have increasingly been targeted to specific facets of a population, according to ethnicity or age. While it is not possible to trace all the many changes in poster styles in the last one hundred years, it is evident that to attract attention, poster artists must constantly search for a fresh approach and an element of the unexpected.

Designers adapt quickly to changes in the social landscape to keep their posters a fresh and vital means of communication. Posters simultaneously address a specific audience and inform the majority. They reach out; they are multiple, seeming to appear everywhere for a time. While its artistic dynamism and commercial function have declined, the poster remains an important cultural medium that allows broad visual expression of ideas and beliefs, both political and individual.

Posters engage the world and function as social and artistic barometers in every-day cultural, economic and political issues. Whatever the message the poster reflects the explosion of ideas in the twentieth century, both intellectual and visual. In our age of continuous technological change and innovation, the poster has proven itself to be an adaptable and resilient medium.

Indian graphics - looking back With a 5000-year-old culture, Indian Art is rich in its tapestry of ancient heritage, medieval times, Mughal rule, British rule, Progressive art and now contemporary art. The earliest recorded art of India originated from a religious Hindu background, which was later replaced by a soaring popular Buddhist art.

Moreover, from a timeless era, art in India has been inspired by spiritualism and mystical relationship between man and God. Indian artists relied heavily on religious scriptures to draw inspiration. Since there was no restriction, they flourished under the patronage of rulers. Water colours, charcoal, vegetable dyes were popular methods of painting. Fabric painting was extensive and Indian designers still adapt ancient patterns to modern fabrics.

To trace the history of commercial art in Modern India from calendars to early advertisements to movie posters, one must describe a curious advertisement

for “Maharaja Cigarettes” manufactured by the city tobacco company of Bangalore. It uses Raja Ravi Varma’s portrait of the Maharaja of Mysore to sell the product. This suggests that Ravi Varma was in fact not just a portrait painter but an early practitioner of industrial art. If so, it is a novel idea and can be extended to the notion of M. F. Hussain’s early profession as a painter of cinema hoardings.

Modern Indian Art In the beginning of the 20th century, some educated Indians began painting new themes, which were directly inspired by the ancient culture of India. In the forefront was Rabindranath Tagore from West Bengal. While the country’s politics was stormy, no artist worth his salt drew inspiration from its turmoil.

A group of progressive artists decided to express their talents during the turbulent days. Landscapes, nature, portraits were some of the themes that artists chose during this time. Another artist with global fame was Raja Ravi Varma .To this day, paintings of Gods and Goddesses under his signature are fascinating art lovers all over the world.

The uniqueness of Indian Art still lies in its rich cultural heritage. Last Eid, in a Muslim locality in Delhi, one found a surprise at a poster shop – a colour photograph of the film star Salman Khan in typical Muslim attire, doing a courteous aadab. It would not be surprising if the artists who drew the roadside hoardings for Hindi movies were also the original painters of some of the religious posters. Indian cinema and television continue to strengthen the community stereotypes that prevail in popular culture. This twin purpose of providing the religious devotion with the sensuous pleasure seems to be a selling point of most successful popular and bazaar art.

As far as sizes go, the most popular poster size is roughly two feet by three feet. However some posters can be much larger like the kind of posters that are used on billboards around India. Smaller posters are also a popular form of advertising in India but these are known as flyers rather than as posters Why Posters Today “Posters have become one of the most ubiquitous kinds of cultural objects-prized partly because they are cheap, unpretentious, ‘popular art’.” - Susan Sontag At the present time, poster art is in a period of renaissance. Prior to communication through film and television, posters were the most visible and potent way to foster an ideological point of view.

Growing from a combination of commercial needs and artistic impulses, the poster has incorporated prevailing art movements since the late 19th century.

But society is often fickle and ruled by the media in this new technical age.

Technical developments in imagery, design and communication have led to

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In a world where human interactions are being replaced by voice mail, phone menus, and ATM or fax machines, it is hard to get a personal point of view across. Posters have come to be regarded as mysterious cultural objects, whose flatness and literalness only deepen their resonance, as well as inexhaustibly rich emblems of the society. The strategies of posters—snappy graphics, punchy titles, humour, irony, shock, artistry—are designed to stop us in our tracks, draw us in for a closer look, pause for a moment of reflection.

The Internet is a high-tech descendent of the humble printed poster. Both media let people express opinions and appeal to a broad public. Yes, posters still exist in the “actual” world while the Internet can instantaneously reach viewers around the entire globe. But the similarities are more striking than the differences. Posters and the Web both thrive on limited text and strong graphics.

Both are cheap to produce thus posters and the Internet are favourite ways to rally a response or advocate a cause.

Today, as web site designers seek vibrant graphic images and powerful, terse captions to appeal to mass audiences, the fundamental lessons of poster design seem more contemporary than ever.

And as telecommunications technologies promise a new democratization of publishing in years to come, this sampling of great posters offers one of the best records available of our aspirations, concerns, and struggles in the Century” now

concluding.

Teach India

Indian graphic language

Teach India is a nation-building initiative (a social initiative) from the Times of India that brings together children in need of education and people who can contribute a little time towards teaching.

Looking at the Indian Graphic scene with a global perspective we see a strong identity. In terms of forms colour texture, with the ongoing Indian kitsch graphic movement we see a convergence of tradition and modern graphic style. Embracing out tradition and giving it a new outlook. This can be better understood looking at the kind of graphic sensibility introduced by Manish Arora.

From hum do hamare do to jaago India...the Indian community is uniting and moving forward from cultural and regional differences to being addressed as a nation... as a community.

The newest players in the game are the literate Indian youth who are embracing the Indian identity and thus bringing it one step forward.

It seems that our cultures are evolving, shaping themselves to a wider and more varied audience, and becoming less elitist each time. As it comes around faster each time, is it meeting our attention span or, may it become finally, a constant? If there are discrete visual cultures, can an experience really be shared across those cultures? How The design community finds itself at the centre of India’s craving for a change. Designers need to embrace global mindsets. While generating global design one must maintain the cultural values of one’s country. Bridging the gap between two diverse worlds, relevant and contextual to product, audience, culture and community the graphic languages born out of contemporary urban India are reflective of its pluralist mix.

The tone of the poster is in the colours blue, black and white, which are the colors of Teach India and describe the cause appropriately. The hands of the guru represent the hands of knowledge reaching out to them.

‘We’ve just identified the perfect solution to illiteracy - You.’ The Teach India movement is targeted towards the educated urban Indian population. It is a social cause based along the lines of Jaago India or Lead India who have targeted a more global Indian audience. The movement itself urges Indians to come together for a common cause.

Design brief: Tapping the potential of Indian graphics in context to poster art, capitalizing on

Teach India There is a groundswell of creative energy in India today. The youth of India are yearning for freedom to apply their imagination with boundless passion and optimism. Media has played a big role in cultivating a sense of confidence amongst Indian youth that anyone with a creative spark can find

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a powerful money-cantered industry. These new developments mean fast global communication: news and fashions spread fast and fade just as quickly. It is said that the young have frighteningly short attention spans, forever looking for something new to replace last months over killed trend. As each youth group finds a message of vitality, love and fun the media moguls grab it greedily, compete for their money and attention and swamp the original ideals to death in the commercialism it intended to fight.

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posters as a versatile communication tool.

The poster I am designing aims to start a campaign with only a college crowd in mind. We are talking about a ‘Rang de Basanti’ or a ‘Rock on’ lover. It moves rather than motivates and adds an additional aspirational value to the cause. The poster lends an urban visual language to t-shirts, buttons and postcards which are all merchandise for the campaign which hit all Delhi colleges for a week, urging students to be a part of the movement by attracting them to an appealing image.

The campaign introduces a mascot, ‘Guru’, who is the avatar of everyone who joins the movement.

He is drawn out of the ancient concept of gurukuls where education was provided by learned teachers to small groups of students, for free. the population.

A platform for reaching out to the Indian audience and be acknowledged and rewarded appropriately.

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51 Study of indian graphics through photography

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space design

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space design What I am sharing with you below are bits and pieces that I have put together from my own experiences in the profession and from writings of people who have influenced me and whose writings I have borrowed from, amongst them JK Rowling, Bruce Mau, Werner Erhardt, (thank you!)… I am inviting you to take from this whatever works for you and junk the rest!

Tip No.1: ‘there is no formulae to create great spaces’. And there is no formula for success. I wish there was one though; and on that count, I wish I could call myself successful. Sometimes I feel tremendously so and other times a miserable failure… Tip no. 2: Keep Going. When the chips are down and it seems that nothing is going right or going to go right. Put your head down and keep going.

So next then, what does it take to design a great space for that matter a great anything? Foremost, comprehend the environment you are dealing with and then define the experience you want to create within. Start asking questions as you design. (Tip no. 3: Question yourself constantly.) Is it inventive?

Does it try to interpret what has already been done? Then if your mind is not tired of this already, you could ask, is it contextual? Does it in some manner address the times, the situation in which it is being created?

You could then wonder, does it have a bit of poetry in it? Have I invested it with a life of its own? Have I invested it with a part of his soul? Are there inquiries or discussions that the design allows beyond the immediate?

There are many more questions that constantly wander the recesses of my mind. I don’t have all the answers, Tip 4: Don’t look for answers. Find questions, the quest for answers for which make the journey more exciting and meaningful for you. Leave out the rest!

Tip no. 5: Explore. Use the necessity of production as an excuse to study. Everyone will benefit. At Lotus, we believe that a sustainable experience is seldom about a first ‘wow’ and hence don’t believe in a single ‘big idea’ approach. We explore ways to engage the customer, the way they move through the space and interact with it. We like the fact that designing a space offers the opportunity to build in layers, which unfold differently for different people. I’d like to share with you a couple of instances which might give you a clue as to what has given us the success it has. A client approached us to design a restaurant. He wanted us to create a contemporary ‘dhaaba’, where he would serve people Indian street food. Tip no.6: Don’t go for the obvious solution. Don’t give the Client what he asks for …dig deeper. Find 5 possible ways of doing it. Design is not a problem solving process. Celebrate the opportunity to express it. Perhaps it wasn’t our place to ask why he wanted to do a ‘dhaaba’, but we did. He said he was tired of western fast food chains, such as McDonald’s and what-have-you’s being almost the only option available in that segment. He wanted to celebrate Indian street food for all its richness and variety in flavours. We kept prodding him till it became clear that what this endeavour required was not just a ‘dhabaa’ but rather a space that gave expression to the Indian street itself. We went about studying all the elements of Indian streets that we could gather; creating compositions, playing with form, getting into every detail. Our vision for the space was to create an idiom of the street and that meant we had to understand the street culture as best we could. After all, this approach to it had never been taken before. Tip no. 7: Do your research; go deep; be a master of

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30 Tips on Designing Great Spaces !

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history. For in its mastery you would be able to go beyond after having learnt lessons from it. Without memory, innovation is merely novelty.

Our first presentation to the client made it very clear that this would either be a tremendous success or a horrendous failure. Tip no. 8: Take a risk! Look at fear in the eye... Act in the face of it! Then, as a young design firm, a failed project could have hurt us a great deal. But we stuck to our guns and staked it all on our design. This time it paid off. Soon, Khaaja Chowk came to life, bringing with it a lot of recognition and new work! Then there was Rivet, the first Levi’s icon store (a concept store used to build the brand image rather than just sell the product) in India. In ways this project was a direct contrast to Khaaja Chowk. Here we had a brand that knew exactly what it was about.

More importantly, we knew the character of the brand.

After visiting a few of the Levi’s icon stores internationally, we understood how they represented the brand philosophy. Being largely subversive grunge cultural spaces, these stores encouraged a Levi’s cultured lifestyle. In India, of course we had to consider what would work for India. With our site at a 5 star hotel - Leela Palace, Bangalore; our context was already different. We decided our icon store would be an interactive Levi’s museum; a space that celebrates the history of the brand and becomes a expression for what it stands for.

Tip no. 9: Work the metaphor. Every object has the capacity to stand for something other than what is apparent. Work on what it stands for. When you take a step back from fashion and the styles, we interpreted Levi’s as a brand that celebrates industrial craft. That became the story of our space; an environment that is industrially crafted. Using only basic materials like ply, cement and mild steel together with the materials used in jeanswear (copper and raw denim fabric) we began to piece the experience together… We wanted to make the space one which people would come and interact with.

To enhance this experience we collaborated with Co-Design, a design firm that specialised in interaction design and added a different dimension to the store… Tip no.10: Collaborate. Share, Be open to ideas; Every person we allow to add to our creative vision adds a dimension and flavour that would otherwise not exist.

A lot of us have the notion that we need to be different. Tip no. 11. Ask not how different you need to be but how much more are you, likely to touch other people’s lives. If you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but of all the people whose reality you have helped transform for the better.

As for the rest of the tips, here they are: Tip no. 11 to 29… Once you have figured out where you want to head; slog your butt off in getting there. Give it everything you’ve got. Remember that

Genius is 99% perspiration!

Tip No. 30... As you go along edit this list… make it your own list.. Play! Have fun! Celebrate!

Let me leave you with the words of Martha Graham: There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique.

And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable it is nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.

You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you.

Keep the channel open. No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatsoever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive in every moment.

Ambrish Arora Lotus

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space design As humans living in the modern world we are constantly transitioning from one environment to the other. These rapidly changing spaces might have numbed us to the difference but it is the part of us that is still innately human that makes us register a space as special and unique. Why is your bedroom always warm and inviting to you and to no one else?

Why do you enjoy cooking in that kitchen so much when you dislike cooking in general? What is so special about that restaurant that you keep going back? The experience a space gives us can have more of an impact on our decisions that we realise.

If only we could identify these moments in a space that make it special and give us that experience perhaps we could reproduce it. This is what experience design is all about. This paper explores this new field of design and breaks down every aspect of it right from its origin, its implications, its many applications to its failures and successes.

Asha Sairam ashasairam@gmail.com

The focus of this article is to study the evolution of experience design in the brand world and its application in India. The process for experience design is vastly different and requires research at a variety of levels – at the end of the day we need to determine if it is worth all that effort.

What is experience?

An experience is a subjective event, felt only by the person who has the experience. It is a deeply personal and intimate response to any given situation but at the same time it can be shared with others.

Each experience is unique and the same situation presented to two people can deliver two very different experiences.

While attempting to understand our experiences, we often tend to confuse what we see or hear with what we experience. For example, when you purchase a new car what you see is simply a shiny outer body, tyres, an engine, seats and dashboard. However, the experience of the new car may include a sense of independence, elation, individuality, control, responsibility etc. The experiences reflect our response to the product’s perceived semantics and may differ from person to person. (Chapman, 2007) What is experience design?

To assume that experiences between people and products or people and spaces didn’t exist prior to the recognition of experience design would be a fantastic misconception. Indeed, ‘the design of experiences isn’t any newer than the recognition of experiences.’ (Shedroff, 2004) While dealing with such powerful elements such as human emotion and empathy, one might wonder if experience design is even possible. Experience designer Nathan Shedroff claims that it is possible.

“While everything, technically, is an experience of some sort, there is something important and special to many experiences that make them worth discussing. In particular, the elements that contribute to superior experiences are knowable and reproducible, which make them designable.”

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Experience Design

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Experience design as a field is still relatively new and thus, its definition is still in a state of flux. It has been recognised as a promising field that can be provide solutions in many areas including retail space design, brand strategy, product development, advertising and sustainable design. It calls for a cross disciplinary approach to design and its outcome is the ultimate hybrid of design, the result of multi dimensional reflection by diverse creative minds united in their cause.

It is a common misconception that this field is primarily related to digital media and human-computer interaction. ‘Experience design is an emerging paradigm, a call for inclusion: it calls for an integrated practice of design that can benefit all designers.’(Jacobsen, 2002) The Need for Experience Design The 20th century has witnessed many transitions in society at large. ‘In the 1950’s modernism ended with a contemporary style, when the way was paved for pop design and, eventually, post-modernism, some 20 years later.’

(Verbeek, Kockelkoren, 1997) It all began innocently enough. More products, more options, more choices materialism developed but never hindered human relationships. Culture and consumerism grew together; they changed and evolved to suit the changing society.

Post-modernism brought with it a clutter of mixed, mass-culture, ornamented imagery targeting a pluralist society, screaming for attention. (Powell, 1998) Suddenly suffocated by the overwhelming choices everywhere and suffering from a total loss of identity, people began aspiring to individualism.

This individualism eventually led us all to the dark side of materialistic culture.

In the past two decades, interpersonal human relationships have taken a backseat to just about everything that comes faster and easier. This paved the way for a strange kind of alternate reality, where people began having relationships with their cell phones and computers. ‘Somewhere during the last 100 years we learned to find refuge outside the species, in the silent embrace of manufactured objects.’ (Chapman, 2007) Suddenly wearing the latest fashions and driving the fastest cars made a person feel good about themselves. From then on the function of the object was no longer the key issue, but rather its meaning.

It’s all about the Brand Experience Brand experience is the new buzz word in marketing circles. Having sound brand values are no longer enough. While they are how the company portrays itself and wants to be perceived, the brand experience is how the customers actually perceive the brand based on their experiences. (Ardill, 2006) Experience design concentrates on the moments of engagements between people and brands, and the memories these moments create. The overall brand experience includes a variety of elements – products features, promotion, advertising, display, packaging, corporate communication, public relations, events, web, customer service and retail.

Of all these elements, there is one in particular that is in the process of undergoing an exciting transition right now. Today’s marketplace is very demanding; with empowered and informed customers and diluted advertising, tactics are no longer working. Retail is where the brand can come alive. It gives the customer a chance to be physically inside your brand world and be completely immersed in it.

Shopping is no longer about stores - It’s about stories.

We could go on and on about brands and strategies and sales etc. but we haven’t really understood a brand till we see the store. This is where the magic happens. An unsuspecting passer-by sees a window display or hears about the brand, he walks in, tries it, feels it and buys it – suddenly we have a customer.

In all western countries, the Internet has people getting very comfortable with the idea of having their purchases sent to them rather than bought at a store, thus eliminating the need to display every unit of every item available in a store. This just leaves a lot of retail space with very little merchandise. What else can we do with all that space? We can give our audience an experience.

When telling a story in the brand world you have to know your story and your audience. Be authentic and engage your customer. Each brand will have to find out what it is their customers need. This is where Starbuck’s and Apple have succeeded. They provided their customers with a social space rather than a retail space – where one can talk and bond and make memories.

Experience the Design Process

Today, the brand has come to mean more than its products ever did. With the modern material culture bombarding its customers with 400 options in each product category and advertising having visually assaulted world wide audiences with loud slogans and shallow imagery, it has finally dawned on brands everywhere that to distinguish itself in today’s market scenario; there is only one way to go – Experience Design.

Industrial designer Sonali Gharad believes that experience design is about designing a process that makes a difference and not just the end product.

To design for an experience, we need to look at the whole forest, not just the trees. For example, to enhance the ritual of waking up in the morning, we need to look at the practice as a whole and come up with something completely

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Servicescapes – Retail and Service Environments

One must understand that experience design doesn’t give the designer the divine power to design experiences. He can only design for experiences based on customer psychology, known material associations, product semantic etc.

The design process for experience design is rather different. It begins with PDR (Pre Design Research) which includes reviewing current literature, observing similar populations in similar environments, surveying individuals and developing focus groups. (Kopec, 2006)

Retail and service environments are public spaces shared by a community or a category of people. It is subject to the perceptions of all those people based on their personality, age, gender, status and past experiences. Just like the nightclub example, a person’s experience with a servicescape begins long before they step inside the space. It all begins with the desire or need for a specific product or service. The experience is further affected by the amount of time or effort it takes to achieve it, the expenses one incurs and even the feelings evoked during the process.

This concept was explained to me by Mr. Avinash, Design Director, Quicksand Designs. At the time he was working on a nightclub project. He explained that the experience of a person with a space does not just start and end with the space but rather begins long before it and ends long after he has left that space.

There are 3 main factors in any servicescape that affect the consumer experience along with the product or service: Ambience Layout Signage

“When designing a space on the principles of experience design you cannot think of the space or the person inside it in isolation at any point” – Avinash, Design Director, Quicksand Designs

People in spaces – Shoppers and Consumers

When designing the nightclub, the team at Quicksand first went about studying their target audience. They identified certain categories of people who would often visit night clubs. These people became their examples or ‘personas’ as they called them.

Then they considered other elements such as the kind of music, the colours, the textures, the smell and lighting used in the space. Each of these factors would strike a different chord with different people based on their personal responses to their surroundings.

The concept of a brand today has transcended need and has entered the realm of desire. Shopping has become a social or recreational activity. At the end of a stressful week, retail therapy with close friends has become the modern remedy to reset your system.

According to Bitner (1992) there are several visual cues in any servicescape that can affect the customer’s behaviour in that space. These include the layout, design, lighting, colour, music, plants, artefacts etc. (Bhardwaj, Palaparthy, Agarwal, 2008) Lately designers are beginning to include novel cues in a space as well, such as smell and non-musical sounds. (Lin, 2004) Cultural context of experiences

Environmental Psychology We as humans are inextricable woven into the fabric of our environments, and we affect those environments just as they affect us. The study of this symbiotic relationship between people and their surroundings is known as environmental psychology. Understanding the relationship between stimulation and human responses is an important component of good design.

Human behaviour is largely affected by social and biological factors. Social factors include our cultural views, religious beliefs, social and personal experiences etc. Biological factors are derived from our mind and bodies based on the natural responses we have while shifting from one environment to another in the physical world. When you break down and study the social and biological factors, along with environmental causal agents, you are interpreting environmental psychology. (Kopec, 2006)

Culture is perhaps the most important factor to consider when designing to foster a rich emotional connection between people and spaces and it also often the factor most ignored by designers.

It is clear that a designer can inspire an emotional response to a given object or space from his audience, but the unique interpretation of that emotional response is well beyond his control. The semiotic interpretations of a space will differ from person to person based on cultural diversity. (Chapman, 2007) Depending on his values, his community, even his nationality a person’s emotional response to any space would drastically differ.

India – the cultural confusion It is clear now that if we are designing a space in India, for Indians, we must consider the Indian cultural context. India too has been changing. What was

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new rather than just make a new kind of alarm clock.

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true for our nation 10 years ago isn’t true anymore.

“Today what we are looking at in India is a social reconfiguration of sorts.” - Archana Shastri, Principal, Government College of Arts, Chandigarh, India.

We are an interesting country, so it helps if as designers we keep our minds open and realize that designing for India is a whole different ball game. It requires all your attention and novelty.

Experience Design in India

We began with a rural and almost feudal level of existence and slowly evolved into urban spaces and industrialisation. Today modern India is experiencing networking to the extent that everything is connected without really moving at all. No longer will the Indian consumer go all the way to the US for a pair of jeans. Those jeans would have to come to him.

With the spread of globalisation, an assortment of brands entered the Indian market. It soon became evident that retail space designers would have to do something spectacular to get people to enter their stores. They did what they knew had worked in the west and tried their best to apply it blindly to the east.

Inevitably it failed.

Till this point everyone had the picture right. Brands arrived in India. A Big Mac tasted the same in Chennai as it did in Chicago. But Chennai is not Chicago and nobody had thought about the India palate. Here is where it all went horribly wrong. Western retailers brought their products to India not realizing who they were catering to. After failing to sell individually to the confused Indian consumers, they erected massive malls in hopes of luring them to a larger brand temple. This strategy seemed to work. People began pouring into malls but purchases still weren’t really being made. Indian shoppers looking around a store for a salesperson to chat about the product with was a common sight.

Generally experience design in India grossly neglects the cultural context necessary for a positive design experience. Retail stores are designed as they are globally, with a linear layout and a spartan ambience. Stores are fitted with interactive screens and touch screens to eliminate interaction with the sales person. What designers don’t realize is that in India, we don’t like to do-it ourselves; we like to talk to the sales person.

For decades Indians have been accused of aping the west. But a few years of globalisation isn’t going to undo years of cultural habits sown into our subconscious mind. We may borrow certain western concepts quite liberally but we put our own unique Indian spin on it all. For e.g., a new mall opened up in Noida, The Great India Place. Like every other mall it was filled with the trendiest brands and flashy signage. After it opened the mall owners realized that out-of-towners came and saw the size of the massive open hallways and were intimidated, thinking that the brands in there were beyond their means.

So to draw them back in, they started setting up little stalls in the hallways itself, bringing back the Indian marketplace/street vendor concept into the mall.

In Japan and in the US, touch screen technology has been around for years, so perhaps it works well there. But touch screens don’t appeal to Indian audiences because it’s a technology we are unfamiliar with. Perhaps now with the growing popularity of HTC phones with touch sensitive screens, Indians will become familiar with the technology and we can hope to apply it positively in spaces in the future.

While many things have been done incorrectly, India has still seen some success in experience design. For e.g. Dilli Haat.

Dilli Haat is a fantastic example of successful Indian experience design. This food and craft bazaar is a rich source of Indian culture, crafts and cuisine.

Designed by architect, Pradeep Sachdeva, it provides visitors with a relaxed street market like experience, whether they be shopping or simply wandering around.

Today finally Indians and the rest of the world are waking up to the fact that India is unique. It isn’t just a large consumer base; it’s a whole new culture and has to be understood that way. It demands custom made designs for its needs. Do-it-yourself isn’t really India’s style. We like to be pampered while shopping. Indians want the trendiest brands but aren’t willing to pay an arm and leg for them, they’d much rather wait for an annual sale. (Prayag, 2007)

Layout – The layout of Dilli Haat is very distinctive. It is spread out forming clusters of stalls and stores, like mini street markets. The space is also divided into different levels creating a lot of dynamism and shifting experiences for the visitors. In fact, the layout has been planned out so well that one can take a walk and cover all the stalls in one round without deviating or repeating sites.

As shoppers we enjoy discovering and conversing. Some studies have even found that Indian shoppers like clusters in spaces and like discovering things.

While western stores have to be instructional, Indian stores should have a story woven though it. The space should be warm and inclusive. Cold sterile displays tend to turn shoppers away. (Manchanda, 2007)

Ambience – The ambience of Dilli Haat is similar to that of a village market.

With prominent north Indian architectural features, the space has a very rural and rustic feel. The success of Dilli Haat is in the fact that it is not only a space to shop but also a cultural space and a social space.

With street plays and regional dance troupes often performing, it’s an

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Signages – Signages is where Dilli Haat fails. There is no common visual language in the signages. It is a common sight to see stalls with printed A4 paper as signage. While all the states have their own allotted food stalls their signages are vastly different ranging from the tremendous to the horrendous. They should each be distinct from the other, so that they reflect the individuality of the state but they should also relate to each other as they are all present in the same space and targeting a common audience.

Conclusion People often ask me if I feel experience design actually works. All this talk about spaces and emotions and empathy – is it just jargon or is there any truth to it all?

Plan depicting the new layout of the i.m. store

Experience design isn’t magic. It can’t help sell your product if you don’t have a good product to begin with. It can’t make people love your brand if there is nothing honest about your brand. What it can do is help you connect with the customer, and if you have maintained your product and brand.

Experience design can’t push a customer, to purchase. No force but sheer will can achieve that. However, what it can do is create a bond with the customer, one that transcends gimmicks and advertising, slogans and freebies, so that perhaps one day when he looks to buy a product in your product category, he remember how your brand made him feel, he remembers all that was good and warm about it and he chooses your brand without you having to scream slogans from the rooftops.

The Indian Mantra Experience After considerable research when the time came to decide on my final design product, I chose to address the need for an experiential re-design at the Indian Mantra store, in Connaught Place. Indian Mantra, or I.M., is the brand created

by NIFT to carry the products developed by the Craft Cluster Initiatives. It aims to revive traditional crafts and apply them to contemporary products so that they carry an appeal for the urban audience.

Plan and elevation of pillars plus signage stand with display units that help include the museum artifacts in the store area

The institute works with 5 clusters, namely Hampi, Dhar, Birbhum, Kozikode and Surendranagar. Each cluster has been represented by a different element of nature and the store attempts to divide the space into 5 mini stores, each for one cluster. However, the current store layout is entirely devoid of any personality and all the clusters tend to look alike. The space feels cold and disconnected with the products at large and while attempting to combine a store with a museum, the layout underutilises the site and hinders customer experience.

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entertainment extravaganza for visitors.

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The redesign concept tries to combine the museum and the store element with innovative display solutions. The space layout is such that, at no point do you ever see the entire expanse of the store. You have to weave through the space and discover it slowly. The primary materials in the space are brick, stone and wood. Using Indian elements like traditional Indian wooden doors,

‘jaali’ inspired screening devices and contemporary arches; the store brings a sense of rustic, rural India to the customer in an urban space. Simultaneously, the design addresses the needs of the employees and enhances their daily experience as well.

Rendered view of a contemporary screening device, which carries forward the branding of the store and doubles as a textile display unit

Central display unit around which the area for each cluster is maintained

Display structure that doubles as a partition in the space

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space design Storytelling is an ancient and well established institution. Man has always liked narrating tales of wisdom, joy, sorrow and horror. We grow up hearing fairy tales of fantasy, listening to the tales of gallant heroes and vile villains and learn about our past from the annals of history. Stories surround us in our everyday lives; books, movies, plays, music and paintings being a few of an endless list.

What we seldom realize is that the most ancient form of storytelling has been in the form of narrative environments. The inventory perhaps begins with the cave paintings of Bim Betka in Madhya Pradesh and includes wonders like the Pyramids of ancient Egypt, the sculptures of Ajanta and Ellora, the carvings on Mayan temples and even the prestigious Sistine Chapel. This begins the story of narrative environments.

Broti Bhattacharya broti.bhattacharya@gmail.com

This paper deals with the modern day application of narrative environments in the form of exhibition spaces and museums. Based on extensive research, it summaries the role of narrative environments in today’s social scenario with conclusions derived from several case studies from around the world. The paper also forms the basis for a narrative environment developed with the idea of culture as a narrative that addresses the critical issue of sustainable development in design.

Narrative Environments A narrative environment is a space, whether physical or virtual, in which stories can unfold. A physical narrative environment might be an exhibition area within a museum, the foyer of a retail space, or the public spaces around a building - in short anywhere stories can be told in space. Walk into a museum, supermarket, corporate headquarters or any large public space and a story is being told. What, how and why are some of the questions that shall be dealt with in this paper. Exhibitions, museums, retail spaces or any other space for that matter have become more than just areas with the physical dimensions of height, width and depth. They have become spaces where stories can unfold and a person can experience them.

More emphasis is being laid upon creating an ambience for the audience. Exhibitions have become a medium of story telling. Museums have become spaces that do not require human guides. Retail environments have become tools to a create brand experience. Design institutes like Central Saint Martins, London are providing professional courses in Narrative Environment Design. Narrative environments are even being used as unconventional mediums for commercial ventures like brand promotion.

This change is imminent in India. With the 2010 commonwealth games approaching, museums in Delhi are being upgraded to international standards. The Red Fort Museum has already undergone this transformation. The Gandhi Museum is another example of a museum of international standards.

International exhibitions like the Auto Expo being held all over the nations are gaining mass appeal.

Independent design firms like Design Habit are working on major projects like the Khalsa Museum.

Narrative Environments as a Medium of Communication Narrative environments are very effective mediums of communication as they engage all the senses of the audience. Unlike any other form of communication, they engage the audience’s visual, audio, tactile sense and even his sense of smell. This increases the recall value of the environment making them more memorable. Hence narrative environments are extremely effective as educational and entertainment environments.

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Components of a Narrative Environment A typical narrative environment includes: Story Audience Tangible components that make the environment; like spatial dimensions, lighting, and installations

ENVIRONMENT Sender

STORY Medium: Various narrative structures, like text audio, motion pictures, graphics etc.

AUDIENCE Reciever

exhibition’s topic, while others may consider themselves experts in the subject.

Some like having the freedom to pick and choose topics to explore, while others like having a clear path to follow. Some visitors are visually oriented, while others like reading. Some are looking for the answer to a specific question. Others are just looking for an enjoyable experience. In other words, exhibitions attract visitors from all different backgrounds, each with different interests and capabilities.

With so many different audiences, exhibition organisers often struggle with the shape and approach of their project. Should it be an immersive learning experience in a physical exhibit, where visitors explore themes and objects carefully selected and structured by the curators? If so, should it be organised by theme? By object? By time period? Or, at the other extreme, should the online exhibition let the visitors play the part of curator, empowering them to search for objects and draw their own conclusions?

The short answer is ‘all of the above’. The same exhibition can actually support many different roles, and provide appropriate experiences for many different visitor types. The key is effective coordination.

Integrated Experience Model

Story Storytelling, civilisation’s oldest art form for sharing ideas, continues to grow in richness and complexity as we find effective, modern techniques for reaching audiences.

Museums developing content can leverage the power of storytelling to create educational experiences that are both more cohesive and more engaging to the user. Just as the cinema and the television developed their own unique approaches to storytelling, the exhibitions offer new techniques for extending this most ancient of art forms.

While designing narrative environments, two things must be kept in mind. First is the fact that interactive stories aren’t really composed of pages or screens, but spaces; they are environments we design and build to be explored and experienced. The other fact is that interactive storytelling isn’t new. In fact, it falls within a much older, but often overlooked, tradition of real-world narrative environments, theme parks, world fairs, and even medieval cathedrals.

Audience Exhibition visitors come from a very broad spectrum of society, and they come for a variety of reasons. Some visitors come knowing very little about the

The model has three important components: layered content, multiple points of entry, and connecting storylines. Layered content divides the exhibition content into distinct tiers, based on the role they perform. Multiple points of entry give access to these distinct layers of content. And third, connecting storylines allows visitors to follow themes or topics between the tiers.

Experience The experience level provides an emotionally engaging (and entertaining) experience that brings to life the story of the exhibition for novice and general audiences. This level is the most mediated and narrative-driven portion of the exhibition and it typically takes the form of a story, with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Here the role of the exhibition is to spark the visitor’s interest in the subject, and to provide a compelling orientation that will encourage deeper exploration.

Exhibit The exhibit level provides a stage for the majority of the interpretive and educational content. Its role is to give curatorial context to the primary sources for a general audience. Here, visitors can choose among topics and themes selected by the exhibition organisers. The arrangement and presentation of content in these exhibits can range from simple text and graphic panels to complex hands-on activities. While the content and design should be consistent enough to maintain the identity of the exhibition, it should also be

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own needs. Given the present level of human numbers, this may be difficult to achieve.

Archive The archive level, the foundation of the model, is made up of the sources of the exhibition: the historic artefacts, the scientific specimens, the objects of art, as well as secondary sources such as books and articles. These are the raw materials on which the intellectual framework of the exhibition is built. The archive’s primary target audience is experts, those visitors who are generally familiar with the topic and comfortable exploring on their own.

Design Process The following few pages shall demonstrate the design process that goes into formulating a narrative environment with the example of an environment conceptualised by me.

Sustainability is many things to many people. It can simultaneously be an idea, a property of living systems, a manufacturing method, or a way of life. For some people it is little more than a hollow buzz word. Although the definition of sustainable development given by the Brundtland Commission (used above), is the most frequently quoted, it is not universally accepted and has undergone various interpretations. Designers address the issue of sustainability by formulating design solutions that are sustainable with zero wastage.

Hinduism being a pagan religion had a lot of scope for this subject. Like every other pagan religion, Hinduism started out with the forces of nature being treated as deities. In its very essence, the religion talks about preserving nature. With this idea in mind, I started off looking for a suitable story in Hindu mythology. The story finally chosen was that of the Samudra Manthan literally meaning the churning of the ocean.

Brief Story The brief is the initial guide line that forms the basis for the design process.

The brief in this case was to design a narrative environment for a design institute that demonstrates the importance of sustainable development using a narrative structure derived from Indian culture. The brief gives an idea as to what kind of an audience the space will cater to as well as the space along with the basic narrative of the space.

Once Indra, the King of Gods, while riding on an elephant came across a sage named Durvasa who offered him a special garland. Indra accepted the garland but put in on the trunk of the elephant. The elephant was irritated by the smell and it threw the garland on the floor. This enraged the sage as the garland was a dwelling of Sri (fortune) and was to be treated as prasada. Durvasa Muni cursed Indra and all Devas to be bereft of all strength, energy, and fortune.

Audience The audiences in this case are design students who shall be the future of the Indian design industry.

The Space

In battles that followed this incident, Devas were defeated and Asuras (demons) led by king Bali, gained control of the universe. Devas formed an alliance with Asuras to jointly churn the ocean for the nectar of immortality and to share it among them. However, Lord Vishu told the Devas that he would arrange that they alone obtain the nectar.

The first step involved in the process after understanding the brief is to select the story for the environment. The brief was to address the issue of sustainability using culture as a narrative.

The churning of the Ocean of Milk was an elaborate process. Mount Mandaranchal was used as churning rod and Vasuki, the King of Serpents, became the churning rope. The gods held the head of the snake while the demons (Asuras) held the tail of the snake and they pulled on it alternately causing the mountain to rotate which in turn churned the ocean. However, once the mountain was placed on the ocean, it began to sink. Vishnu in his second incarnation, in the form of a turtle Kurma, came to their rescue and supported the mountain on his shell back.

Sustainability, in a general sense, is the capacity to maintain a certain process or state indefinitely. In recent years the concept has been applied more specifically to living organisms and systems. As applied to the human community, sustainability has been expressed as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their

During the Samudra Mathan by the gods and demons, Halahala, a pot of poison also came out of the ocean. This terrified the Gods and Demons as the poison was so toxic that its effects would have wiped out the entire creation.

On the advice of Vishnu, Gods approached Shiva for help and protection. Out of compassion for living beings, Shiva drank the poison.

The space concerned here is the lawn near the entrance of the National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi campus.

Selecting the Story

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varied enough to maintain visitor interest.

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Finally from the ocean emerged the Kalpvriksh literally translating to the tree of time. This tree is believed to have mystical powers to grant any wish and last for ever. The shoot of the tree denotes omnipotence and the roots denote its spiritual prowess.

Organising the story After the right story is found, it is necessary to find the best way to structure its content. Designers not only have control over the three physical dimensions of height, width, and depth (a dimension sometimes forgotten), but they also control the timing and pace of the story. Structuring this story space is crucial for bringing an interactive story to life. Different sections require different narrative structures. Sometimes we also provided different angles from which to see the same story.

The visual elements of the interface must all serve to enhance and better tell the story, just as costumes, props, and sets help to tell the story in a play or a film. Although the visual aspects of a site aren’t enough to make the content come to life by themselves, they do play a fundamental role in making the story’s illusion more believable. Very often the best visual components for a site are drawn directly from the story’s content and from the narrative devices being used to structure the story. The story in this case was organized as follows.

1. Adapting the Symbolism The story as mentioned in the Vishu Purana represents the spiritual endeavour of a person to achieve self-realisation through concentration of mind, withdrawal of senses, control of desires and practice of austerities and asceticism. The symbolism story however had to be adapted to be relatable to the concept of sustainability. Adapting the story to modern sensibilities, the story represents the spiritual endeavour of man to achieve sustainability through concentration of mind, withdrawal of senses, control of desires and practice of austerities and asceticism.

The Devas and Asuras represent the positives and negatives respectively of man. The Ocean of Milk is the mind or the human consciousness. The mind is like an ocean while the thoughts and emotions are the waves in the ocean.

Mandhara, the mountain symbolises concentration. Mount Mandhara was upheld by Lord Vishnu as a Kurma (tortoise). The tortoise here symbolises the balance to be maintained between the positives and negatives.

Vasuki symbolises desire to succeed. Vasuki used in the churning of the ocean denotes that the Devas and the demons held desire (to seek immortality) as a rope and churned the mind with the help of concentration and withdrawal of the senses. The Halahala poison symbolises the negative aspects of the quest for sustainability.

Lord Shiva symbolises the ascetic principle. His role in this story as the consumer of poison suggests that one can deal with the early problems of spiritual life by cultivating the qualities of Lord Shiva, namely, courage, initiative, willingness, discipline, simplicity, austerity, detachment, compassion, pure love and asceticism. The Kalpvriksh symbolises the assets one gains from the quest for sustainability. The Amrit symbolises the ultimate achievement of sustainability.

2. Structuring the Content The narrative had three aspects to it. The first was that the story of Sagar Manthan was to be told to the viewer. Secondly, the story had to be related to sustainability. Finally, the concept of sustainability had to be explained in depth to the viewer, relating it to its applicability in design and lifestyle. Such structuring ensured that all the levels of the integrated experience model were covered.

Conceptualising the Space The penultimate step in the process involves the formulation of the narrative structure into tangible components. Keeping every aspect suchas, available space, materials, story, narrative structure in mind, the environment is conceptualised.

The environment conceived here was in the park near the front gate of the institute. The idea was to have a bamboo Kalpvriksh installation. Bamboo was chosen because every part of the bamboo tree can be utilised, an ideology that goes in synchronisation with the idea behind the Kalpvriksh.

Near the installation, and underground stairway would lead to the roots of the Kalpvriksh. The roots symbolise man’s spiritual prowess and here the story of Samudra Manthan would unfold in a circular area with the story of Sagar Manthan on the walls in the form of graphics.

Right underneath the roots, interactive panels would talk about the symbolism of sustainability in the story of Samudra Manthan. These interactives shall talk of sustainability in day to day scenarios like home, office, power and transportation.

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67 Illustrations depicting the story of Sagar Manthan

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space design 3D Graphics and Animation Every visual merchandising enterprise needs a website which can depict the true image of the product.

This is the idea based on which I created a website for visual merchandising. My target consumers are visual merchandisers who will need the website for different purposes like theirs props, fixtures, lights, windows, store layouts, mannequins etc. Sub-categories of each would also be available. For example, props would have lifestyle props, antique props, store props etc.

The website would be a paid one but a free demo would be available for the users for a trial period of 15 days. The website would have two entrances; one would be for amateurs and the other for professionals.

Amateurs would only be able to access parts of the website which are made available to them and professionals would have complete access.

The USP of the website is that it would have 3D objects instead of 2D images. These would be made on 3D softwares like 3DS Max, Poser, Google Sketchup.

Sushil Kumar sushil_nift@yahoo.co.in

3D Graphics and animation 3D computer graphics (in contrast to 2D computer graphics) are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images. Such images may be for later display or for real-time viewing. Despite these differences, 3D computer graphics rely on many of the same algorithms as 2D computer vector graphics in the wire-frame model and 2D computer raster graphics in the final rendered display. In computer graphic softwares, the distinction between 2D and 3D is occasionally blurred; 2D applications may use 3D techniques to achieve effects such as lighting, and primarily 3D may use 2D rendering techniques.

3D computer graphics are often referred to as 3D models. Apart from the rendered graphic, the model is contained within the graphical data file. However, there are differences. A 3D model is the mathematical representation of any three-dimensional object (either inanimate or living). A model is not technically a graphic until it is visually displayed. Due to 3D printing, 3D models are not confined to virtual space. A model can be displayed visually as a two-dimensional image through a process called 3D rendering, or used in non-graphical computer simulations and calculations.

Modelling The model describes the process of forming the shape of an object. The two most common sources of 3D models are those originated on the computer by an artist or engineer using some kind of 3D modelling tool, and those scanned into a computer from real-world objects. Models can also be produced procedurally or via physical simulation.

Layout and animation Before objects are rendered, they must be placed (laid out) within a scene. This is what defines the spatial relationships between objects in a scene including location and size. Animation refers to the temporal description of an object, i.e., how it moves and deforms over time. Popular methods include key framing, inverse kinematics, and motion capture, though many of these techniques are used in conjunction with each other. As with modelling, physical simulation is another way of specifying motion.

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Rendering converts a model into an image either by simulating light transport to get photorealistic images, or by applying some kind of style as in nonphotorealistic rendering. The two basic operations in realistic rendering are transport (how much light gets from one place to another) and scattering (how surfaces interact with light). This step is usually performed using 3D computer graphics software or a 3D graphics API. The process of altering the scene into a suitable form for rendering also involves 3D projection which allows a threedimensional image to be viewed in two dimensions.

Visual merchandising Visual merchandising, until recently called simply merchandising, is the activity of promoting the sale of goods, especially by their presentation in retail outlets.

This includes combining product, environment, and space into a stimulating and engaging display to encourage the sale of a product or service.

Many elements can be used by Visual merchandisers in creating displays, including colour, lighting, space, product information, sensory inputs such as smell, touch, and sound as well as technologies such as digital displays and interactive installations.

Visual merchandising is not a science; there are no absolute rules. It is more like an art in the sense that there are implicit rules but that these also exist to be broken for striking effects. The main principle of visual merchandising is that it is intended to increase sales, which is not the case with real art.

Visual merchandising is one of the final stages in trying to set out a store in a way that customers will find attractive and appealing and it should follow and reflect the principles that underpin the store’s image. Visual merchandising is the way one displays ‘goods for sale’ in the most attractive manner with the end purpose of making a sale. “If it does not sell, it is not visual merchandising.”

Especially in today’s challenging economy, people may avoid designers/ visual merchandisers because they fear unmanageable costs. But in reality, visual merchandisers can help the economy by avoiding costly mistakes. With the guidance of a professional, a retailer can eliminate errors, saving time and money. It is important to understand that the visual merchandiser is there, not to impose ideas, but to help clients articulate their own personal style.

Visual merchandising is the art of implementing effective design ideas to increase store traffic and sales volume. VM is the art and science of displaying merchandise to enable maximum sale. VM is a tool to achieve sales and targets, a tool to enhance merchandise on the floor, and a mechanism to communicate to a customer and influence his decision to buy. VM uses season

based displays to introduce new arrivals to customers, and thus increase conversions through a planned and systematic approach by displaying stocks available.

Purpose Retail professionals display to make the shopping experience more comfortable, convenient and customer friendly by: Making it easier for the shopper to locate the desired category and merchandise.

Making it easier for the shopper to self-select.

Making it possible for the shopper to co-ordinate & accessorize.

Providing information on sizes, colours & prices.

Informing about the latest fashion trends by highlighting them at strategic locations.

Merchandise presentation refers to most basic ways of presenting merchandise in an orderly, understandable, ’easy to shop’ and ‘find the product’ format.

Conclusion After my project I came to a conclusion that this web site is going to help a lot of upcoming visual merchandisers. They could actually log on to the web site and come to know about the different aspects of visual merchandising and answer questions like: What are the different types of props available? What are the new props in the market? There are also several new props which are made available online as new development occur which can be made available on the web site. Also, the specialty of this site is that it has objects in 3D form so that everyone can see the products from a 360 degree angle.

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space design Trends in Visual Merchandising (Retail) Visual Merchandising has been around since the dawn of civilization; since humans started selling merchandise to a customer. A vendor arranged his goods to make them more appealing to a customer; a farmer put the biggest and ripest apples on top of the basket for consumers to see and touch; these acts can be thought of as the advent of visual merchandising.

My motive was to study the changing and evolving trends in visual merchandising in the world and India. I started my research with the history of how visual merchandising gradually changed and studied as to where it is heading. There was a particular method to this research; it was divided into two types, secondary and primary researches. In the former, I gathered information from all the media possible and in primary research I gathered information specifically targeting my topic and area of concern.

The main result was that I came out with an understanding and a viable outcome as to how visual merchandising is changing through the world and in India plus its impact on today consumers.

Vivek Kashyap scorpiovivek@yahoo.com

Introduction My topic is a trend in visual merchandising and its impact on consumers. This topic covers the types of visual merchandising existing in India and covers a brief spectrum of trends which are being followed and are evolving in the area of visual merchandising and how it is affecting the consumers of today by making them buy the right merchandise. My paper content explains the importance of visual merchandising, its history and its present. It basically covers the ongoing trends and also presents an insight into the future.

As the 20th century ended, and we entered the new millennium, retailers were concerned with competition more than ever before. One of the ways in which merchants of every product classification, both large and small, helped to distinguish themselves from the others in the field, was through creative visual presentations. The challenges that confront these specialists run the gamut from the display installations in their stores to the development of designs for the environments.

Today, visual merchandising has become more sophisticated and more encompassing than arranging merchandise for easy access to customers. Visual Merchandising elements are put into practice from designing the floor plan of the store to the beautiful mannequins that grace the store floor. With the specialty marketing of the 1990s, visual merchandising is a necessity to the retail industry.

The essence of retail is defined by the ability to compel the prospective customer to stop, to look, and to buy. Today’s customers look beyond simple commodities and basic merchandise, to that which satisfies their wants, needs, and desires. This informed consumer demands selection and quality.

To fufill these expectations, successful retailers place a great emphasis on compelling life-style presentations of merchandise. Retail is naturally the showplace for new ideas, new concepts and new products. The store environment serves as the selling stage for the latest merchandise offerings of the day. Today, retailers have discovered the power of attractive displays to bring people into their stores, to interest customers in their merchandise, and to create a desire for the items displayed. Through displays, especially in their store windows, they tell you what they have that is new and different and suggest ways to make you and your home more attractive. All stores, large and small, use displays to catch the attention of passer-by’s and help sell merchandise. The best displays are designed to make you think, to appeal to your emotions, and to persuade you to buy.

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Why I chose this topic Visual merchandising is what I wish to do in my future Visual merchandising attracts a customer without saying a word India is an emerging power in terms of visual merchandising India is booming in retail terms and is attaining heights in the same People are getting to know the fact that visual merchandising can let them earn better profits.

Flaws about Visual Merchandisers in India Usually Visual Merchandising is static; frequent change of

display is the key Lacks proper implementation of the concept They have knowledge but probably lack the ability to implement it International trends are not being followed They are afraid to experiment Doing visual mechanising and maintaining visual merchandising are two different things; understood by very few people Role of Visual Merchandising in Promotion of Fashion Throughout the planning of the entire retail process, it is important to keep in mind that a continuing promotional program should be established and executed. The best stores, with the best policies and goods, can succeed only if the public knows the store is there and has a good current idea of what merchandise is available. No area of retailing is more dependent on promotion than fashion. Following are some of the specific objectives of fashion merchandisers and sales personnel: 1. To communicate the store image to its target customers 2. To establish the store as a distinct fashion authority 3. To build long-term customer loyalty 4. To generate interest that will bring a steady flow of regular and new customers to the store 5. To disseminate timely fashion information that becomes a source of news

of innovations 6. To remind customers of their desire for new things 7. To encourage customers to desire new things 8. To persuade customers to make purchase decisions 9. To sell the merchandise to customers 10. To achieve reasonable profit Conclusion Visual merchandising is an important factor in increasing sales and attracts the consumer, resulting in higher sales. Today trends in visual merchandising is going toward digital way around the world as new materials are coming in for people to experiment with advanced lighting techniques are used for better visual merchandising now days.

Final Product and how it Affects the Consumers As I mentioned earlier there was no such problem in my research but to sum up my research in a final bundle I have come up with a book named ‘The New Era in Visual Merchandising’. The idea of writing this book came as there is no such source of information which can be used as a reference to see visual merchandising in the current scenario. India is a booming economy right now with its retail segment expanding there was a need of a manual in visual merchandising which can be used as a handy knowledge base for development of visual merchandising. This book contain definitions about visual merchandising their terms and where it is heading and a detailed study on the structure of the strategy of shoppers stop, which it follows for displays in India.

As a matter of fact, India is catching on this part rapidly with the world, and soon people will realise its importance. In general, this book also has information about how it is affecting the consumers. Now people in countries like USA or Europe don’t really have to enter the store or check out the merchandise with the introduction of interactive windows. So with advancement in technology, visual merchandising is changing the way we shop and as far as conventional displays are concerned, they are also improving with new lights and other materials which are now available in the market.

“Window is not only a window but also a window of temptations.”

– Ralph Lauren

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Today’s visual merchandising is going the eco-friendly way as eco-friendly material cause no harm to the environment altogether. And windows are going a digital way with 3D pictograms and info display panels coming up in the market world over. New materials which are said to be said intelligent material are in store for visual merchandising with advanced lightening techniques.

As far Visual Merchandising is concerned in India it is catching up fast with international trends as retailers here are getting to understand that visual merchandising is a important aspect of a store and also increase sales. Many companies like Shopper Stop, Pantaloons and many more are getting an idea as to how and why they implement it.

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fashion & photography

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fashion This constant barrage of doom and gloom news over the past few months sent me pondering over my favourite subject Fashion. Defined as the reflection of times I now wanted to decipher the changing trends and connect them to the prevailing despondent mood. Will the seasons silhouette, color palette, fabrics and accessories be an interpretation of the general disposition? The fall of the markets, the crash of corporates and the pink slip.

Its interesting to note how the designers capture the prevalent mood in the clothes we wear. These difficult and uncertain times have been interpreted literally by some of them in the fact that women will need strong shoulders to carry them.

This fall, fashion looks like a tale of two cities all black and white and basic or bursting with color. For those who let depression affect them and for those who want to beat it. The eigthies are back in all their strong shoulder and nipped waist splendour, with edgy accessories to complete the look.

It is fascinating to follow fashion through the 20th century where every decade defined a strong look.

The emancipation of the women and her strong stature was communicated in the suits and jackets she wore through the 20’s and 80’s. The 70’s was the decade of Woodstock and Beatles and the flower power was reflected in the prints and bell bottoms women wore. The world Wars cast their shadow on clothing that was inspired by the Military and gave us the jumpsuit. The prosperity of the 50’s was interpreted in “The New Look” by Dior and gave us the hour glass silhouette again.

And today as we talk of Fashion and its effective Communication we cant but ignore the socio-cultural and political situation prevalent at that time. An exhaustive understanding and analysis can help us forecast the sartorial looks for the next season.

Harmeet Bajaj Fashion Director Marie Clair

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Harmeet Bajaj

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fashion Fashion has been an integral part of all learning for me. As I look through a copy of Vogue, I see advertisement after advertisement, of some of the biggest fashion brands that ever existed.

One thing they all have in common is how distinct they are from one another, not just in terms of composition, but in their definition of fashion - and that is apparent from how the model is styled. The clothes and accessories might breed similarity, but the interpretation of the same varies significantly, which defines the identity of a fashion brand.

Through this paper, I aimed to understand why fashion brands advertise and how they retain a recall in the public mind, the most important factor being, to let the brand image shine through as much as possible. My questionnaire was designed to understand how important fashion advertisements are to people, and to know if these ads build or alter brand perceptions.

Ridhima Bhatia ridhiibhatia@gmail.com

As a result of all my learning, I decided to take up a hypothetical fashion brand, which is yet to be launched, and designed its ad campaign, laying emphasis on the styling of the product, relating it to the consumer and the brand philosophy.

Understanding Fashion & Styling The prevailing style or custom, as in dress or behaviour.

Something, such as a garment, that is in the current mode.

The style characteristic of the social elite.

To some, fashion is an art form, to others, it is almost a religion. But for most people it is a method of utilizing clothing, accessories and hair to show or hide something about themselves. You can use fashion to express yourself, to serve as an extension of your personality, or you can use fashion to disguise your true self. Fashion statements can be made with clothes, accessories, shoes, hair, makeup, etc.

‘Styling’ can be defined as the process of making your product look attractive to get your consumer’s attention. It involves the addition of a concept to the display of a product to exhibit a lifestyle, personality or even an emotion that the consumer can either relate to or aspire towards. Styling covers the entire spectrum of fashion, right from ramp shows, advertising campaigns to the retail space. The image of a brand is largely dependent on how they style their products. The styling is responsible for how one positions the brand and how a consumer may perceive the brand, i.e., the brand image.

Fashion styling means to paint a complete picture for the consumer that involves the product (e.g.

Garments, shoes, accessories, etc.) and also gives away a certain emotion they can relate to a lifestyle they can aspire towards. It is very important that the consumer be able to connect with what we try to portray. This is a very vast field.

Fashion itself has many aspects. It is no longer limited to clothes and accessories; it is really the amalgamation of a lifestyle and the various factors that are incorporated within the lifestyle – clothes, accessories, beauty, home, etc. Similarly styling has also broadened its horizons to all these products.

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Styling in Fashion Advertising

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The Evolution of Fashion, Styling & Ads

brand on this criterion is what interests me the most.

Like man and fashion, styling as a concept has also evolved over the years.

Starting from the earliest man when flowers and leaves were used to enhance a garment till today, when graphics are added to make a pretty picture, styling has played a significant role in fashion. Ramp shows and advertisements have embodied styling in some way or the other, however styling has now become imperative in retail spaces as well. This is done to give the consumer an experience that they can relate the brand and its products to.

Styling, as I perceive it, is the way you want your consumer to view your product. A very simple example – you can take a basic pair of straight blue jeans and team them with a plain white fitted t-shirt, a pair of flip flops and a bright neon bag and you have a smart casual look. Then the same pair of jeans can be paired with a crisp white shirt, a waistcoat, high heeled boots, a masculine watch and a patent leather bag and you have a chic corporate look.

Styling is a key tool in distinguishing brands. A brand can be given a make over with the same products styled differently.

Initially, the emphasis was limited to the product. In advertisements from the 60’s and 70’s, it has been seen that for a shoe ad, only the leg of the model would be showed in the ad and so on. Then there came a time when styling involved the model as much as the product. The makeup and hair were as well taken care of as the garment. The emphasis was then on the personality that had to be conveyed. Eventually styling moved on to the imbibing of an emotion (e.g., love, sorrow, joy, grief, anger, fun, sex, mystery, etc.) and a lifestyle (city life, country, heritage, royalty, class, casual, carefree, etc.) And now styling also involves body language. Just an expression can give away the entire feeling you want to associate the product with.

Fashion advertisements saw a new face with Calvin Klein. In the 1978, Brooke Shields who was then only 15 years old did a provocative ad for CK jeans. The ad was styled in such a way that the key element was sex. This advertisement caused a huge controversy but also hiked up the sales. Everyone in America wanted to own a pair of CK jeans. Body language, double meaning sentences, minimal clothing and simple graphics were what this ad was made of.

The product was not highlighted; instead the catch lay in the phrases and the framing of the ad. When Calvin Klein was questioned about this, his answer was as apt as could be – “everything in the field of advertising and styling has been tried and done; now the idea is to catch your consumers eye, and what better than sex to do that. Sex is fun.”

For the final product I zeroed in on the following options: An image make over for an existing brand by changing the styling of the products in the retail space/ad campaigns, etc.

Styling the fashion feature in a magazine.

An ad campaign (broadly looking at the styling of the products) for a new brand to build its image in the public eye.

I went ahead with the last one of designing advertisements for a hypothetical fashion brand that is to be launched shortly.

The Process My research included information from books in the library, Vogue magazines, ad campaigns of several fashion brands, web sites and articles. I collected information which built the foundation of my topic and explored all aspects of it. I looked through several magazines and understood the changing face of fashion. I then collected interviews of famous designers of the top luxury brand segment. I looked up brand reviews and ad campaigns of popular brands over the years and I compared how they had evolved. I connected them with keywords that were used to imbibe an element of continuity through these campaigns. It was very interesting to see that the model was given as much importance as the product. Gradually instead of one single model, many of them posed together in a single advertisement.

Why this topic?

The reason I decided to take up this topic is because of my growing interest in the field of fashion. Yes, it has been thoroughly explored as a concept, but in order to see what the future holds, it’s important that we trace the history.

Styling in fashion has so many aspects. Every stylist has their own way of expression. Every brand has its own image to convey. And it would be a challenge to segregate so many brands from one another on the grounds of their styling alone.

After having worked as a fashion assistant for a renowned magazine I realized the kind of hard work that goes into sourcing and styling for a single fashion shoot, which fuelled my interest in this field. The whole idea of evolving a

In my next phase of work I was more focused on industry insiders and their perspective on the subject. I also carried out a questionnaire based research, which was designed to understand the consumer’s point of view. I interviewed designers who advertised at different levels. Kavita Bhartia believes the consumer needs to be kept constantly in touch with the brand. Siddhartha Tytler advertises only once in a while, but assures that styling reflects the brand image bang on; and Gauri and Nainika do not advertise at all. But what they all do have in common is the point of view that however much you advertise; the styling must be kept in sync with how you want the consumer to perceive your brand. Through the questionnaire, I tabulated the data and reached the conclusion that a brand is heavily perceived on account of its advertising. The consumer also believes that brand image can be altered by

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changes in the advertising, especially the styling. More importantly, most of them turn to the ad campaigns, or the styling pages to construct a look or as a source of reference while making purchases.

The Advertising Campaign Brand Overview LOVE SEX WHATEVER is a hypothetical fashion brand that is preparing to launch its first ever store in Delhi, India. It caters to the everyday fashion needs of women, ranging from clothing to accessories. The brand does not indulge in knock-offs of popular brands, and instead follows the yearly forecast to build its collections around it. The idea of the brand is to introduce fashion to Indian women with an individualistic and ahead of its time approach. It’s a common notion that the Indian market functions on the fashion forecast with a delay of 3 years. The concept behind this brand is to provide women with the latest trends in fashion as per the forecast and international trends in fashion.

However, the brand strongly believes in the concept of not indulging in mass production. Every piece is limited edition, with only a few pieces in every size.

This is to avoid commonness, and to encourage fast changing fashions. So although, the range of products is vast, the quantity is restricted.

Brand Specifics Top: Consumerboard Name of the Brand: LOVE SEX WHATEVER Below: Moodboard Retails in: Women’s wear. It caters to the need of women in clothing and accessories.

Location: Select Citywalk Mall, Saket, New Delhi; Atria Millenium Mall, Worli, Mumbai.

Range of products : Apparel; tops – casual, dressy, t-shirts, shirts, camisoles, basic; dresses – causal, dressy; outerwear – coats, jackets, vests, blazers, sweaters, cardigans; bottoms – jeans, pants, leggings, shorts, skirts, accessories, bags, shoes, scarves and stoles, belts, hats and caps.

Price Points: Rs. 300 – Rs. 4000 Target Market: Metropolitan cities – Delhi, Mumbai, etc.

Target Consumer: Urban, fashion-oriented women, 16 year old onwards.

The Consumer She is frivolous, she is independent, and she lives life on her own terms.

She changes quickly with changing times; she’s not a conformist – and

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LOVE SEX WHATEVER: Advertisement.

The palette is bright and happy. There is an element of art in the pictures. Since styling here plays a massive role, utmost emphasis has been laid on it.

definitely not fashion wise. She wants to leave a mark; wants to stand out as a somebody. Individualistic, entertaining, solemn, audacious and yet feminine to the core; this is the woman who does not want to own what everyone already has. Whatever she does, she does her best. Reckless at times, she is adventurous and experimental. She believes in the philosophy of ‘try anything twice’. She thrives on good clothes, pretty shoes, the ‘it’ bag and her latest copy of Vogue. She’s hooked to coffee, she likes movies-even if only for the good clothes, she likes to go out to new restaurants, nightclubs, fashion shows and she isn’t afraid to dress up in the day.

She’ll wear pumps to go shopping, and flip flops to work; she’ll buy a pair of wide legged jeans, when drainpipes are flooding the market. She grew up on Sex and the City marathons; she wants to be Carrie Bradshaw. She is free spirited and easy going and yet so intense. She saves up money to be able to buy a pair of Manolo Blahniks and she loves colour as much as black or white.

She has an eye for detail; she values money, but knows the worthy of a good pair of shoes when she sees one. She enjoys the little things in life, she likes customising things. She has a self-defined sense of style. She’s chic, stylish, funky, smart, intelligent and comfortable with who she is. She’s gothic, rock, romantic, boho, vintage, tartans and plaids, corporate, red-carpet, casual, eclectic, country, She’s feminine, masculine, colourful, monochromatic, subtle, loud, understated, overstated, - she’s a little bit of everything. She could be a teacher, a merchandiser, a CEO, a receptionist, an accountant, a lawyer, a doctor, a graphic designer, a writer or even a performer. She doesn’t have to be a big time career girl; she could be married, but she has a passion for life and fashion.

The Keywords & The Concept Uber Chic, Audacious, Eccentric, Vibrant As I described my consumer, I began to extract keywords that would sum that one person up. For the ad campaign, I aimed at representing the keywords in the advertisement. The idea was to link the consumer, to the keywords, which was further linked to the ads.

The consumer being eccentric, fun, happy, experimental, individualistic, and an amalgamation of several other factors, I wanted these characteristics to shine through the ads.

Therefore, I thought that the brand could have simultaneous ad campaigns, each reflecting a few of the keywords in order to reflect the brand identity in several ways.

For this campaign I took the above mentioned keywords. The palette is bright and happy. There is an element of art in the pictures. Since styling here plays a massive role, utmost emphasis has been laid on it. I tried to keep it simple yet with the times, since the brand is fashion forward.

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fashion Introduction The topic of the research was to understand how Indian fashion is progressing as a part of the international scenario and how Fashion Journalism in India, is doing justice to the whole process.

The main aim of the research is hence, to analyse the status of fashion and journalism of fashion in the country. While researching, the idea was to get a strong hold on the various types of fashion journalism, get to know the writing of the world’s leading fashion writers and critics, to understand the way a fashion magazine works, to seep into the layers of Fashion Journalism in India and to evaluate the fashion educating mediums in the country. Hence, the research was not only academic but was also very practical in relation to the current fashion industry in India.

Amandeep Kaur amandeepkaur87@gmail.com

Today the Indian fashion scene is on the rise. India is awakening to the long forgotten Fashion knowledge that it has deserved. But there are very few knowledgeable Fashion experts (writers, critics, stylists, etc) who have intrinsic education of fashion themselves. Fashion Journalism as a serious business is a new and an upcoming field in India today; it has been ignored or taken care of by amateurs in most of the publication houses. It is this ignorance and thus lack of international appeal, that India does not deserve, has made one’s mind scratch and go about with this research. Also Fashion is an ever changing and ever evolving field that entices and excites. It is the knowledge and beauty of fashion that one wants to spread across by way of Fashion Journalism in India.

The first step was to study various Indian magazines to analyse the path Indian fashion is taking and how globally fit the fashion scenario is. And then to study various foreign and Indian magazines to analyse how Indian fashion is perceived across the world and the key examples that show a change in this perception.

For the primary research the initial step was to go face to face with actual professionals and the fashion caretakers of India to do a further in-depth study of the current fashion scenario. After this interaction, the next step was to analyse the past and current state and understand the reasons for that state and prepare an analysis with suggestions for the future. And the final aim was to be a part of the industry and learn about the industry.

To actually come up with a product which in some way forms of conclusion, and contains all the information intended to be imparted is an ideal way to conclude this project.

During the secondary research, the introduction of a whole new world of Fashion Journalism opened new gates for an altogether a different view for the profession. Becoming aware of the various leading fashion writers and scholars of the field from throughout the world like Suzy Menkes (Editor International herald Tribune); Colin McDowell (one of the most respected fashion commentators of this day); Anna Wintour (chief editor of American Vogue since 1988); David Wolfe (Creative director for D3 forecast), was a an eye opener. The writings of these scholars made the length and depth of the profession clearer.

To be extremely clear and focused on the project it was important to create a synopsis for the three semesters stating the aim of the entire project and the questions that need to be solved with the research. The synopsis also decided the course that the research would take over all these three stages. The last step of the primary research was to Analyse the fashion magazines and publications present in the current Indian fashion scenario. The analyses were made on the kind of fashion covered and the depth of the knowledge given through the publications. The publications studied were Vogue

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The Role Fashion of Journalism in India

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India, L’Official, Marie Claire, Splurge (supplement with HT) and HT City.

Conclusion A compilation consisting of: writings of the most sought after fashion scholars of the world; various fashion related articles, divided according to their type of writing, found in various newspapers and magazines published in India.

The articles are in the form of fashion reports, trend reports, fashion issues, sarcastic analysis of Indian fashion industry, interviews etc; a number of writings found in International publications talking about Indian fashion or Indian fashion publications writing about India going international; Viewpoints of Indian and International Fashion icons of the world, designers and celebrities on Indian Fashion and its scope for the future. And last but not the least, self written trend reports that I, as a Fashion Journalist wrote, for India’s leading Newspaper, Hindustan Times, for a freelance project.

The research at the primary stage was about having a face to face confrontation with actual professionals and fashion caretakers of India for asking them questions surmounted in ones mind and to take the opinion of the experts on various matters. This stage of the research also comprised of preparing questionnaires asking questions from the fashion consumers to evaluate their fashion knowledge. The research was completed by being a part of the industry and working within the industry as a team member of ‘Vogue India’ for a better understanding of the fashion state. The last step of the primary research was to understand the step by step evolution of fashion in India and draw conclusions from it.

With the coming of various international fashion magazines in India, the scenario seems to be improving, but still not there.

Only very big designer names are known, the rest get buried under the competition with lack of publicity.

There is no definite ‘sense of style’.

Final Product To finally come up with a final product it was most important for me to evaluate the work done in the previous semesters and to realise my area of interest where I would like to work for my end product. Once after deciding which way to work on, it was essential for the entire research project to be justified by creating an apt product which would have the right amount of depth and taste that the topic deserved. The product was given an individualistic touch by portraying my interpretation deciphered of the entire project and how I would want to mould it.

The final product of the entire research is a Book on Indian fashion, kept in a coffee table scenario, where there would be a design collection, of mugs and coasters, with prints of my interpretation on it. The book and the props are all a part of my product, which would not only educate my readers but would also entertain them. The book comprises of the crux of my research, self written articles and self styled and photographed interpretation of Indian fashion for today’s woman.

FASHION CONSUMERS Designer wear consumers: 10%

Fashion educated: 9%

Fashion consumer without awareness: 59%

Avid fashion reader: 23%

Most fashion consumers lack in any actual awareness of Fashion.

Not many people know about serious Fashion Journalism.

There is a lack magazine readership. Newspaper trend prevails and consumers refer to newspapers for fashion knowledge.

Newspapers don’t often give in depth knowledge, and there is no critical analysis done.

Final product: Coffee table book on ‘Indian fashion’, A design collection, of mugs and coasters, with prints of my interpretation on it.

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fashion The subject of my study is in the context of the evolving fashion industry in India. The fashion scenario in India is still in the initial stage of its evolution, and the industry is receiving a sudden thrust as the next big consumer market in the international market.

Therefore it is quite crucial to understand how ready the Indian masses are for the whole affair. It is also important to understand the extent to which fashion is understood amongst the masses and the pivotal role journalism plays as a tool towards this awareness. My research deals with figuring out their understanding of these aspects in terms of knowledge, consumption and orientation.

The plan of study involved using the various means available to understand the awareness about fashion among the masses. For this, studying how fashion is understood outside India was crucial.

The first step was to sensitize myself with the fashion scenario outside India through various articles in different international publications.

Manisha Pritilaya manishapritilaya@yahoo.com

Secondary research started from studying the various publications here in India in order to understand both the kind of fashion and fashion journalism prevalent here. The primary research plan was conducting survey at various levels amongst Indian consumers: from the flea markets to the highend brands. A study of the fashion journalism industry, personally interviewing people from various publications was also part of the research.

By tracing a trend cycle of something as basic and prevalent as denims and comparing it with the overseas market, it was understood how and when we adapt to trends here in India.

To observe, analyse and derive conclusions out of the research was the next step that was taken. To summate the deductions and observations, the study was drawn in the form of a novel, where four students of a fashion college are the means to voice the conclusions.

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Understanding Indian fashion

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Area of research

Studying the available magazines and Newspapers in terms of

Fashion: What’s written?

Fashion: Who writes?

Fashion: Who reads?

Fashion: Who Consumes?

Q: How much serious fashion is being written about?

Q: Who is writing fashion for India?

Q: Who reads fashion in India?

Q: What are people wearing today?

Q: What is the content of fashion magazines today?

Q: How eligible are they who write fashion?

Q: How much do they know and understand fashion?

Q: How fashion conscious is India?

Q: What is the depth of fashion reporting which goes in India?

Q: What’s their understanding?

Q: Different forms of fashion journalism and the different mediums?

Q: How fair are they? What about the nexus that operates?

Q: How much do they care?

Q: How to accelerate the conversion rate from non fashion conscious to fashion conscious?

Q: Who is wearing fashion today?

Q: Does fashion journalism reach them and how and is of what use?

Methodology Step 1:

To sensitise oneself with the international fashion scenario

Step 2:

Studying magazines and newspaper dailies; helped understand the kind of fashion journalism prevailing in India.

Step 3:

Studying the consumer at various levels; helps understand the Indian consumer more accurately like their inclination, eagerness and understandings towards new trends, styles.

Step 4:

Tracing a trend cycle helped understand various technical aspects unique to India and the behaviour of Indian consumer in comparison to their international counterparts and thus helped analyse the lag or the difference.

Content: fashion or non fashion Fashion or lifestyle Kind of writing Critical Reporting Advertising Trend stories Business of fas Target reader Readership Philosophy Impact it has or had Primary research: To conduct surveys on consumers at various levels to understand various kinds of consumers and thereby understand the extent of their awareness of fashion.

To try and plot trend cycles for a season in order to understand how it is followed in India; when it came, how it was adapted, and by whom.

High-end brands.

Flea market.

Most popular Indian designer brands.

To study a fashion business event (fashion week and fashion exhibition or trade display) in order to understand the uppermost fashion conscious group. The area of research has been defined keeping in mind all the areas that can be studied to understand the awareness of fashion there.

Overall Observations The observations and the conclusion are not of the nature that clearly demarcates answers and the questions at the beginning of the research.

Although the observations are of various degrees they definitely point towards a direction. The inferences are analogous to the state of the fashion industry right now in India. It has the same unclear nature where everything is mixed up right now and there is time for things to clear up.

Today the fashion scene in India is at a stage of moral paradox. On one hand we see India as the biggest market for fashion. On the other hand we have those who would wonder at the name of a fashion designer. To say that those consuming fashion are aware and those who don’t are not aware of it, would not be correct. There is no strict boundary that demarcates the extent to which fashion is understood amongst the masses.

Today Indian Fashion is at a very nascent stage and so is fashion journalism.

The journalism prevalent in India right now can be divided in two clear

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categories: that for the fashion conscious and that for the follower. They answer not to ‘why fashion’ but to ‘why this kind of fashion and what fashion’.

They have the responsibility of spreading the awareness of fashion and creating the fashion culture in India.

These mass circulating newspaper dailies and non-fashion magazines are both the parameter for judging the awareness of fashion as well as a tool towards this endeavour.

Following are some of the missing links in the industry: Critic in terms of

- Commercial viability of a collection

- Perfection

- Vision Forecast Serious fashion related events Trend analysis not trend report Absence of a hi-street in India A forecasting organization in India Result A novel called ‘moments of no clarity’ While doing a research project aimed at understanding the awareness of fashion amongst the Indian masses and formulating the collected data into observations and findings, it was understood that, in the current fashion scenario prevailing in India, where nothing is in a clear state, where the concept of fashion is half borrowed, one can’t pin point ones particular conclusion. There are various conclusions of various degrees. It is very crucial at this stage to persist in the direction of understanding India’s true fashion culture. A novel is the best answer when it is necessary to state those conclusions vividly in a form that is well understood by the masses and which is a communication tool towards awareness of fashion in India.

It’s a story of four friends who are students from a fashion college. They are soon going to set foot in the fashion industry. The novel talks about their journey, where they finally land up, their observations, confusions, dilemmas and final decisions. The novel would serve as a sneak peek into the fashion industry through the eyes of four students who represent a fresh point of view towards an industry which is very mysterious and intriguing to the masses.

This book depicts an academic point of view. The four characters have four different takes on the fashion industry and all the big and small issues.

Therefore the book serves as an outlet to various view points about same things, thereby stating and voicing facts, issues, conceptions and realities about the fashion industry. Both to an insider and the outsider to the industry the book would serve as new idea.

‘Moments of no clarity’: a story of four friends who are students from a fashion college. Serves as a sneak peek into the fashion industry through the eyes of four students, voicing facts, issues, conceptions and realities about the industry.

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fashion Blending of Art and Fashion The human instinct to represent magnificence and elegance finds expression in two quintessential forms – viz. fashion and art. Art essentially defined this motivation and fashion followed close. The various forms and genres of one discipline have time and again proven to be the stimulus behind the heterogeneous and dynamic visages of the other. This is a small attempt on my part to explore and analyze the fantastically symbiotic relationship between these intrinsic configurations of articulation.

In my research I came to numerous conclusions vis-à-vis the more dominant form between the two.

Fashion in a lot of ways is decorative or applied art. The prevailing sense of beauty, elegance and style in contemporary art forms, have always been an immense source of ideas for the field of fashion. Whereas art has always been a reflection of the socio-political-cultural trends in a way that appeals to a collective sensibility.

Thus, the idea behind this paper is to understand this association between the fields of art and fashion and conceive probable perceptions and evolutions in fashion brought on by art and vice-versa.

Devika Agarwal ddevika01@gmail.com

The studious and categorical influence of art in fashion is the subject of extreme enquiry. The various genres of art, the myriad movements which dominated the art scene and have proved to be quite an influence on fashion across generations, and the varying degrees in which art has borrowed from fashion, all have been the fundamental premises of discussion dialogue and discourse. Be it high Renaissance, or Post Modernism, Surrealism or Cubism (all of these being revolutionary times as far as the parameters of art are concerned), they have all shaped the way society dressed, looked and understood itself. The overall vision of any distinctive period in time can be easily and pointedly linked to the art of the period. The timelines will be indicators of how changing trends in the world of art were keystones to the changing face of styles, both vulgar and high-society.

A brief history of art follows closely examining and scrutinizing the many ways in which art transformed itself from one form into another; and then we have fashion which traces the developments from 14th century onwards till present day. Finally, after detailed explanations of both these genres one gets down to the amalgamation of both as a single unit – which contains nuances of both forms and establishes their love-hate relationship. This is the benchmark of the research because the blending of two such innately different fields is bound to produce some extraordinarily fascinating results. The undeniable presence of art in contemporary fashion is a sight to behold. It ranges from Greco-Roman influences to the latest effects of Punk and it all adds to the dynamics of fashion.

Fashion is what fashion does. It is a reflection of the changes that society is going through; it is not the change itself. Fashion essentially depends on the packaging. A good wrapper sells what the packet contains - that is what fashion is meant to do. Being fashionable is all about looking your best: to each his own.

Human nature is such that it attempts to move away from the norm, to be different, to be unique – and fashion is a channel through which we can express this exclusivity. It is also in the nature of humans to seek affiliation for general acceptance. People follow trends and changes in fashion depending on what the rest of the public follows. Fashion and people, being dynamic, change over a period of time and everyone also has the urge to be in sync with the trends. This combination of being unique, and the will to fit in, although paradoxical, is very prevalent in our society. Fashion and being fashionable can encompass more than just the clothes on your back – it is a way of being, your personality, your ideology and more importantly – your declaration of acceptance of a certain changing trend.

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More than just your image and appearance, being fashionable is a state of mind. In order to wear something from the high-end radically experimental runways of Paris or Milan, your state of mind has to be accepting of this form of art, the ideology that goes behind its conceptualization, how will it be received and what prejudices come with it. People indulge in fashion to look their best, to be noticed and linked to a particular form of ideology. Following fashion to the T, can been seen as an appreciation for fashion as a form of functional art, but can sometimes also been seen as mindless imitation of anything glamorized. Fashion during the Renaissance held more importance then it does now. Back then it was more than just a mere pastime or about looking elegant. It was a matter or honour. The more fashionable you were, the greater your capacity was to spend on your appearance. The larger your wealth, the closer you were to the monarchy.

Art and fashion were more closely tied at the turn of the twentieth century.

Artists did not see the difference between creating an original work of art, such as a painting, and designing a textile pattern that would be reproduced many times over. Artists and fashion designers’ style of working and ideating being very similar were the introduction of a new form of expression. Each was a valid creative act in their eyes.

French designer Paul Poiret embodies the true spirit of a fashion designer – He not only mingled with the greatest artists and painters of his time, he allowed the ideologies of the time to influence his work. He used the need of the hour, mixed it with his creativity and inserted it into the society with the purpose of radically changing the way people socialised. This brings us to another very critical point about fashion – making a fashion statement is also dependent on your surroundings and on the things that you are influenced by. Paul Poiret also loved the theatre, and throughout his career, costumes he designed for the theatre served as a springboard for his couture designs. He was famous for his parties, elaborate costume dramas, which he made in collaboration with decorations by modern artists. To be a designer, it is important to first have an eye for art, aesthetic sensibilities, and good functional knowledge of existing cultures. Hence, it can be said that fashion designers are a subset of artists.

Throughout history, fashion has tracked changes in trends in modern art and then echoed it in its final products. The developing aesthetic of modernism can be traced in the progression of fashion design from the heavily corseted

s-curved silhouettes that reflected Art Nouveau interpretation of the female form early in the century, to the first uncorseted, tubular, simplified silhouette that arrived before the First World War and continued into the 1920s, to the streamlined, body-hugging dresses of the 1930s. Here fashion was not only a matter of change in trends and the need of the moment, but also the convenience of the people. It was not fashion for fashion’s sake – or art for art’s sake. It became function - a method to liberate women and at the same time purposeful and well designed.

Change in fashion is not only a reflection in the changing art expressions of the times; it is also documenting a change in the cultural mindset and the level of acceptance of society. Art by definition originates from the creativity involved in producing something new and different – something original.

Like when artists introduce a new piece of work, they are introducing a new form of expression. When a designer launches a new look, he or she is also introducing a new form of representing yourself and your body. Innovative, contemporary and pioneering fashion, which is also functional and pleasing to certain sensibilities, will reflect a change of style, and a change of accepted wisdom.

Fashion, by description, changes constantly and evolves into something new.

The changes may proceed more rapidly than in most other fields of human activity, and are definitely more visible than others. For some, modern fastpaced changes in fashion embody many of the negative aspects of capitalism, as it results in waste and encourages people to buy things unnecessarily.

Other people enjoy the diversity that changing fashion can provide, seeing the constant change as a way to satisfy their desire to experience new and interesting things. Fashion can inadvertently enforce uniformity – when fashion becomes easily accepted and available to a large number of people, everyone indulges. At the same time there remains an equal or larger range of clothes and people, who are designated to be out of fashion. Ironically, these or similar styles may cyclically come back into fashion in due course of time. This shows that fashion is not only evolving and developing, it is also repeating in a cyclical nature with refinements. Practically every aspect of appearance that can be changed has been changed at some time. For example skirt lengths ranging from ankle to mini skirts; high waist to low waist and back to high waist pants; sizes and textures of bags; bright and vibrant to subtle and suave, etc.

In the past, new discoveries and lesser-known parts of the world could provide a reason to change fashion based on the exotic. Europe in the eighteenth or nineteenth century, for example, might have favoured things Turkish at one time, Chinese at another, and Japanese at a third. A modern version of exotic clothing includes club wear. Globalisation has reduced the options of exotic novelty in more recent times, and has seen the introduction of non-western wear into the western world.

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While art interprets the changes of a growing society; fashion ushers it into another era of change. Fashion stems from a need to adapt within the existing social structure and introduces a new way of being. Though it is all about being similarly different, fashion holds a different meaning for everyone. It can be a call of the times for some; a question of status for others; or simply a need to make a statement. Each person has a different perspective towards one static factor.

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Fashion being dynamic can be highly variable and random. What is socially accepted now may be frowned upon next season. What is currently shunned for being too radical may become the norm eventually. Whatever the changes in fashion may be, fashion pariahs are generally not a good indication of what will work now and in the future, and what will eventually fade out due to lack of any ground-breaking innovation. There are also those who develop a form alternate to the existing accepted structure, to stand out further from the crowd. Alternative fashion is fashion that stands apart from the mainstream commercial fashion. It may be a subgroup of an already existing group, but it may also be a new form of experimental art. Those who want to send a rebellious and radical message through their appearance opt for clothes that are jarring to the general sensibilities, and contain within themselves a shock factor. For e.g., Marilyn Manson promoted the gothic subculture to new heights of violence, and grotesque displays of sexual frustration. Another such display is being made by Japanese teenagers and their anime influenced hair and clothes that are unique to the defiant youth of Japan.

It is a commonly accepted fact that fashion designers and those who follow all fashion trends religiously are ruthless and vindictive when it comes to accepting new things. Fashion houses and their associated fashion designers, as well as high-status consumers, usually including celebrities, are generally the ones who dictate the direction of fashion. Paradoxically, the world of fashion is also perhaps the most flexible when it comes to introducing new forms or techniques. Hence, its all about personal choice made at a large scale. Things that please us, or irritate us, are both reflected in our choice of clothing and accessories. The same trend may also diverge into several other sub-trends depending on how it has affected you. Each person responds differently to a certain trend, and then personalises it according to their body type, occasion, sensibility, and budget. Whether you choose to accept the change in the form of clothes or not, people are seen to be accepting the change in other forms in their daily life as well.

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

fashion My paper looks to understand the process involved in styling a movie and its relevance to fashion. It also aims to analyse the impact of movies among all strata of society and how it gives business to the retail market.

The other aims include: Costume and styling in Hindi cinema Change in styling based on changing philosophy of the society -- pre-independence -- post-independence Parallel effect on society and change in fashion and trend due to cinema Celebrities promoting fashion in different social events Better understanding of putting a look together Rupa rupanift2005@gmail.com

Process Understanding the larger picture of fashion and styling through different media. How it goes to retail market and also the importance and impact of fashion, through movies, on society.

Clients Fashion stylists People who belong to fashion industry People who belong to Bollywood industry Final product Personalised wallpaper There has always been a love hate relationship between Bollywood and fashion but a few faces have made history. Is it a matter of interest that has transformed it from a leisure concept to a passionate profession?

Fashion and Bollywood Imagine India without Hindi movies. We would not have ever seen anybody trying to imitate someone’s dialogue. Nobody could have ever dreamt of being an actor. There would not have been an urge to look like an icon if none of the film stars would have been there to inspire them. Above all we can not imagine India without the silver screen. Only Hindi cinema has the impact to drive anybody crazy.

Bollywood definitely has a large draw on customers in terms of clothes, accessories, jewellery etc. A vast majority of people get influenced by Hindi movies. It creates a need in the market, inspires people to buy and also to imitate their favourite icons. We all know it’s a human tendency to aspire to become like someone and what could be better than cinema because here you get the audio visual effect. That stays in your mind for a longer period of time. Cinema has a hundred kinds of effect on people but here we will only talk about the style and fashion.

The Indian film industry, famously known as Bollywood is the largest in the world. The first Hindi movie was made in 1913 ‘Raja Harishchandra’, but that was the silent era. Era of talkies started in India in 1930 and the movie was ‘Alam Ara’. Early Indian talkies adopted Hindi as the language of choice and it remains till the present.

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Chaand, Do Bigha Zameen, Mirza Ghalib, Barsaat.

There is nothing like Hindi cinema. It has family melodrama, action, drama, handsome actors and actresses; in India movies have always been a mirror of society. Movies have always reflected the present scenario of the society.

Initially movies were inspired from mythology then gradually it started moving to social issues. There are lots of reasons which affect the whole country and it is automatically reflected through movies. Also the taste of audiences matter a lot because ultimately it has to sell. People want to see a change every time whether its cinema or something else. That gradual change has always been there and it always helped Bollywood to grow in the industry with time.

Classification of Indian cinema over the decades: 1947-1961: The golden age 1962-1975: War and emergency age 1976-1989: Rebel period Post 1990’s: Designer cinema Pre-independence India did not step towards its development but still movies always influenced people in terms of clothing, make up, hair and accessories.

The concept of coloured cinema was not introduced for a long time. Even after it was, many people were unable to afford it. Before independence the major social issue was the caste division. Most of the movies like Sujata, Alam Ara, etc. had the same social message.

The look and get up was not emphasized upon much and was according to the character. When cinema started reaching out to a larger audience, costume and style were taken care of. Nobody knows, who was the designer behind Amitabh Bachan’s knotted shirt in Deewar or Zeenat Aman’s bell bottom in Hare Krishna Hare Ram; the saree Rekha wore in Silsila or the zipper saree Mumtaaz wore in Do Raste.

In the post-independence India, the upbeat mood of a nation found expression in a large number of Hindi films that grappled with the questions of right and wrong, personal well being and the larger common good. The first two decades after 1947 were marked by the stability and reconstructive policies of Nehruvian Socialism. It was an era when politicians who had come to power after a long struggle to free the country from foreign rule, valued the democratic institutions setup by the constitution and worked towards making India a self reliant secular nation. The leading film makers as well as stars of this era transmitted this message through their films. The films of Bimal Roy would be an excellent example here.

Stars/ icons of the golden age were Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt, Balraj Sahni. These were the stars that upheld the spirit of the state and were also the reason for its failure. The films of Bimal Roy, Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt addressed issues that were germane to the growth of a newly independent nation and tried to reconcile its time-honoured traditions with the demands of a modern, industrialised age. Also the looks and styles were getting influenced western culture.

War and Emergency Period During the fecund - if wildly erratic, period that spanned from the early 1960’s to the mid 1970’s, popular Hindi cinema had a hard act to follow. Many of the stylistic influences, thematic concerns and dominant stars of the earlier years lingered on for a while. Even as the rapidly changing profile of the Hindi film audience forced the more malleable of Bombay film makers to embrace, more readily than ever before, a formulaic approach to storytelling in pursuit of profit. Famous movies of the decade Haqeeqat, Upkaar, Roti Kapda Aur Makaan, Purab Aur Paschim, Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai, Half Ticket, China Town, Guide, Teesri Kasam, Sangam, Abhimaan.

The Golden Age If the end of World War 2 brought down the curtain on an era of Indian cinema, independence ushered in a whole new age. The outstanding aspect of this period is the remarkable manner in which it welcomed new ideas and values without ignoring the basic characteristics of Indian cinema: a happy combination of old and new which endured throughout, passed into the 21st century and seems to continue till date. Immediately after World War 2, war profiteers rushed to invest their money in films, which they considered would be an excellent outlet to make quick money.

Unfortunately, the ambitions of the film making did not match their wealth and there was an immediate but short lived slump in the industry. Better ideas came then, from a new, post war generation of film makers. Famous movies during that era were Mother India, Kaagaz Ke Phool, Boot Polish, Chaudvi Ka

From 1960s onwards, films began to look beyond national boundaries. The world outside India offered exciting possibilities for new filming locations.

Paris, Rome, Switzerland and London along with Tokyo became exotic backdrops for romances.

A more international outlook also focused attention on youth culture in the west. This was a period of economic growth which was accompanied by the spread of new liberal culture. Britain saw a rise of consumerism, new music, new fashion and hair style trends and increased sexual freedom.

India never appropriated this lifestyle but the Indian cinema projected a sense of it through films such as Bobby and later Love Story; which for the first time focused on teenage romance. Visually this was represented primarily through women’s fashion, particularly bouffant hair styles and heavy black eye liner

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

Star/icons of this period are Shammi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Dev Anand.

The Rebel Period Rebels for a cause or looking for a cause are not born in vacuum. A certain climate of dissatisfaction, subterranean anger and unfocused idealism is necessary for discontent to breed. Even a clever exploitation of such perceived discontent makes for interesting, sometimes even exciting cinematic times.

The first overwhelming fact that strikes you is that it was undoubtedly the overarching age of Amitabh Bachchan - his rise and decline and the trend he set both for actors and film makers. Paradoxically his mega watt power did not dim the birth of new icons of the other cinema. The new peaks of achievement were scaled by established actors and the consolidation of reputations by new talents. Finally there was an emergence of feminism in films of women film makers, women themes explored in depth and inevitably the crude exploitation of this ‘topical theme’ by those who jumped onto the bandwagon.

Movies of this period are Deewar, Sholay, Kala Pathar, Don, Silsila, Kabhi kabhi, Trikaal, Utsav. Star/icons of this era were Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra.

This era also saw emergence of ultimate glamour dolls like Zeenat Aman, Parveen Babi and Kimi Katkar. They were sex symbols with hourglass figures and did everything that the vamp used to do. Subsequently, the impact of action movies got so strong that the heroines began fading into oblivion.

Designer Cinema In the last decade of 20th century Hindi cinema grew considerably in stature, in style and reach. It was a period of creative and commercial activity that was as frenetic and eventful as any other in the annals of film making in Mumbai. Hindi films conquered several new frontiers in the geographical and market terms. Quite a few of these releases managed to push boundaries of Bollywood’s typical flamboyant, colour spangled, exaggerated and kitschy narrative idiom as an influential section of Mumbai film making fraternity achieved a synthesis of sorts between pre-fabricated, crowd pleasing story telling devices on the one hand and a modern sensibility and growing technical finesse on the other.

Movies of this period were Maine Pyaar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Main Hoon Na, Dil Chahta Hai, Devdas, Kaho Na Pyaar Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Om Shanti Om. Now the socio-economic scenario of designer cinema is influenced by the new global culture MTV, Hollywood and Internet. The Indian film industry went through major changes in 1990s a younger generation of directors, actors,

costume and set designers began to create films with more professional production values. Designer cinema started coming with a full package of entertainment with everything at its best level. They also have new themes which depict the modern affluent consumerist lifestyles of the growing middle class in India. Despite these changes, films retain their Indian identity through the use of music and their projection of traditional cultural, family oriented themes and values. The change in films is also reflected in film advertising.

The films of the decade show women in sexy designer western clothes. Rather than any implied judgement on their morality, these clothes indicate the affluent lifestyles of the new middle class on which these films focus.

Stars/icons of this era are Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan Conclusion What has changed in Bollywood?

Costume Hairstyle Accessories Makeup Sets Technology Now movies are made after good research.

Rather than introducing new designs on ramp it makes more commercial sense to introduce them through films.

Bollywood never cared too much about the style; it was always the oomph that mattered (Bell bottoms worn by Zeenat Aman or the polka dotted shirt in Bobby). It was Manish Malhotra who first introduced designer wear to Hindi cinema. With Rangeela, Urmila changed sleazy to sexy. The Manish mania continued to rule Bollywood with Dil to Pagal Hai. Artfully casual style was again evident in Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. Sabyasachi gave a minimalistic look in black; for the very first time in Indian cinema. Costumes were in black and yet the movie got a national award. Who can forget the blue lehanga designed by Manish Malhotra, for the comeback of Madhuri Dixit.

In every decade intentionally or unintentionally, Bollywood has always been a trendsetter. Since it reaches the masses, it has an immediate impact on people. Its audio visual quality helps leave a stronger impact on society for a longer period of time. Costume and styling has seen changes in every decade, despite the variation of socio-economic conditions in the country.

Especially due to globalisation, designer cinema has opened the door to a complete package of entertainment and visual pleasure in Indian cinema in terms costume, styling, sets, jewellery etc. The changing trend of fashion has continued from 1950s has always been there since, in Indian cinema.

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make-up. Also for the very first time on the Indian screen - a bikini.

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Inspiration As the topic for my colloquium paper suggests, which is Bollywood and Fashion, I wanted my final product to be related to Bollywood fashion yet slightly different from the exact scenario. Using my understanding of Bollywood, fashion, style and costumes I decided to depict a story in a photo feature with still images.

The style and story of the feature is inspired by Bollywood in the 1950s, it’s actually about how people use to think at that time and what used to be the prominent style of make-up and hair at that particular era. The story has an impact of Bollywood and fashion holds an important part in it. And it is also different in a way that it is depicted using still images.

The story What do you want to say about a couple who has everything in life except happiness?

What is important; money or happiness?

You can buy any thing under the sun, but can you buy peace?

Someone said inner happiness is the fuel to success.

There are so many unanswered questions like this.

Now it is up to you; whether to search for peace and happiness for your soul or run after materialistic wonders.

Preface This is the story of an Indian girl whose life is very colourful. She is a talented dancer and a positive person. She appreciates art and craft. The girl belonged to a middle class family, and yet got all the freedom to enjoy her life in a way she wanted.

She never knew what life had instore for her in the next chapter. Her life takes a right turn which actually was wrong. She got married to a very handsome and rich guy who was a little older to her. She compromised to her fate. But she could not do it for long. She got tired of pretending and faking all the time.

This was a punishment to her for marrying into an extremely rich family. For a change the couple went to a fair since she loved Indian craft. The husband was exactly the opposite and showed no interest.

There was a dance event at the fair and something happened. She saw a Ghunghroo and went into flash back about her past life with her lover. She was happy then in her own world with her love, dancing and having a lovely time with him. They were an inspiration to each other. Let us see what happens in the end, whether she finds her true love or not.

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

fashion Brand extension or brand stretching is a marketing strategy in which a firm with a well-developed image, markets a product and uses the same brand name in a different product category.

There was a time when luxury goods were sold in stuffy stores with intimidating personnel in white gloves who glanced at your shoes before deigning to show you their merchandise. Today that’s the exception. For the most part, luxury is no longer reserved for the spoilt rich. Increasingly, it is the domain of the global middle class on an ego trip - people from India to China prepared to pay a premium for the thrill of owning something that makes them feel special.

Brand extension is a widely practiced business strategy worldwide in the field of fashion and thankfully this trend is now visible in India as well. Brand extension could do wonders for your brand only if it is done in a manner that does more than just add value to your brand identity. It should be an extension of the core values of the brand.

Saloni Pabuwal salonipabuwal@gmail.com

The PR companies see brand extension as an excellent business proposition and are very impressed by how it has turned out in the west. However, they are a little apprehensive about Indian contemporaries venturing into the same as firstly, they don’t see the Indian market completely prepared for it yet. They are also boggled by the fact that the largest high fashion company in the country has not yet crossed Rs.30crores in terms of turnover. No prêt labels in India have ever created big volume business. Therefore, according to them, “It makes sense for designers to set their own design house in order first, and then focus on spin-offs.”

On interviewing their target market, i.e., the customers of designer wear and aspiring customers, I concluded that on the whole they are rather excited at the thought of seeing their favourite designer’s names on non-adjacent products. They also hope to see a designer’s philosophy to flow into all his creations so that people recognize the brand as soon as they see the product.

To analyse brand extension as an upcoming trend in India, after getting a holistic view of the repercussions of adopting this marketing strategy by studying renowned brands across the globe, I conducted a lot of research to finally reach a logical and worthy conclusion. What led me to my final derivation is summarised below.

How Brands Extend?

1. Complement: This is when the consumer takes the two product categories, i.e., original product line and extension, as complementary to each other in order to satisfy their specific needs. E.g., Dior apparel and accessories, Prada accessories and apparel.

2. Substitute: This indicates that two products have a similar use and satisfy a similar need which means the product are analogous and can replace each other. E.g., when a soap brand extends into a body wash.

3. Transfer: This is the relationship between an extension product and its manufacturer which reflects the perceived ability of any firm operating in the first product class to make a product in the second class. E.g., Georgio Armani, Armani Collezioni, Emporio Armani, Armani Jeans, Armani Exchange 4. Co-Branding: This is when two companies merge to extend their brands and benefit from each other. E.g. Prada teamed with LG and Dolce & Gabbana teamed with Motorola to create chic cell phones.

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Bvlgari’s foray into hotels is a joint venture with Marriott International.

Manish Arora designed a range of funky psychedelic shoes for Reebok under the name of Fish Fry. The Global Scenario As early as 1972, Diane Von Furstenberg created the multifunctional wrap dress, which captured the imagination, and the pockets, of an entire generation. By 1976, she had sold more than five million of her designs and was hailed by Newsweek as “the most marketable woman in fashion since Coco Chanel.” Von Furstenberg didn’t stop there. She developed a line of beauty products and fragrances, and stamped her name on everything from luggage to eyewear, from jeans to books. The strategy worked at first. Von Furstenberg’s premium name generated high margins for every product it adorned, regardless of the category.

But a few years into this heady growth, the brand lost momentum. Revenues and profits plummeted, and, ultimately, Von Furstenberg had to sell her design house to pay off debts. What actually triggered this backfire?

As per experts, luxury brands increase in profitability when consumers perceive that these goods offer more value than other comparable products.

Brands like Bose, De Beers, Louis Vuitton, and Rolex all became more profitable as their premium degree grew. Von Furstenberg’s products showed this same effect, for a while. Specifically, a luxury brand’s profitability will usually increase as the premium degree increases, but only if the brand is extended into product categories adjacent to the core brand. Brands like Louis Vuitton and Cartier have profitably extended their names into categories adjacent to their core products. Cartier expanded its brand from jewellery to watches, perfumes, and accessories; while Louis Vuitton transferred its name from handbags to clothing, jewellery, perfumes, and accessories.

Some luxury brands are valued for their functional aspects. People buy Porsche, for instance, because of the vehicles’ world-class performance and engineering. Other luxury brands, like Louis Vuitton, are valued more for the lifestyle they project than for the particular expertise or functionality they embody. Symbolic brands can be more easily exported into non-adjacent categories than functional brands, and can succeed in these categories when they consistently promote their core symbolic attributes.

When managers want to extend their luxury brands into non-adjacent categories, they should first consider whether the brand has the appropriate symbolic power to cross categories. They should also consider whether the symbolism can be consistently promoted in the new product categories. Rolex perfumes or Lamborghini wines may not be a good idea.

The Indian Scenario Indian designers have had their share of setbacks and failures and the ones who have been in the business for enough time understand how it works and have finally realized what clicks with the market. These are a few excerpts from notable Indian fashion designers which prove that learning from both market failures and examples that they see occurring they have finally got their facts right.

“The House of Valaya aims to create a fashion and lifestyle house epitomising luxury, design and quality. We work hard to incorporate the Valaya virtues of modern nomadic yet intrinsically regal aesthetics, and this philosophy translates into a broad range of products, services and fine living. When the categories lie parallel to the parent brand and have a similar character, we don’t see any reason why they won’t click.”

- JJ Valaya “As long as the diversification is in a related area, it is a natural and positive progression. However, if it is in an untested field, then it could be detrimental to the growth.”

- Ravi Bajaj “Entering the lifestyle section was just an addition to our vision of providing an increased sense of fashion with great performance ability. We had already taken sportswear a step ahead by converting it into something that people can use as smart casual wear. Now we have taken it a notch further and created a sportswear collection that can be used as lifestyle products.”

- Manish Arora “Grandeur, flamboyance, boldness; that’s what Rohit Bal’s couture is about and that’s what is carried forward in all his ventures, including his restaurant Veda.”

- Rohit Bal The Indian PR companies are apprehensive about brand extensions seeing the past, but do hope for a lucrative future. Seeing how the strategy has worked worldwide they are anticipating for things to go a similar way for India too.

“Brand extension is globally practiced. Thankfully it has now come to India as well. We are witnessing more and more designers venturing into overall areas that would concern a person in their day to day lives. By doing this a patron gets a complete look with the help of a creative person.”

- Anshu Khanna, Public Relations “Questions about designers’ organisational skills in handling multiple businesses are also being raised. Today, the biggest high fashion company in the country has not yet crossed Rs.30 crores in terms of turnover. No prêt

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

Classic examples from the world of fashion: Where brand extendibility has worked and where it has failed.

Ralph Lauren’s Polo brand successfully extended from clothing to home furnishings such as bedding and towels. Both clothing and bedding are made of linen and fulfill a similar consumer function of comfort and homeliness.

Roberto Cavalli’s handmade Vodka: The exquisiteness and exclusivity is maintained in the extension.

Gucci was extended to a product line of more than 22,000 items, including counterfeit items that sold for as little as $35 on the street. This overextension severely tarnished the brand’s reputation for luxury, status, and high quality. The brand recovered only when Gucci refocused it, cutting the product line by 67 percent, limiting distribution to its own outlets, and reinforcing the brand’s enduring value in its advertising.

Manish Arora’s trademark colour combinations and fusion of Indian street kitsch elements to create high fashion products are clearly evident in his Fish Fry collection.

Similarly, Rohit Bal’s restaurant Veda has the designers aura intact and therefore works.

Armani – Classic Example of Successful Brand Extension Coming to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s for soft, yet elegant, tailored fashion for men and women; Armani has extended his brand to flowers, chocolates, hotels, home furnishings, fragrances, makeup and accessories.

In addition to the very high quality of the products, there is a distinct Armani look that remains undiluted: Italian, elegant, sophisticated, timeless yet understated.

as the godfather of international fashion. It is said; he exploited his name and cheapened the prestige of high fashion. Cardin had his name licensed to frying pans, Taiwanese key chains, rings, pens, socks, and not to mention the clothes.

Conclusion After examining the case studies and based on customer feedback, the following few points lucidly explain what works in the market and what doesn’t: Where It Works A brand’s extendibility depends on how strong the associations are to the brand’s values and goals. Whenever the extended brand reminds you of the brand values of the parent brand; there is a strong connection.

Where It Doesn’t Work Extending through opportunistic brand licensing without regard to impact upon the brand Extending into a category in which the product adds nothing more to the brand identity, i.e., its products or services are not significantly different from current products or services in the category Extending into lower, and sometimes higher, quality segments Overextending: If done in great excess with no focus can completely dilute brand meaning and overexpose the brand in the market Final Product As a logical extension of my research and analysis, I concocted hypothetical propositions for extending the brands of three reasonably well-established Indian designers who are extremely diverse in their design sensibilities and hence the directions they could extend in are very distinctive.

Pierre Cardin – Classic Example of Unsuccessful Brand Extension Pierre Cardin’s early extensions into perfumes and cosmetics in the 1960s succeeded so well that the company began to sell licenses indiscriminately.

By 1988, it had granted more than 800 licenses in 94 countries, generating a $1 billion annual revenue stream and profits plummeted. It wasn’t until the Pierre Cardin name started appearing on wildly nonadjacent products, such as baseball caps and cigarettes that margins collapsed. Initially, the brand extensions into the perfumes and cosmetics categories were successful because the premium degree of the Pierre Cardin brand transferred undiminished into the new, adjacent categories. The owners of Pierre Cardin, unfortunately, attributed this to the strength of the brand rather than to the brand’s fit with the new product categories.

He had built the world’s most successful fashion empire and was regarded

To derive their product extension categories I studied their designs and collections for a couple of years and analysed their design sensibilities. I also examined their target audience in depth, so as to choose the right product for the right buyers. Then I derived key words that hint at their work at a glance and helped me choose the right extension.

Gauri and Nainika Karan Design Sensibility: They are inspired by anything beautiful; from European fashion history, art, music, books, personalities, theatre, Hollywood and red carpet glamour to Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and Hedy Lamarr.

The brand has always had an extremely feminine and romantic design philosophy with styles that are luxurious yet understated.

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labels have so far created big volume business.” - Illum Design

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Target Audience: The label Gauri & Nainika caters to a very distinct client – one who likes to dress with a sense of occasion and is always at the forefront of fashion. The styles are for a self-determining woman who is modern, chic, loves fashion for its magnificence and spectacular nature and pours her entire personality into her clothes.

Rajesh Pratap Singh Design Sensibility: Rajesh has a unique signature style that subtly draws from his roots to craft artisinal garments that stand apart due to their clean lines and careful detailing. His work epitomises simplicity, yet reveals his obsessive attention to detail. Rajesh’s reserve reflects in his styling which combines the modern with the traditional in an understated design aesthetic.

Target Audience: Rajesh Pratap Singh’s clients are those who have a mature sense of style, where cuts and fits are of primary importance. They are aware of the western trends and yet desire Indian luxurious silhouettes.

Malini Ramani Design Sensibility: The style diva Malini Ramani, believes in the philosophy of designing clothes that she would love to wear herself. Her outfits are pure glam and her signature style reflects her vivacious personality. Vibrant colours, embroidery, plunging necklines, shine, sparkle and lots of sequin work is seen most predominantly in her designs.

Target Audience: Her clothes are glamorous and provocative, and are not for the timid client, with lots of beading, sequins and embroidery adorning feminine, figures hugging cuts. Her clothes can be seen in cocktail circuits from Mumbai to Monté Carlo, from Beirut to Moscow. Her super-flashy and sexy cut clothes are a hot favourite with Bollywood starlets, transforming them into 'millennium Indian love goddesses'.

Extensions Gauri and Nainika Karan Key words: Free spirited, timeless, romantic, elegant A Collector’s Item Gallery: It would be heaven for connoisseurs and admirers of priceless material things. Items which have the old Hollywood charm, and belong to that age of enduring glamour and opulence will find a home here.

E.g.: Elaborate frames/ mirrors, expensive wines and wine glasses, cigars, very opulent furniture pieces, pianos.

Rajesh Pratap Singh Key words: Austere, detailed, contemporary, urban Going with his extremely individualistic style, Rajesh Pratap Singh is someone who can respect practicality in design. To go with his very straight forward, out there personality designing for vehicle interiors is one very strong proposition.

No extra frills, neo classic look, simple straight lines with a great attention to detail.

Malini Ramani Key words: In-your-face, provocative, rebellious, ultra glam, sexy Malini Ramani has always defied the rules in order to create with the courage of conviction – the conviction to follow the dictates of her heart. For India’s most notorious party animal a holistic entertainment centre for those above 21 year of age looks like a good extension to her personality. The space would have an in-house disco/casino/bar.

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

fashion The research studies the history of hairstyles that takes its place within the larger history of fashion, an expanding field of study that has opened a rich new perspective on general developments. The general questions are these: how does the change in fashion show a change in hairstyles? How does a change in community affect hair trends?

Sukriti Grover sukriti_g@yahoo.com

In the secondary research phase, various magazines, books, Internet, and other indirect sources were used in order to gain knowledge on the topic. In the primary research, a market survey was carried out to find out the role of hair in fashion today. The view point of hairstylists was taken. A questionnaire was given out in Delhi at different places to understand the market and a whole lot of professionals from the fashion field were interviewed. The following topics were enlisted: a change in society, change in consumer habits, changing notions of fashion, growing role of hairstylists, hair dressing being one of the top Industries today in the fashion world. Thus the changes were observed and extensively used for a brand building exercise. It leads to organising an event for a famous hair product company (L’Oreal).

‘A fashion show screening the time line of hair trends followed by an informative exhibition educating us on the History of Hairstyles.’ The event would be a public relations activity for L’Oreal. The show would be attended by celebrities, socialites, makeup artists and hair dressers. To add glitz to the show there would be large scale media coverage.

Brief Hairstyle Timeline Important landmarks in the field of hairstyles were studied and periodically recorded as a part of my secondary research. History witnessed consciousness about hair in a period as old as 1000 B.C. Some of the important hairstyles that can be traced from the past are: Big Wig (1000 B.C.): In ancient Egypt women believed thick hair was best and used hair extensions and wigs made of real hair or sheep’s wool. People made braided wigs for bald people.

Corkscrew Curls (400 B.C.): The ancient Greeks curled their hair with bronze rods. People say they may have been the first curling irons.

Powdered Heads (260 A.D.) - In ancient Rome women and men dyed their hair with gold dust and powder.

Page Boy (350 A.D.- 1450 A.D.): Short hair cut.

Twist and Turns (16th century A.D.): In China, men shaved the front of their head and twisted the back into a long braid.

Towering Tresses (Mid 17th century A.D.): Women in Europe made big hairstyles and decorated their hair with flowers, jewels and feathers.

Bobbed Tops (1920s): Women in Europe and United States cut their hair and in a small sort of way it’s called a bob. They then had their hair waved permanently.

Beatle-cuts (1960’s): A mop of hair on the head combed down on the front sides and the back.

The first hair styles came from 3000 B.C. Muslim Women wore veils and Muslim men wore turbans.

Traditional Englishmen wore wigs. Dreadlocks come from the Caribbean. Rastafarians did not believe in cutting their hair. Various developments of the past have not only influenced modern day hairstyles but also introduced the world to quite a few technicalities.

A World of Hairstyles Hairstyles have become supra-national. The world has grown smaller and has made us conscious of

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our foreign neighbours and their fashion. Hairstyles now form a very important part of our appearance. Celebrities are the new trendsetters; the hairstyles they carry become famous and are quickly adopted by the fans.

Hairstyles are becoming more and more individualistic by the minute. We have hairstyles to suit our face, shape and personality, e.g., Ingénue and Romantic styles classic looks.

Hair dressing is one of the top Industries in the fashion world. Fashion expands in the industry and hence opportunities in this field are growing at a commendable pace. This is has started to occur not only in hair salons but also in the film & TV industry, fashion houses, magazines, and photo studios.

There is immense potential in the hair dressing industry; the opportunity for growth and personal development is a part of this profession.

Synopsis

Hair Styling – Current Trends and Forecasts Fall 2007 Hairstyles Inverted Bob Pixie hair cut Short Crop Forecast For the Year 2008 Revival in the crop Shaggy styles, pixies and bob Changes in the Society

In this changing cosmopolitan world, people are becoming more and more attentive and conscious about their appearance. There is independence of thought and a sense of individuality. We live in a world obsessed with beauty.

That’s why people all over the world see hairstyling to be important. Hair is a symbol of beauty. It influences the way others see us. In today’s modern world people are more sophisticated, more educated and more fashion conscious whether male or female. People are now realizing that it’s just not clothes, shoes or jewellery which describes them; it is also their hair, this is the reason why they are getting more experimental and are open to changes. Hair is now considered to be an expression of personality; it attracts people and sends out a signal. It helps you feel good.

The increased consciousness amongst people and their desire to be individualistic has resulted in the society getting influenced to quite an extent.

We, as a society, have experienced a change in outlook and as a result, the consumer base has been transforming. There is an obsession for distinction as a result of which, you see women going for their own individual styles; people’s reaction, disapproval or criticism bother them no more. Diversity is the key. There is a lot of movement and texture in the hair. This attitude of people has surely benefited the stylists; they can now show off their skills and creativity with great pride.

Hair dressing industry is a huge growth area all over the world. Hair stylists are creating business by continually varying their creations making seductiveness of these styles overpowering. These daring and enterprising groups of stylists desire radical changes in hair styling. Everything must be improved or modified, especially in the domain of fashion: hair being the most capricious and unstable of human fancies.

Consumer habits have witnessed changes: Better education is leading to better income and more leisure time. This increases social bonding, Looking good makes one feel good and work better.

Changing notions of Fashion: Improved technology plays a major role in this regard. Globalisation has lead to a change in the notions of world mainly in the field of fashion. This has made people more aware and fashion conscious. Even ideas of femininity and the social order are changing.

Organizing an Event: The event would be a hair fashion show hosted by L’Oreal where the models would sport the various hairstyles depicting the history of hairstyles (the timeline). There would also be an exhibition display where photos of an assortment of hairstyles over the various eras would be framed and displayed.

Final outcome A brand building exercise for a famous hair product company (L’Oreal).

It would be a public relations activity for L’Oreal. The show would be attended by celebrities, socialites, makeup artists and hair dressers. There would be huge scale media coverage as well.

Role of Hairstylists Hairstyling is no more considered to be a low profile and low-paying job.

Hairstyles are now an integral part of fashion. This necessitates the existence of hairstylists. The upcoming demands of hairstylists have led to the creation of a new guild.

L’Oreal’s objective for carrying out the event: The event would be a brand building exercise for L’Oreal. Through the event L’Oreal would be able to show that it is they who have known the nitty-gritty of hair from the very start. They would be able to showcase proficiency in their trade.

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Theme: The theme of the event would be grey with a streak of neon. It is perfect to portray the remnants of the past to the colourful world of hair today.

Hairstyles: The hair styles would be created by the L’Oreal professionals with reference pictures from the past.

Models: The models would walk the ramp showcasing the various hairstyles and their bodies would be painted silver, the faces would be painted like that too and they would be wearing silver outfits. This would help the hairstyles get more attention.

The layout: There would be a winding ramp in the middle of the hall portraying a hair wave; the seating would be around the ramp which would be winding too as per the ramp. The first seating area would be at eye level with the ramp, the next one would be higher and the one after that would be higher than the second one. There would be stairs leading to the next level where along the periphery of the wall the photographs or the timeline would be displayed leading to the exit. The first level of the seating area would have grey flooring.

The second would be neon pink and the third would be grey again. The display walls would be grey in colour too and the frames on the pictures would have neon coloured frames.

Hair fashion show hosted by L’Oreal where the models would sport the various hairstyles depicting the history of hairstyles (the timeline). There would also be an exhibition display where photos of an assortment of hairstyles over the various eras would be framed and displayed. The theme of the event would be grey with a streak of neon.

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photography Photo Graphics Photo graphics, is a field of work that blends graphics and photography. As a recent and developing field, I chose to study it in detail for the purpose of this research paper. I wished to understand the varied impacts that can be made with photo graphics. I mainly concentrated on print ads and the role of the photographer in making the advertisement effective in its messaging and its visual appeal.

The coming up of digital technology has revolutionised creating print ads. This has altered the role the photographer has to play. He can no longer just use a camera alone and work in isolation to arrive at the final product. A photographer’s work passed on to a graphic designer or an art director can lose its intended meaning. With the development of new digital media, it is now the photographer’s responsibility to take care of post production alterations.

In the course of this study I explored the field of photo graphics extensively. I attempted specific techniques such as High Dynamic Range (HDR), layering etc., and used several softwares such as Photoshop and Photomaix.

Yatindar Kumar yatenmn12890@yahoo.co.in

Details My research is based on the use of photography in graphics and vice versa. Now a days digital technology has revolutionised print advertisements. Earlier analogous photography was the only option available.

A photographer would shoot on film and had to frame a perfect shot while taking care of lighting, composition etc. Today the story is very different. With the development of digital technology the meaning of photography has changed altogether. Post production editing can now be done in seconds through various editing softwares like Photoshop, Corel photo paint etc. This has had a huge impact on the advertising industry and print ads at large. Now graphics also play a critical role to give an image a fresh look.

Conclusion Today, a photographer’s job has become more extensive as he is responsible for the post production of the shoot as well. As of now many photographers outsource the post production work but still I wish to make people aware that as technology is developing day by day, a photographer must also become more versatile.

This shot was taken for an exhibition and was cropped graphically to alter the visual impact. In the final product, the viewer never sees the fruit entirely. By carefully cropping the image one gets the sense of the presence of the entire fruit without having to see it in its entirety.

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

101 Original shot

Edited

Shot in the afternoon, this shot was intended to convey the message of a rising India. Careful editing work in Photoshop helped me create a map of India with the clouds.

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Original shot

Below: These shots was taken as a part of a product shoot for a magazine. No studio lighting has been used in the raw image. The final effect was achieved through colour correcting and background editing in Photoshop during post production.

Original shot

Edited

Top: This shot was a self exploration. It is an aerial shot of test tubes that was later carefully edited in Photoshop to create a print ad for Benetton.

Edited

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

103 Original shot

Top: I clicked this photograph as a part of my own photographic endeavour. I edited it to give the image a beautiful dream-like effect.

Edited

Below: A special technique, called HDR (High Dynamic Range) was used to click the following images. This technique records a greater range of tonal detail than any given camera could capture in a single photograph.

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photography Role of Lighting in Advertising This report describes a ‘building work-up’ assignment that focuses upon lighting analysis, exploring the relationship between research and design through case studies of significant ‘masterworks’ of advertising photography.

The assignment makes a connection between case study analysis - combining scale modelling and field measurement - and design exploration, as part of a research.

Sandeep Mohit Bansal sandeepmohit@gmail.com

I first studied significant photographic exemplars by constructing and testing daylight models and then compared the results through a field test (called a ‘building work-up’ in the end semester project to suggest a diagnostic exam) that includes lighting measurement and an occupant survey. Lighting models enable simulation of a space under all lighting conditions. Field testing allows comparison with observation of actual conditions. By combining the two approaches, I progressed from model-scale to full-scale testing, while exploring questions about lighting design lessons and principles that might be derived from the case study. Three techniques of lighting in advertising photography were selected for study at my work place. The results of these studies are reported here. All are fashion related advertisements, selected to allow cross-comparisons, but without an ‘answer’ defined in advance of what detailed case study analysis might reveal. We learned that it is instructive and in some cases essential to combine scale-model testing with building work-up assignments. The experience also showed that such research assignments can be integrated into a design studio - one could argue should be - in order to demonstrate the necessary iteration between research and design exploration.

Premise The studio is intended to explore the architecture of light; both sun lighting and electric light, as formgiving and form revealing. While light is but one of the many concerns of architecture, it is fundamental to the initial conception of design that responds to climate and environment. Behind this statement is the premise that sustainable architecture-that which sustains our cultural and environmental resources for future generations-will be naturally lit, inspired and inspiring by the poetry of light.

Photography is defined as both artistic exploration and scientific measurement, at times undertaken with the flight of imagination, at others by rigorous testing. The studio schedule will consist of a set of iterative assignments that explore these two interrelated but often competing approaches to design, suggested by posing two questions: 1. The case for art: To what extent is light a primary form-giver of architecture, when conceived imaginatively and inspirationally? This question will be explored by designs conceived poetically as light-responsive environments.

2. The case for science: To what extent does light measurement and systematic light-model studies provide a guide to design? Is it inspiring or inhibiting? This question will be explored by structured design tests.

These questions will be explored by comparative design assignments, conceived imaginatively and tested rigorously. Lighting models will be used as a medium of design inspiration, expression and testing. Each student will develop a design concept of a building (from two- to four storeys) inspired by light, integrating structure, material, scale and architectural details, presented in plans, sections, elevations and a crosssectional model.

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This report describes lessons learned from the assignment in the context of the studio lighting and provides ‘Building Work-up Reports’ of the three case study examples, which include Outdoor lighting, studio lighting with strobes, and mixing of lights, along with self-evaluations. The most important lessons come from iterative learning; from primary research, raising questions (hypotheses), and then field testing (secondary research), all the while seeking design principles that can be incorporated into the continuing lighting assignments.

Initially, I constructed lighting models based upon available documentation (magazine articles and books). The models were tested under real and artificial sky conditions (including photographic documentation), raising questions that might be followed up by field observation, measurement, and occupant surveys.

The survey was adapted from a ‘one visit’ lighting evaluation protocol

developed for audiences that results might be compared to a developing multi-building data in formation.

Design inquiry and research are thus combined, evolving understanding of day lighting quality, and its variations in climate, seasonal and occupant comfort, along with comparison with electric lighting evident in the case study results.

Corollary lessons result from the students adopting the researcher’s curiosity and need for accurate methodology and replicable results.

Overall, the conclusions of this day lighting analysis and selective case study methodology are as follows: Before the field visit, the various preconceptions developed through scale model study were either too limited or incomplete and in two of the three cases, proved to be somewhat off-base. One could conclude that field testing is an essential correlate to model testing. Understanding the annual flux of lighting through model testing was also valuable, providing insights not achievable through field tests alone.

The Methodology The daylight testing assignment incorporates the following steps: Select an example for study (from a list of selected advertisements). It is important that projects selected are of some deliverable interest to me and exemplary in some way, with potentially instructive and challenging day lighting lessons.

Obtain documentation, sufficient for the lighting model. Published sources (magazines and books) provide available references, further augmented by contact with the photographer’s office for documents.

Create an outdoor shoot, sufficient for testing and photography. The time allocated to model making has to be limited by emphasis upon the

selective use of the shoot equipments (for testing and photographing).

Durability and portability is required, e.g., contacting the model to simulate all times of the year and taking the equipments to impose requirements for light-weight and transportability.

Hypothesize various questions and day lighting principles through model testing.

Outdoor lighting study should include both qualitative and quantitative assessment. The most valuable learning is to understand the flux of light in the shoot scenario through observation and model measurements. An exploratory attitude about principles and lessons revealed are best developed in class discussion by reference to the model studies.

Provide training for field-testing. A short briefing on field measurement and occupant survey design was offered by Mr. Tarun Khiwal. The survey, developed by his learning of Lighting techniques, is principally for evaluation of electric lighting in commercial advertising, was adapted to include day lighting-related questions (see sample survey form in the next section).

Arrange and undertake field-test, including on-site measures and self survey. In all of the examples, the case study advertisements were accessible to the field testing visit by advanced notice and prior approval.

In all cases, Creative directors and staff were interested and helpful in all cases.

Summarise findings based on the several test results Outdoor Lighting Synopsis Kimaya shoot was done at an outdoor location under a weak day lighting condition. The intention to provide maximum day lighting is an evident progenitor of the cross-section of the design, through a combination of reflective lighting equipments, light shelves and roof and ceiling reflection.

Model and field testing proved the efficacy of its original goals.

Kimaya shoot is the best ‘day lighting’ exemplar. Light modelling was used by the photographers as part of their design brief by the agency. A goal was to provide day lighting throughout the background, sufficient to preclude the need for electric lighting during daylight hours. The findings of the Kimaya shoot were close to the results anticipated from the lighting model study, e.g. day lighting is more than ample, with the clerestory giving the effect of a very powerful illuminaire. A feeling of clarity and brightness pervades the entire shoot. Due to evident care in calculation of sun shading at south facing location, there is no observable bright sun or contrast in the whole picture.

Field tests and occupant surveys confirmed that the day lighting is very well designed (requiring little or no electric lighting during daylight hours).

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This is because the location is relatively small (compared to the other examples), lighting conditions at the main frame allow a very little margin, as when required (reportedly only in relatively cloudy conditions and at twilight).

occupant survey indicates that the lighting is appreciated by a majority of photographers (96% reported satisfaction with lighting comfort).

Synopsis

Hypothesis The intent of the ‘building work up’ assignment was to understand how well the goal of understanding lighting techniques under daylight was accomplished. Based upon the model testing (prior to the actual shoot), it was determined that day lighting appeared to be very effective, with very high light levels measured especially due to reflections from adjacent reflectors.

It was seen through test shoots that direct sun lighting is carefully controlled and minimised if not eliminated by careful sizing of the light-shelves / sun shades. The resulting hypothesis then was that day lighting photography was effective, to be verified by field measurement and observation.

The daylight factor under ‘artificial sky’ sky (simulating cloudy day luminance) is high, in the range of 9%, with the most significant variable being the actual roof reflectance, to be verified by on-site inspection. At the location, the reflector was determined to be black & silver, a bit darker but comparable to that used in the model. Comparable measurement at the field visit (cloudy sky in the range 1500 ft) indicated that this was high by several percentages but accountable due to equipment arrangements which blocked and absorbed light reflection. The effectiveness of sun reflecting on inside surfaces, especially the north-facing side of the interior was confirmed to be very effective in creating bright lighting without direct sun

Due to underground placement, the indoor strobe lighting provides the only evident connection to the indoors. The layout accomplishes this through a generous light that includes vertical skimmers mounted on the inside of the major strobe light mullions that serve as light reflectors much like a lighting fixture or illuminaire.

Findings of the advertising brief to photographers were surprising in that ‘so called’ visual and lighting problems that had been anticipated by preliminary model testing essentially, the initial hypothesis that indoor lighting would be too bright under the studio condition light and that this would create an unacceptable contrast ratio between sky lit and electrically lit areas.

The shoot includes precision in conditions, that is, at open lighting desks and in closed studio chambers with only electric lighting.

Hypothesis prior to actual shoot The intention was to test the strobe lighting effectiveness of the rough layout format.

When the researcher studied the lighting instruction, questions arose about how effective the indoor lighting might be in bringing the sense of out-of-doors into an underground dull object.

Results and conclusions The results of Kimaya shoot were comparable to those predicted, in a sense, confirming the original hypothesis.

The day lighting photography provides a high level of illumination for most daylight hours. It is the photographer’s practice to utilise electric lighting only as needed under dark and cloudy conditions. Model testing, in this case, was effective in revealing the layout’s intent and effect. Day lighting is ample, diffused and reflected throughout the shoot it does not create any unacceptable hot spots in the camera sensing zone, sensor areas.

Concerns related to the day lighting technique came from comments of the creatives present over there, that there was some reported uncomfortable sun and glare into the model’s arena during late afternoons.

In all other respects, the day lighting is exemplary. Daylight is reflected off the ceiling providing a more than satisfactory level of illumination throughout (requiring little or no electric lighting even under cloudy conditions). The

Based upon the lighting model tests in full studio conditions, it was ‘guessed’ that the design had a problem with ‘over lighting’.

A hypothesis was thus formulated, that the studio lighting was imbalanced, and a field test undertaken essentially to determine whether or not this was the case. On the other hand, the quality of lighting of the model studied under the artificial lighting (power-packs) appeared to be very effective and pleasant due to the diffusing effect of the sloped structure which acts like a reverse lighting reflector.

The model study also revealed an interesting and varied natural lighting design due to multiple reflections, although it was not known whether the model accurately replicated actual conditions. Measurement of the lighting indicated very high daylight factors, with direct light falling on the object areas. It was surmised that these areas would not be used during these over lit periods.

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concluded with a design that makes the mixing noticeable.

As noted, the operating hypothesis was proved incorrect. The lighting in the shoot is extremely effective, with a high degree of light reflectance and diffusion that results from the unusual cross-section. The model is amply lit throughout, with an acceptable ‘contrast’ between brightly lit spaces and other spaces (stack areas with low level electric lighting) providing relief and variety.

The fact that there are two wings, one with the tungsten light facing north and one facing east, creates a range of lighting conditions from electric to power strobes at any one time. One can choose to locate the source in a bright lit but still brightly diffused area.

The question or hypothesis raised via model testing was whether the day lighting is all too subtle and not effective, especially under low light, that is, cloudy conditions.

The building’s orientation and light reflectors serve to diffuse and reflect sunlight, making the atrium bright and pleasant under both conditions. While excellent lighting quality is thus achieved, glare from the lighting fixtures and their seemingly haphazard placement (not aligned with the geometry of the atrium) indicates insufficient coordination between strobe lighting and electric lighting layout. This was the one critical design issue identified by observation.

This example turned out to be among the best of the lighting techniques that was investigated and the only one (of three) where all survey respondents rated lighting conditions as comfortable and more favourable than electrically lit shooting areas.

Mixing of Lighting Techniques Synopsis The mixed lighting model tests presented a counter-intuitive result, at least one not anticipated. Illumination at the bottom of space is provided as much by lateral day lighting and electric lighting as by the overhead lighting.

While the occupant surveys indicated some concern with bright lighting conditions at the location this is relatively minor and relieved by the fact that there are so many other places to choose from. The field visit did raise questions of under lighting of some areas within the location, including critical areas affecting shooting condition (tripping due to poor visibility).

Like the glare at the model arena at, or the foggy atmospheric conditions this instance illustrates that the ideal disposition of day lighting and electric lighting remain elusive objectives of advertising design.

Hypothesis prior to field testing The lighting model analysis revealed an extremely subtle - in fact hardly measurable- variation in light. This was accountable due to the relatively small low-reflectance of the concrete surfaces. The photographer obviously had choices in designing the mixed lighting. Whatever options were considered, we

Self Evaluation This undergraduate research project was quite a learning experience. I learned from what we did correctly, but much more from what we did wrong. I do think that lighting models are worth doing. The layout that the researcher worked upon was pretty accurate to the actual lighting levels measured at the location.

In constructing the shoot, it was learnt that how the location & lighting goes hand in hand and day lighting technique works the way it does. You don’t quite get the same understanding by looking at pictures or by studying drawings of the design.

The trip to the location and taking the readings there was a terrific learning experience. Some errors in the readings can be traced to the materials in the prints, where our print quality was not quite accurate. Results were a little off due to this factor. Also, the floor in the shoot was not as dark as in the model. In our model, this decrease in the light reflected from the floor and our readings were a little off because of this.

A site visit prior to a shoot has really helped I learnt a lot more about ways in which natural day lighting can be used to enhance a space. A lot was gained from actually visiting the location to see the techniques in action. Some of it was from looking at the other photographer’s work back in the studio.

This has made me more conscious of using natural means of illumination, something that I will carry into my professional career. I also learned a lot about how to do a research project. There are things that I would like to do over, not because I did them wrong, but because I think I could do them better.

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advertising How brands will communicate in the new world Building brands, like building relationships, is a complex business. Times have changed and mere rhetoric doesn’t necessarily always do the selling job. The consumer today holds the reins. In fact, this is an ongoing revolution that we are living in. For the very first time in the history of media, the end user is the one who presses all the buttons. He’s the one in control and he knows it. Armed with a remote control, a mouse and a mobile… he can well change the course that your brand will take…

The challenge for brands in the new world will be to engage customers, through the creation of brand experiences. Experiences that engage the interest of the consumer to such an extent that he does much more than just take a peek at your brand as he walks past. In other words, rather than have brand windows for consumers to look at your product, you need to create more entrances, where the consumer can walk in, experience and feel for himself, the virtues of your brand. The idea is to make him a participant, not a spectator. To do this, of course, he needs an entry point. He needs a door...

Nike Town is an idea that has a door: A retail store that brings alive, for customers, the philosophy of brand Nike. Once inside Nike Town, one is encouraged to ‘JUST DO IT!’… kick a foot ball… do a high jump… a skateboard stunt… or just a funky customized design for Nike footwear!

This experience creation is not just about retail spaces. Brands are creating experiences in virtual spaces and places where their customers frequent. Malls, multiplexes, schools, colleges, offices etc. are places where brands are looking to increasingly engage customers. Wilkinson Blades does so through the creation of a proprietary interactive game. Times of India has initiated the Lead India movement which engages readers in a mass movement to create leaders of tomorrow.

Advertising agencies are beginning to realize that their jobs are not to ‘polish the windows’ on their clients’ brands or ‘decorate them with pretty curtains’. Instead, they need to create as many doors as possible, ‘reframe’ them if necessary, so as to allow the maximum number of people inside.

It is with this in mind that our industry looks forward to fresh talent…

As you embark on a new journey of discovery, I wish you every success… may every door that you encounter, open wide for you…

Wishing you all the very best!

ROHIT OHRI Managing Partner JWT, New Delhi

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advertising The Power of Television Commercials A tear trickled down my cheek when I saw the first fund raising ad for tsunami; my smile gets wider every time I watch the Hutch pug helping children with different tasks; Pakiya’s selection in the Indian cricket team gives me a high; the hutch half marathon campaign got me excited enough to become a part of the event; such is the power of commercials. These emotions aren’t evoked in just a few people.

It happens on a very large scale. Months of research work, editing, writing, discussing and debating goes into formulating the movie clip, possessing the power to cause that curling on the side of your lips or in influencing you towards taking a particular action. Hard work of hundreds of people goes into making such a widespread impact.

The power of commercials fascinates me; I appreciate the play of emotions that encourages acts of various kinds in various individuals with just one viewing! My keen interest, enthusiasm and zeal drew me into taking up ‘The power of television commercials’ as my topic of extensive research that stretched over three semesters.

Rupin Suchak rupin_suchak@yahoo.com

Reading about the work of ad agencies, reading critical analysis of certain famous television ads, studying the making of an ad, watching international ads that have not been shown on the Indian television; these were the first few steps taken by me, towards my study and constituted my secondary research.

My research involved conversations with the important people of the industry, interviewing the target audience, taking the feedback on various ads and understanding how varied the impacts can be on different kinds of people. These steps constituted the primary research.

At the end of the two semesters, I realised making the TV commercials would be the most difficult task.

Bringing a movie clip to a level of perfection where it is sustained in the market is one problematic area. I concluded my research work by conceptualising a few TV commercials, using my creative abilities and my extensive study of the topic.

Power of Television Commercials Why is it that when “pakya Indian team mein select hoo jaata hai tab humko bhi nachne ka maan karta hai”? Why is it that in the Happydent white ad, we wait to see the chandelier being lit by the guy who runs from all over to light it in time by his teeth ?. Or why do you say “aww” when the old man jumps and fetches a flower for the old lady when the youngsters cannot.

It is all preconceptualised and skilfully drafted in order to pinch you at the right place for you to either say wow, aww, or have a smile on your face. It is all commercial; it’s just not about making you like an ad but is about making you pay for the ad you watch (promoting a service or buying the product).

So the 5 drafted advertisements were thought over and over again to make them simple, communicative and above all up to advertising standards.

Contents: I drafted 5 advertisements: -- 2 PSAs (Public Service Announcement) -- 2 product promotions -- 1 event promotion advertisement

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

Duration: 30 sec.

Subject: The issue of people urinating on the road side, in India.

Story: On the screen simultaneously we see a dog and a guy as the main characters.

It is a centre split screen (2 scenes on simultaneously, side by side). The dog is on the left screen and the man is on the right screen split.

The dog is in a busy market sitting and wondering, slowly he gets up runs a little wanders about a little. The man the other side performs a similar action; he’s sitting in a busy area, gets up wanders about for a few moments and then starts walking.

The dog is on the road, running slowly; someone calls his name with something in his hands to feed him “aey Hasmukh, chu chu”. The man is also walking and someone calls his name “Hasmukh, kahan jaa raha hai yaar”

husky voice, e.g. Amitabh Bachchan)-----2 sec Video clip-2 (dissolves into the next)-----4 sec His zeal (on a blank black frame) (narrated by a male with a husky voice, e.g.

Amitabh Bachchan) -----2 sec Video clip-3 (dissolves into the next)-----4 sec His vigour (on a blank black frame) (narrated by a male with a husky voice, e.g.

Amitabh Bachchan) -----2 sec Video clip-4 (dissolves into the next)-----4 sec His devotion (on a blank black frame) (narrated by a male with a husky voice, e.g. Amitabh Bachchan) -----2 sec Video clip-5 (dissolves into the next)-----4 sec Tagline: Who are you?

Be human Fight against terrorism Let peace prevail (above 4 tags one after the other dissolves in form a black blank frame) - (5 sec) TATA AIG Life Insurance (Service Promotion)

Man: Arey bahut lagi hai, aa raha hu, paanch minute.

The dog runs towards urinal goes near the urinal and pees on the walls of the public toilet, after peeing he steps forward and puts some mud by scratching the ground by his rear legs.

Man at the same time goes near a wall and urinates on the wall.

The frame goes to a standstill.

Tagline: Jab yeh samaj sakte hai to aap kyon nahi.

Shauchalayon ka upyog karey aur apney shehar ko saaf rakhen.

Fight Against Terrorism (Psa) Duration: 35 sec.

Subject: This is an ad that would provoke people to fight against terrorism, not in a negative manner but positively, to let peace prevail. Its main motive is to inspire the viewer.

Duration: 20 sec.

Subject: Inspiring the viewer to avail the service of insurance, because nothing happens as per ones own wants.

Story: A man is sleeping in his room, it’s a dim lit room.

It is night time, the fan is making its sound because it’s old and not greased.

The man dreams (in his dream) He hears the disturbing sound of the fan, the sound increases, he opens his eyes and the fan falls on him.

Suddenly he gets out of his dream, he’s sweating, he sits up, and looks at the fan that’s still at its place making the same noise.

Tagline: Kyon ki cheezei pooch ke nahi hoti TATA AIG Life Insurance - Safe Life Saffola SMS 5252 For Free Cholestrol Check Up - Sequal

Story: The basic layout of the ad is a black frame with a tagline followed by a video clip, relevant to the tagline, in a slow motion and then the still of the end frame of the video clip dissolving in the blank black frame with the next tagline. The sequence of the tags and the video clip is illustrated below.

Every human is a soldier (on a black blank frame) (narrated by a male with a husky voice, e.g. Amitabh Bachchan) -----2 sec Video clip-1 (dissolves into the next)-----4 sec Every soldier is a hero (on a blank black frame) (narrated by a male with a

Duration: 50 sec Subject: The story is a sequel to the previously launched advertisement. The main aim is to spread of the awareness campaign by the company.

Story: 5 People on a racing track (it is all black and white mode at present) except the heart shaped balloons which are red in colour.

All the 5 people are dressed in different personalities (a businessman, a contractor, an engineer, a kid and an old man).

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Tagline: Aaj Kal Zindgi Ki Daud Mein They are set for a race it’s a 100 meters sprint.

A sound of a gun shot that symbolizes start of the race.

They run, the frame rate here is in a slow motion.

The camera moves on to the 1st person, he gets tired and leaves the balloon the gas balloon flies up, similarly 2nd, 3rd and 4th. All of them are tired and can’t run due to their cholesterol level problems; the kid completes the race and still has the red heart in his hands.

The focus here is on the kid, he runs and cuts off the ribbon symbolising the win of the race and now everything turns to colour.

Tagline: Raho Sabse Aagey SMS 5252 for a Free Cholestrol Check Up. Bend It at Euro 2009 - Germany Duration: 25 sec Subject: The main aim here is to show how enthusiastic the soccer game viewers are (about the game), and it’s an event promotion ad that would encourage the viewers to go to the place where the event is organised.

Story: The scene is at an airport. There is a queue of people at the boarding gate, the personnel is checking the boarding pass and one by one everyone moves in through the tunnel passageway into the plane. The character here is a businessman (apparently a soccer fan), is in the queue; his luggage is at his feet, When the queue moves forward he slowly kicks the bag forward and moves forward. When his turn comes for getting his boarding pass checked, he hands over the boarding pass to the personnel takes 3 steps back and quickly takes a penalty kick with his handbag, kicks it, the handbag goes flying inside the pass way, He jumps elated, people wonder what has happened.

Tagline: Bend It At Euro Soccer 2009 - Germany

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

advertising The objective of this report is to study and analyze the impact of celebrities when they are made a part of a social cause campaign. I undertook this study because I was keen to explore the cusp of the Page 3 and under privileged society. In today’s consumerist world, we see products and services being endorsed and promoted by celebrities. While, this is important as the marketers of consumer goods need to attract their market, the use of star power to address social issues is something which is intriguing. The intrigue stems from as much the identification of celebrities for a cause as their participation in conveying the message in an impactful manner. This is akin to consumer goods marketers and thus contributing to societal benefit.

Social Advertising – Definitions & Examples Social advertising is the advertising designed to educate or motivate target audiences to undertake socially desirable actions. The objective of social advertising is to change public attitude and behaviour and stimulate positive social change.

Deeksha Agrawal deeksha.agrawal@gmail.com

Public/ social service advertising is the use of commercial advertising techniques for non-commercial purposes. Typical topics for public service advertising include public health/public safety issues, emergency instructions, natural resources conservation information, and other topics of broad interest.

Public/ social service advertising campaigns are widespread around the world. Such advertising is generally produced and distributed on a cooperative basis by governmental agencies or non-profit organizations acting in concert with private advertising and mass media companies. In most cases, the non-profit provides the programming that is to be advertised, while the participating advertising agency and media companies provide creative services, media planning, and dissemination services on a pro bono basis.

“A role model is a person who through their own actions and advice helps others reach their fullest potential. A role model refuses to stand on the sidelines and does not become numb by the possibility of defeat.” – Unknown Use of Celebrities When icons talk, we all sit up and listen. So suddenly when the ‘punch-and-sock’ superstar Steven Segal lends his drawl to the voice of the Tibetan ‘freedom fighters’, we notice. A few key words may fly by us as we listen, star struck, to Richard Gere. He has that effect on us; but hey! we know what he is talking about. But do we really need him to tell us AIDS kills? Apparently yes, not to ‘know’ but to ‘register’. That’s celebrity power. Moreover, what celebrities do is that they make standing up for a cause cool.

So it is a smart move to rope them in to endorse a cause. Organisations like PETA have over the years strategically used celebrities to create awareness and pad up the efforts of its activists. Anuradha Sawhney, chief functionary PETA India says, “It’s very simple: when a celebrity talks or sets an example, people respond. Just last year a campaign had international super-model Marcus Schenkenberg freeing a bird with the tagline ‘Let birds fly free. A cage is a prison’. We got many letters and emails from all over India, asking how they could help and asking for advice on what they could do to stop the local trade in birds”. “It is true,” says G. Ganesh, assistant executive director (Projects) of the Eye Bank Association of India. The EBAI has tasted success with endorsements from Aishwarya Rai, Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan.

“Right after a media campaign is launched we record upto 500 letters each week. And it also translates into donors. That is exactly what we bank on”.

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Social Advertising in India There is large scope for social advertising in rural India. The Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on behalf of various ministries and departments is in charge of releasing campaigns on a vast array of social issues that include immunisation, girl child, women empowerment, health and family welfare, conservation of energy and national integration et al.

It has on its panel more than 24000 newspapers and journals. In the year 2001, the DAVP released 1,60,000 press advertisements in various newspapers in Hindi, English and various other regional languages. It also put up 400 exhibitions in different parts of the country on themes like national integration, communal harmony, family welfare and other developmental issues. Nearly 700 publications with a print run of around 20 million copies was also achieved. It also put up nearly 350 billboards, 2500 kiosks and an equal number of wall writings, over 9000 bus panels and five series of cinema slides each comprising 9000 slides in 13 regional languages.

Amitabh Bachchan has, since 2002, been taking time out from his busy acting schedule to help support India’s Polio immunisation programme. Thanks to his enormous popularity, credibility and appeal as a humanitarian, he has been able to play a key role in convincing parents to have their children immunised.

surveillance activities aimed at the complete elimination of Poliovirus and paralytic Polio.

It’s hard to imagine that anyone could object to a campaign to eliminate Polio — a disease that maims, paralyzes, and even kills its victims, who are mostly children. Yet, in one of the more bizarre confrontations between Islamic fundamentalists and the modern world, a tiny group of clerics in India is doing just that — and giving new life to a deadly disease. India’s neighbour Bangladesh has been free of Polio since 2000. For a country to be declared Polio free, no case should be reported for three consecutive years.

India seemed to be on the verge of eliminating Polio last year, when it reported just 66 cases of the disease, down from 1600 in 2002. However, since 2006 things have gone horribly wrong with India’s Polio elimination campaign; 325 cases had been reported that year, and at least 23 of them were fatal.

What’s caught people’s attention is that 70% of those infected with Polio this year are Islamic, even though they account for only 13% of India’s population.

What’s even stranger, and frightening, is the reason: some Muslims believe that the Polio drops are part of a conspiracy to sterilize their children, and are refusing to let them be vaccinated.

Campaign in Detail

Lara Dutta, Miss Universe (2000) from India, was appointed Goodwill Ambassador in 2001. As a representative of the Miss Universe Organisation, she took part in various AIDS-related events. She works with the Face to Face Campaign for Women, which seeks to increase global awareness of women’s lack of rights and access to reproductive health services.

The scale of the Polio vaccination drive being undertaken in India is unparalleled with 165 million children being reached in a single day. For several months now, as brand ambassador for UNICEF’s coordinated Polio campaign for the Health Ministry, Mr. Bachchan has been seen and heard scolding, reasoning and pleading with parents to help India become Polio free.

Case Study – Polio Campaign

He has glamorous help, of course. In a recent TV spot, an exasperated yet amused Bachchan tells the people that he will have to call a fairy to convince them and in walks the beautiful Aishwarya Rai to lend her voice to the Polio cause.

Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus, Poliovirus. It invades the nervous system and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. It can strike at any age, but affects mainly children under three.

Polio is mainly passed through person-to-person (i.e., faecal-oral) contact, and infects persons who do not have immunity against the disease. There is no cure for Polio, but the disease can be prevented by immunisation with Polio vaccine. Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) was developed in 1961 by Dr Albert Sabin.

OPV is a highly effective, safe and inexpensive vaccine, and has been used in all countries of the world to achieve Polio eradication.

Along with all 192 member nations of the World Health Organisation, the Government of India in 1988 committed the nation to the goal of global Polio eradication. Since 1995, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India has been conducting intensive immunisation and

Sports icon Sachin Tendulkar is also part of the campaign with Bachchan.

Clearly Bachchan is the one who scores in India’s vast rural countryside and urban settlements.

While Bachchan works his magic on the screen, millions of volunteers slave hard behind the scenes to make eradication of Polio a reality.

Around three million volunteers, many of whom trudge door-to-door in remote areas to administer the Polio drops right at the doorstep, are involved in the mammoth exercise to help India achieve its target of becoming Polio-free by the end of this year. Besides the problem of resistance (due to ignorance and religious beliefs), logistics is the bigger issue in India.

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

Impact of Polio Campaigns with Celebrities We all know that Amitabh Bachchan is the goodwill ambassador of UNICEF. But how did he happen to get this position? Well, it all started when the Government of India had designed the Polio ad campaign for him and it met with immense success. Where only a meagre 20 something people used to turn up earlier, at the Polio booths, lakhs started to pour in after Amitabh’s appeal to the masses.

Such was the charisma of the superstar that the United Nations wanted Big B to be their permanent representative. Moreover when they agreed to respect the reaches of his time, Bachchan couldn’t refuse.

Polio immunisation drives saw parents all over India trudging to the nearest booth to give their child the two drops of the vaccine that helps in immunising against the disease for which there is no cure. Most of them said they had been convinced by Bachchan exhorting them to do so on TV spots and radio commercials.

“In as many as 70 percent of the cases of people who came to the Polio booths, the respondents admitted that Amitabh Bachchan had been the prime motivator in them bringing their children for immunisation,” said Brent Burkholder, WHO’s regional advisor on immunisation and vaccine development for Southeast Asia.

Survey Results – Analysis & Conclusion Amitabh Bachchan in particular and other celebrities have had their impact in making the campaign a success. An overwhelming number of respondents said that “if Amitabh says so, I will go and get my children vaccinated for Polio”.

Other findings include: The target of Polio eradication of year 2000. However we are in 2008 and unfortunately the disease still remains. Although the numbers have come down significantly, eradication has not been possible.

The reason for using celebrities was that UNICEF, the main organization behind this movement, in an effort to achieve target wanted to shake people out of their complacency and therefore decided to include celebrities in their campaigns.

For his mass appeal, high recall and pervasiveness of image amongst all caste, creed, social strata, Mr Amitabh Bachchan was chosen as the brand ambassador.

As is evident from the findings that the move has been effective and inspite of the campaign running for so many years, the celebrity impact has not diluted much.

It was also identified that most of the communications are designed towards vaccination but very few towards educating masses on the causes of same.

Bates is the 3rd agency which is handling this campaign after O&M and JWT. All have brought their flavours to the campaign but the idea itself has not been changed much since JWT. This has led to fatigue setting in the campaign which is going to affect the impact of such a strong social message.

Although at various levels of the campaign, including site visits, there has been a lot of celebrity participation, such as Ravi Shastri, Mansoor Ali Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Farooq Sheikh, SRK and Sachin Tendulkar, still emphasis is on the same reminder campaign around Amitabh Bachchan. It seems UNICEF has not been able to use other celebrities as effectively.

Pros and Cons of the Campaign Studied Pros Localization of content, i.e., Polio campaigns crafted and aimed especially for areas which are more prone to reporting cases of Polio. These areas, identified by extensive survey, include but are not limited to UP, Bihar etc.

Use of celebrities has been extended to other messages such as Khasra and TB. These messages use Juhi Chawla and Mona Singh respectively.

Emotional quotient: In some of the campaigns, the creative has tried to evoke emotions in their script. It is established that advertising, whether social or commercial, has been more successful whenever it has used emotions as a tool for conveying messages.

UNICEF has not only identified but executed many public service campaigns especially for the welfare of children. This precedent should be carried on considering the scale of the initiative.

Cons Dr. Shalini Verma who along with a few colleagues organises malaria awareness and prevention camps in Bhopal is not as blunt. “There are a lot of causes that need help, but only a few get celebrities endorsing them. We know what a popular name can do. Amitabh Bachchan’s polio campaign is an example. It’s a vicious cycle. If there is no media attention, celebrities do not touch the cause; again if a celeb is not attached to the cause, the media pays no heed,” Verma says. “It hurts to know that one cause gets all the funds and support just because it provides the right photo-options, where as another equally meritorious cause goes unnoticed because it cannot attract glamour”.

Causes to be stressed in the announcements, campaign:. For some unexplained reasons none of the communication meant for masses

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So far this year, India has held three national Polio immunisation drives in January, February and in April. The next round will cover 135 million in states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where some of the areas are still uncovered.

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conveys information about causes. It only speaks about solution through vaccination. May be going forward some information pertaining to causes should be inserted.

No recognition system for agencies, NGOs, personnel related to such an important program: Recognition is important to motivate people involved with any activity. Government at its level and organizations such as UNICEF should come out recognition programs which will not only keep the motivation of personnel alive but also give incentive for common person to participate in success of this campaign.

Effective communication should be devised to counter the myths which have hampered the success of campaign. There is still no indication, despite having full knowledge of root of myths, in any communication which counters the myths.

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

advertising I researched the history of gaming; all kinds of video games from the time they originated till date. Then I conducted a survey to understand the psyche of non-gamers who would love to play video games on gaming consoles like PlayStation and XBOX but are not aware of the new launches. They are also ignorant about the prices and the advertising is not targeted directly at them. So I decided to design an interesting and simple series of print advertisements for PlayStation 3 targeting Indian customers. The advertisements I designed are simple but they don’t lose the impact or the feel of PlayStation.

I then conducted a survey on the basis of a questionnaire comparing both, old and new, advertisements.

From my survey I concluded that people in India want simple and easy to understand advertisements.

They tend to get attracted towards simplicity and powerful punch lines.

History of video games Abhijeet Verma abhicheatster@gmail.com

Video games were introduced as a commercial entertainment medium in 1971, becoming the basis for an important entertainment industry in the late 1970s/early 1980s in the United States, Japan, and Europe.

After a disastrous collapse of the industry in 1983 and a subsequent rebirth two years later, video game industry has experienced sustained growth for over two decades to become a $10 billion industry rivaling the motion picture industry as the most profitable entertainment industry in the world.

How has PC gaming evolved?

Each and every year video game manufacturers introduce new PC games that are bigger and better.

These games encompass every genre of video gaming and sometimes even create feature in new trends, such as the recent introduction of MMO gaming, or Massively Multiplayer Online games. With so many games to choose from and prices ranging up to a few hundred dollars, how can you decide which games to buy? Fortunately, there are numerous PC game reviews that help educate and guide you through the selection process.

PC vs. Console Console Advantages The most obvious advantage consoles have over PCs is cost. The XBOX currently sells for around $200, often with a couple games in the bundle, while it’s easy to spend that much or more on a quality PC video card alone.

The second most obvious advantage is simplicity. Let’s face it, PC gaming is a technical nightmare compared to console gaming. People can actually take a console home and be playing a game within minutes. No operating systems to configure or drivers to update, and better still, no purchasing a game only to find out that it isn’t compatible with your PC for some obscure reason.

Multiplayer gaming is also made easy and affordable with companies like Microsoft offering online services for their product. The XBOX, for example, comes equipped with a network card, making it a simple matter to hook it up to a DSL or Cable Internet connection and get into a multiplayer game on XBOX Live. Many people prefer to play games sitting on the couch, or they want to play with friends in the same room. While these things are possible on a PC, consoles are extremely well-suited for this right out of the box. Console games are more readily rented than PC games, and more easily returned to the

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retailer if you’re not satisfied with them. Generally speaking, it is difficult to return PC games because they are easy to copy. Console games tend to have a relatively low learning curve. You might need fast thumbs, but you certainly won’t need to spend hours in a “tutorial” trying to learn how to operate basic game functions.

Console Disadvantages Although sealing everything into one unit does keep it simple, when some of the components inside the box become dated there’s no way to solve the problem without replacing the entire console. In most cases, upgrades that could prolong the life of the system are not an option.

Consoles perform only one task really well, whereas PCs can be used for an extremely wide range of things. Some console manufacturers may try to make them a little more flexible, but it’s unlikely they will ever support near the selection of applications that is available for PCs. There is a distinct lack of inter-connectivity between the different console brands. Many games are available for one type of console but not others, and when it comes to online play, each is typically restricted to its own network.

This means that people with XBOX can only play against other people with XBOX, so, for example, there is no way for console gamers to jump into a fray on one of the countless Counter-Strike servers available. The PS2 has made some progress in this area, forging the way for cross-platform gaming between PS2 and PC users, but only one or two titles support this right now.

While the PS2 network adapter supports both 56K modem and broadband connections to the Internet, broadband is required for XBOX online play. As well, Microsoft charges a yearly fee of around $70 to use the XBOX Live service as well.

PC Advantages One of the biggest advantages the PC has over consoles right now is that there are a lot more games available for the PC than there are for consoles, particularly when it comes to multiplayer online games. Not only are the vast majority of MMOGs designed for the PC, but PC gamers also have the option to play MUDs, email games, browser games, and a wide variety of titles available as free downloads.

As mentioned above, another clear advantage PCs have over consoles is that you can use them for a lot more than playing games. Furthermore, if you like to modify games or edit maps for them, a PC is essential, also you have to take a break from gaming sometime to read gaming sites.

Computer monitors look a lot better than TVs. Even with a top-notch television, console hardware is not currently designed to run games at PC resolutions.

There is a reasonable chance of extending your PC’s gaming life with a component upgrade, although it can get messy and expensive.

Computer systems give gamers a variety of ways to connect to the Internet, and to each other, which aren’t restricted to proprietary services or software.

Different brands of computer and event different operating systems generally communicate very well with one another. This is quite different from services like XBOX Live, for example, which is the only option available to XBOX users that want to play online.

PCs are always on the cutting edge of gaming technology. With 128-bit architecture and 64 MB RAM the XBOX was pretty dreamy when it first came out. However, that pales in comparison to what a mid-range computer offers today, with 64 MB and even 128 MB video cards becoming the norm, to say nothing of motherboards that will support a gigabyte or more of memory. Even if a console offers incredible technology upon its release, there is no way for it to compete with the rapid hardware advancements that have become a way of life in the computer industry.

PC Disadvantages While PCs have come down considerably in price over the years, they are still quite expensive compared to consoles. Perhaps worse, we seem to be at a point where manufacturers would rather make them more powerful than cheaper, whether we need the speed or not.

Computers are also getting a little more user friendly, but eventually every PC gamer will encounter some technical complication, be it a device driver that needs updating or components that are simply incompatible. The truth is, installing a game on your computer is always a bit of a gamble. You never really know if it’s going to work until you’re actually playing the game, and even then, in the back of your mind, you’re expecting it to crash at any moment.

Unlike most console games, PC games have the potential to get ridiculously complicated. This can give a game depth, but it can also result in tedious arrays of keyboard commands and lengthy tutorials which one must endure to learn how to play. PC games are often not well-suited for playing on the couch, especially given that the mouse and keyboard are the preferred PC game controllers. Unlike console games, you also won’t find many PC games that support two players on one machine at the same time.

One of the primary things we look at from the ad standpoint is that it is the content we really care about. It could be argued that the print media is in the midst of dying a very slow death and nowhere is this more evident than in the gaming world. While gaming magazines used to be one of the primary sources of gaming information, the Internet has mostly usurped this role. After all, when users can gain instant access to game videos that offer them more

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

Sony Computer Entertainment has announced its new marketing campaign to support the launch of the PlayStation 3 (PS3) computer entertainment system and to further promote the popular PlayStation brand - ‘play beyond’, The new campaign, featuring the tagline “Play Beyond,” utilizes innovative advertising, viral and online components as well as promotion and retail activities to educate and inspire consumers as they get ready to usher us into the next era in digital entertainment.

With ‘Play Beyond’ I want to invite consumers to think beyond what they might typically expect in a videogame and entertainment system. The provocative campaign will help create a distinct brand identity for PS3 while at the same time start the conversation among consumers about the product not being an average console. In true PlayStation fashion, a secretive interactive viral layer has been added to the ad campaign to engage the loyal fan base.

The technology found in PS3 is unrivaled in its capabilities. My goal with this campaign is to demystify those technologies, utilizing enticing and easy to comprehend visuals to articulate the benefits they deliver to the consumer. This is an experience beyond games, which harnesses the power of imagination.

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about a game than several pages of written word and still screenshots from a source with a large lead time, it’s obvious which route they’ll take most of the time.

With ‘Play Beyond’, The provocative campaign will help create a distinct brand identity for PS3.

A secretive interactive viral layer has been added to the ad campaign to engage the loyal fan base.

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advertising Humour in Fashion Advertising ‘Humour’ is the word around which all other things revolve. The topic I planned to do my research on was ‘humour in Indian advertising’ where first I tried to understand each word from the phrase. It is not as simple as it looks. Everyday people are exposed to a large number of advertisements. There are thousands of products in the market and I thought it would be interesting to concentrate on those with humourous advertisements. The purpose of this study was to understand how different types of humour vary for different products. Also the studies explained to me the reason why audiences prefer of humorous advertisements to non-humourous ones. Therefore the purpose of this study was to find out how humour works in advertising and how it benefits it. Over a period of time, I have made a qualitative case study through which I was able to come to the conclusion that due to increased pressures in life, people prefer an easy going approach to things that would help them feel lighter.

Results show that at the moment there is very much a need for humour. Whether in the future humour will be required or not is very debatable, however in the current situation humour is something that people look forward to.

Akriti Jain akriti_jain@hotmail.com

My approach is to study humour by combining results from the study of all forms of advertising in India, into a common product framework. The data combines analysis of frequency of humour usage for all media as well as an analysis of humorous radio and magazine ads.

The use of humour has become a common practice in advertising. In order to update the research and knowledge for the reason of its occurrence and its impact, the research had to be conducted. Humour is by no means a guarantee of a better ad, but its effects can be enhanced with careful consideration of the objectives one seeks to achieve, as well as the audience, and type of humour that would suit them.

Humour is a complex topic and has been experimentally studied by advertisers in several dozen studies over the past twenty five years. Humour is a multifarious concept that is affected by a wide variety of factors. The audience factor appears to be vitally important in the success or failure of a humorous ad.

Humour types are another factor which needs to be looked at. The right kind of humour should be used for the right kind of product. Also the main subject of the ad should not be forgotten while trying to make it humorous.

What is advertising?

Advertising is a one way communication whose purpose is to inform potential customers about products and services and how to obtain them. Every major medium is used to deliver these messages, including television, movies, magazines, newspapers, video games, the Internet and billboards.

What is humour?

Humour is the tendency of particular images, stories or situations to provoke laughter and provide amusement. Many theories exist about what humour is and what social function it serves. Yet, people of all ages and cultures respond to humour and most people share a common sense of humour.

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reinforcement of ‘brand image’ and ‘brand loyalty’.

Black humour Also known as black comedy, is a sub-genre of comedy and satire where topics and events that are usually treated seriously-death, mass murder, sickness, madness, terror, rape war etc., are treated in a humorous manner.

Impact of humour in advertising

Caustic humour It is a type of humour designed to have negative impact. It involves witty language to convey biting or insulting remarks.

Satire Although satire is usually witty, often very funny, the primary purpose of satire is not humour, but is rather the criticism of an individual or a group in a witty manner.

Wit Wit is a form of intellectual humour. A wit is someone skilled in making witty remarks, typically in conversation and spontaneously.

Advertisements sometimes embed their persuasive message with factual information. Every major medium is used to deliver these messages, including television, radio, cinema, magazines, newspapers, video games, internet and billboards.

Weinberger & Gulas (1992) have conducted a study about the impact of humour in advertising. Humour research is plagued by many complexities and many variables can intervene in the relationship between a given humorous ad and its outcome. They further state that humour has never been a magic wand that assures more successful advertising, however success is defined. In spite of the wave of an increasing number of humourous advertisements that may lead one into overstating the case for humour in advertising, it is important to understand that humour can be appropriate and effective in some situation and not in others.

Final Research

Sarcasm It is the sneering, jesting or mocking of a person, situation or thing. It is strongly associated with irony –stating the opposite of intended meaning.

Benefits of Humour Humour attracts attention Better recall value for an ad Creates a positive feeling about the product Relative humour is superior to unrelative humour Makes people feel better Improves brand image

Fashion is the prevailing style or custom, as in dress or behaviour. Can humour exist in fashion?

Fashion brands are striving through marking their advertising. It is understood that high fashion brands actually work towards maintaining a high nosed image because they target a niche audience, while ‘humour’ immediately captures ‘mass brands’.

Importance of Humour

Pankaj Ahuja is at ease drawing caricatures and designing clothes. He makes a mark with his cartoons. He is serious about being humourous. He says, “It will be interesting to draw Chandrababu Naidu. Dark hair and light beard present a good combination,” says the twenty-something Ahuja, one of the country’s leading caricaturists.

Humour is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. Many theories exist about what humour is and what social function it serves. People of most ages and cultures respond to humour.

The majority of people are able to be amused, to laugh or smile at something funny, and thus they are considered to have a “sense of humour”.

It all began as a hobby for Pankaj during the days when he used to read Target that carried cartoons by Ajit. “I used to paint walls in a friend’s house with comic characters and caricatures,” he recollects as he adds modestly, “I was becoming popular as an artist and people used to invite me during parties, to their homes to draw.”

Brand Image and Brand loyalty

Popularity increased steadily and corporates like Bacardi began inviting him to enliven their parties by his art. Pankaj was in town recently to capture the myriad moods of the inaugural party for Bacardi Breezer at T2, where he worked furiously on the canvas throughout the evening. “Once at work, I lose myself,” he went on apologising to all those who kept on appreciating his work whenever they passed by.

Advertising is a form of communication that typically attempts to persuade potential customers to purchase or to consume more of a particular brand of product or service. Many advertisements are designed to generate increased consumption of those products and services through the creation and

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Greatly inspired by R.K. Laxman and Ajit, Pankaj says, “One always has to see the brighter side of things to be happy. Laugh when you are low and you soon forget your pain.” And how difficult is it for a caricaturist to make others smile? “Easy,” he quips in almost immediately. “A smile is really contagious. I smile at people and so do my drawings and people reciprocate.”

What is lesser known about Pankaj is that he is also a qualified fashion designer, who has worked with leading international and local designers.

“Presently I am working with Rohit Bal in the same platform,” he says. In fact Pankaj has been working with Bal now for the past six years. “Fashion and humour - both are different forms of art and are equally important. While one is for the body the other is for the soul,” he signs off with a smile, as he sharpens his pencils to sketch Babu.

“I have tried to create humour for fashion’s niche audience because at the end of the day everyone likes humour, while the choice of humour may vary, but everyone enjoys a good laugh.

Conclusion After doing the complete analysis and research on humour in advertising, studying all the possible advertisements and seeing how the change has occurred I tried to understand how people have changed over time and how their expectations have changed. I concluded that earlier humour existed in advertisements and was appreciated up to an extent but now as the tensions and pressures have increased in one’s daily life a medium to ease it out has become necessary. This is why people are appreciating the presence of humour even in serious topics. People need stress busters, which is why they are using lighter mediums and trying to involve them in the maximum number of topics.

An advertising campaign for fashion week, which is an area where humour has not really been tried.

My final product is an ad campaign for fashion week. I chose this topic as it was one where humour has not really been tried. Though humour already exists in fashion brands and products, it is yet to broach fashion week as a subject.

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

advertising Advertising is a paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, and services by a sponsor. In simple words, it is a business for the businessmen. Advertising is not new for the alcohol or cigarette companies and neither are a variety of other media including sponsorship, particularly of sporting events. Tobacco companies use such advertising to drive brand awareness and brand preference amongst smokers in order to drive sales and to increase brand and customer loyalty.

Surrogate Advertising

Ashutosh Shrivastav ashu.alive@gmail.com

A recent series of advertisements led me to delve into a very unique trend specific to Indian advertising - surrogate advertising. This is a trend which is fast catching up and has suddenly attracted a lot of innovative and creative brains around the country. A surrogate ad is an advertisement of a brand extension in such a way that brings clear recall of the core product in the mind of the consumer. Companies produce these campaigns, in order to avoid legal complications, and also in order to remain in the minds of consumers. It may include CDs, water, clothing, Apple juice, fashion accessories, sports goods or even events sponsoring.

When Did It Start?

Surrogate advertising has been around ever since someone decided that certain things were probably not good in the interests of the community at large. The government does not allow public advertising of liquor companies. Ironically, liquor and cigarette sales are the biggest revenue generators in terms of taxes and duties on these items. That’s why an overt acceptance of the marketing in these sectors is not legally acceptable. This has led to one of the biggest ironies of the country – sales of these items are not banned, yet advertising of the same has strictly been prohibited!

Talking about the market size and the different segments would not be pertinent to the discussion (for the record, it is more than 100 million cases in India!). But what is the significance of this trend vis-à-vis the entry points for new players and sustainability of existing ones?

Multinationals which would like to explore the Indian markets find the double-faced attitude of the government as an impediment to their ventures. Since no policy has been formalized in this regard, foreign companies continue to be sceptical about their entry. Domestically, it has led to innovative ways and methods of spending on different media for advertising from the companies, where companies do more of a brand building exercise than direct advertising. Be it promotions for brand building, or sponsoring events that can be mapped with the ‘showbiz’ and ‘glamour’ of the brand, advertisers don’t leave any avenue untouched if it can enhance their visibility.

The rule says, “Advertisements which lead to sale, consumption and promotion of liquor should not be allowed.” So, in surrogate marketing, a product which is different from the main product is advertised, and has the same brand name as the main product. The product is called ‘surrogate’ and advertising through this channel is called ‘surrogate advertising’ Banned Again, out of the two viable options for advertising, surrogate advertising has been surrounded by controversies and legalities for a long time. There is no clear policy from the government for obvious reasons and companies do not want to risk their investments on ads, which might not be screened after a while.

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Surrogate Advertising

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Liquor and tobacco are one of the major causes of deaths and disease in India, accounting for over eight lakh deaths every year. These are the second major cause of death in the world. It is currently responsible for the death of one in ten adults worldwide (about 5 million deaths each year). If current patterns continue, it will cause some 10 million deaths each year by 2020.

Half the people who drink or smoke today, i.e., about 650 million people will eventually be affected. The economic costs of use of these products are equally devastating. In addition to the high public health costs of treating diseases, it affects people at the height of their productivity, depriving families of breadwinners and nations of a healthy workforce.

Over a period of time and after a lot of research, it has been found that tobacco advertisements, sponsorships and promotions are major influences for a person to initiate tobacco consumption. 168 countries (ratified by 113 till date) of the world who signed the ‘Frame Work Convention on Tobacco and Liquor Control’, an international treaty of global dimension, expressed their concern about the advertising, promotion and sponsorship in no unclear term in the preamble itself; it reads “Parties to this convention (are) seriously concerned about the impact of all forms of advertising, promotion and sponsorship aimed at encouraging the use of these products.”

From the same concern the Indian government banned all forms of direct and indirect forms of advertising, promotion and sponsorship through a legislation called ‘Cigarette and other tobacco products Act 2003’. Despite that many surrogate forms of advertisement continues till date. Now, the government is banning the Surrogate advertisement also, saying that a surrogate ad is creating the same impact on the people.

Options available for Companies a. Companies are getting involved in sponsorships of events and have launched their own awards for bravery or lifetime achievements! b. Internet advertising has become a lucrative area which has so far not been delved into. The medium holds a lot of potential to enhance visibility, and companies have lately realized that. c. Catchy jingles have become the norm of the day to ensure that their brands have a high brand recall d. With restrictions in other marketing elements, in terms of pricing and distribution, companies have ventured into another important element – packaging. Innovative packaging makes their brands stand out of the clutter, and most of the multinationals are revisiting this element in their brand portfolio. Though the industry is not healthy for the young consumers, some processes and laws need to be formalized and established in the system. Else, innovative workarounds and arm-twisting

the laws would be the norm of the day for the entire liquor industry!

What Next?

Every businessman has a right to advertise himself, his products or his services to his audiences. If you are allowing someone to produce any product, he’ll be putting his efforts and money, or will suffer expenses for it. Obviously once everything is done, he’ll think about profit, because ultimately, what he’s doing is business. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. So he does canvassing, promotions or advertising to sell his product. Every producer has a right to advertise, it’s completely ethical. Why do we advertise products like condoms and undergarments ? The answer is simple: it is needed. People do smoke. People do drink. I mean these things possess high demand & accordingly business. Now a days wherever there’s a demand, there’s business and so their is competition, advertising etc. India has the biggest market for the products and services with a large number of consumers and competitors. I do believe advertising influences people rather it’s intended to do the same. However, advertising exists only when there is a competitive market.

Competition exists only when there is a high demand for the product and there are a number of sellers in the market. So, all these things are interrelated to each other, it’s just like a circle and advertising is not the only factor to be blamed or banned.

Final Product Again, out of the two viable options for advertising, surrogate advertising has been surrounded by controversies and legalities for a long time. There is no clear policy from the government for obvious reasons and companies do not want to risk their investments on ads, which might not be screened after a while. Liquor companies were forced to look at innovative ways of building their brands. With an objective of enhancing brand recall, companies now can’t even do ‘surrogate advertising’. So a safer choice available where companies can exercise their grey cells by advertising ‘socially responsible’ messages.

The method There is always a psychology that works in reverse. In this case the primary effect is an illusion, and it says that if you drink or smoke you are going to die. The secondary effect is the hidden and gradual one. It says if you drink or smoke its fun, it’s more than the life and that’s the effect that becomes the actual reality. It’s called reverse psychology. It’s like Newton’s law of physics that every reaction is followed by an equal and opposite reaction.

Target markets The intended audience of the tobacco advertising campaigns have changed

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

Research A research was conducted among 20 people and majority of them liked the idea. Four of them are well known advertising agency creatives.

Most of them have liked the idea though. Below is the graphical representation of the same. The company image will be enhanced by the service provided from the society. People will believe that the company is working towards a cause and they care about their consumer’s health.

Idea About the idea both of them as drinker and nondrinker believe that it’s a good communication strategy and effective too.

Influence Most of the drinkers and smokers think that such an advertising campaign will continue to inspire them in terms of taste towards a company. It is extremely true that those who smoke or drink know the ill effects of them. However the during the time that they are alive it’s a form of enjoyment; a celebration of life; same as a non-drinker or a non-smoker.

Conclusion Reverse thinking created reverse therapy. It is pragmatic - it focuses on new ways of thinking that trigger creative thinking, useful actions that take change in a new direction. It is not interested in whether ideas are right or wrong - only in whether they are useful. Think about those who want to enjoy; those who think they can be stylish if they have a cigarette. No one can ban an individual’s

choice. So let the confusion arise. Let the people believe that it’s not good for their health but force them to think that it’s more fun, it’s balanced and it’s life.

Reverse psychology, advertising the product to people below the legal smoking age. Targetted at the female market. People will believe that the company is working towards a cause and they care about their consumer’s health.

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throughout the years, with some brands specifically targeted towards a particular demographic.

I have intended to advertise the product to people below the legal smoking age. I have also targeted the female market, seeing it as a potential growth area since the largest market segment has traditionally been male.

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advertising Psychology in Advertising These days advertising and marketing firms are targeting young, urban, Indian women, who are earning their own money. There has been a growth in women’s disposable income, making them potential customers for a range of products that particularly address the needs of modern-day Indian women. This has resulted in the emergence and monopoly of international brands in the Indian market over its local brands.

Many brands have repositioned their personal care products and gone in to expanding their product lines and customizing their products based on changing consumer wants and demands. During the course of this project I looked into case studies of various brands targeting women in India and the strategies used by the brands to market themselves depending on the market scenario and the mind sets of the consumers at the time.

Dechen Tashi tashi.dechen@gmail.com

The objective of my study was to determine the effective use of psychology in marketing a luxury product such as Sunsilk shampoo. The paper also covers strategies that could be used in further brand building and marketing of Sunsilk since the success of its ‘Gang of Girls’ campaign which helped the brand reach out to and establish a relationship with the younger fun-loving and stylish crowd.

Changing Face of the Indian Woman Over the years, India has experienced a huge shift in the once deeply rooted ideas about women. The women of today have the liberty to take on more responsibility outside their homes and take active part in the work culture. With the changing outlook of society and with the acceptance of women in professional fields, sometimes even at par with men, women have adapted themselves to the art of multitasking and balancing their personal and professional lives.

A research conducted in the top 23 cities in India by the GSK Consumer Healthcare states that women who belong to the top socio-economic classes spend approximately Rs.800crores every year on cosmetics, health foods and apparel. In the last few years a number of international brands like L’Oreal and Garnier have come into India hoping to grab a share of the growing market owing to the development in the Indian economy. This growth in the economy has been characterized by increased spending power and disposable income resulting from both members of the household earning, access to a larger number of products of internationally recognized brands.

Methodology I began by choosing a topic of my interest which would enable me to research and eventually come up with a product or solution relevant to the topic chosen. The first step in this area involved collecting relevant information from secondary sources. Secondary information was gathered from the internet, books and various other sources.

I reviewed the case studies of the following brands in the luxury products’ sector that have repositioned themselves: Dove L’Oreal Lakmé Pond’s

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

The final step involved consolidating and analyzing the information gathered, after which a final product and a manner to present the information were decided upon. This meant, coming up with strategies that Sunsilk (India) could adopt to further market its brand image and new range of shampoos.

Hairapy’ was aimed towards users in their 20s and upwards said to be in their ‘quarter-life crisis’.

‘Get Hairapy’ targets the single, fashion-conscious, working women who are always on-the-go. Sunsilk has been using a complete mix of strategy in hopes of adding to the 11% share it has of the Rs.2,500 crores shampoo market.

It has even found a means of advertising in movies like Fashion which helps it climb the social ladder. The brand has Priyanka Chopra as its new brand ambassador in India.

Marketing Strategy for Sunsilk

Questionnaire Results The questionnaire was made for women in the age range of 21-45. They were all from Delhi thus the study focused on urban women either employed or home-makers; married or unmarried. The analysis showed an interesting mix of responses depending on their age bracket and marital status.

Married, working mothers in their late 30’s and above, say that they save around 75% of their monthly income. They spend most of their money on eating out and shopping for their child/children.

Married, working women in their 20’s and late 30’s claim to save less than 50% of their monthly income. They spend mostly on home accessories, personal care (products, fitness or dance classes) and travel.

Home-makers spend mainly on apparel and personal care products.

Single working women say they save only 20% of the money they earn.

They spend their money on technological products, services, travel and entertainment, apparel and personal care.

With increasing exposure and brand awareness, the needs and demands of consumers today are changing rapidly. The level of competition is being raised by international brands that invade and dominate the Indian market. This has led to brands often re-branding or re-positioning themselves and changing their product marketing strategies more often in order to keep up with consumer demands and maintain their position in the market.

The initial case studies revealed that the brands have gone into extensions and by expanding their product line they have managed to establish themselves in different segments of society, thus establishing their brand name and identity.

A survey conducted by the Unilever research team revealed that women in India are generally in the habit of oiling their hair before a wash, which made the company decide on withholding the launch of their conditioners in India.

Sunsilk could introduce a new range of hair or scalp rejuvenating oils and give itself a complete new make-over in terms of its packaging, in order to set itself apart from its potential competitors. Eventually it could even introduce skin therapy products just as brands like L’Oreal and Garnier have.

Company Background: Sunsilk Due to the brand loyalty among older users, combined with almost a generation of non-users, Sunsilk found it very difficult to gain market share and attract a younger audience. In 2006 Hindustan UniLever Ltd (HUL) launched Sunsilk Gang of Girls, an online social networking website built around its brand. Tagline: ‘Girls just wanna have fun!’

Sunsilk shampoo was perceived to be a brand that catered to housewives and older working women; not a brand for the young, fun-loving, and stylish. The sunsilkgangofgirls.com initiative was launched with the idea of creating an everlasting relationship with young girls by building the largest community of girls online.

A new campaign was launched to recruit younger users. In addition to segmenting markets country by country, the parent brand (Unilever) also segmented it by hair type within each market. The new products focused on hair colour, texture, feeling, dryness, etc. The updated Sunsilk campaign, ‘Get

With Sunsilk recently repositioning itself to target a younger crowd of women, they have introduced a new packaging with a new logo and have incorporated the use of brighter colours in their packaging design. However the shape of the bottle is the same as that of Clinic All Clear, another brand under Hindustan Unilever Limited. Therefore I have devised a packaging concept that would hence set Sunsilk apart from its competitors in terms of it visual appeal, concentrating mainly on the shape of the bottle. Visually appealing packaging is very important when it comes to branding and my objective was to create a bottle that would be eye-catching, unique in design and attractive so that it would make the customer want to pick the product off the shelf.

Final Packaging Concept The product is packaged in a 300mL translucent bottle made of plastic mould.

The bottle is round in shape and its entire body is textured to make it look like entangled tubes. The top of the bottle has a pump fixed to it and the bottle is convenient for travel as well. In order to lock the pump, it has to be pushed down and screwed on to the lower half of the pump.

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I then started gathering primary information in the form of Interviews with professionals in the field Documentary – an exclusive interview with Prahlad Kakar, CEO of Genesis Questionnaires devised to understand the psyche of women within a certain area; in my case, Delhi

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Depending on the varieties available, each product can be packed in such a container in a different fluorescent colour. The bottom of the bottle has a sticker with the brand name, a list of ingredients, manufacturer’s name and the volume contained in it.

A packaging concept - ‘ Set Sunsilk apart’; the visual feel concentrating mainly on the feel of the bottle. The aim was to create a bottle that would be eyecatching, unique in design and attractive.

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

advertising Advertising is one of the most important cultural catalysts in our lives today; particularly at this stage of globalisation where each one is busy establishing their own identity in this vast cultural mix.

Everyone is trying to change and evolve with time to find his/her own individuality through their talents.

Advertisements are in a way the reflection of any culture itself. The changes or modification brought in a culture is reflected through its advertising.

The research is intended to find out the evolution or modification of the role portrayal of Indian women in advertisements particularly targetted at them. The purpose was to examine how much have the identities changed in the advertisement with changing times. A number of advertisements from TVC and print ads of popular brands were analysed through direct and indirect data collection.

A number of brands were analyzed in the primary stage through indirect sources like Internet, while in the secondary stage it was narrowed down to two brands to briefly analyse the cause, effect and guiding principle in the whole advertising process of changing role portrayal through interviewing the concerned advertisers and consumers.

Ginni gnift2005@gmail.com

Introduction According to Michael Solomon “culture is the lens through which people view products.” Culture is a distinctive pattern of social life that reflects shared values, meanings and beliefs expressed in preferred material objects, services and activities. India is a melting pot of diverse cultures. India is a developing country, where the culture is as diverse as the colours in a colour palette, mixing and merging into each other. Sometimes it becomes difficult to maintain the originality of each colour but still the overall composition remains the same. Industrialisation brought advertising in 19th century which later resulted in consumerism and consumer culture. It became important for the marketers to evolve according to the consumer because for them, ‘consumer is the king’.

There have been a lot of changes in the economic and social condition of India since the advent of advertising in India. Indian women as consumers have changed a lot in the last fifty or sixty years. The change in their role and lifestyle has been reflected in advertising as well.

The change has been gradual enough till the ‘80s but in the ‘90s after liberalisation, there have been drastic changes in the portrayal of women in advertising. Overall, with the spread of education and freedom to come out of their homes; the women of today have become economically stronger and a bit more independent in decision making.

This analysis is based on the study of advertisements of women’s products like lifestyle products, cosmetic products and other popular household product. The data and content study material has been collected through various sources. The research involves the study in two stages, the secondary data collection stage in which data was collected through various indirect sources like internet and books; the primary data collection, the data for which has been collected through direct sources like questionnaires and interviews.

In India, a country of diverse population; of over 200 languages and of an even more diverse economic background of purchasers, the advertisers face unique challenges. There are a variety of brands today targeting women consumers and their social, economical, emotional and traditional values. Taking a look at the brand histories and the changes, a lot can be depicted about the women consumer culture existing in India today.

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Evolution Of Indian Women In Advertising

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This study explores the portrayal of Indian women in advertising and the changes that have been introduced through advertising in the Indian culture and issues concerning it. The research has been based on the data collection and study of the advertisements targeted at women consumers in the past few decades. In the 1990s after liberalisation, the advertising industry saw many changes. There has been a rapid expansion of the television culture. There have been a lot of changes in the way women are portrayed in advertising in the last few decades. The research includes the case studies of a few brands which have maintained its position in the market with the changing consumer and a few ads which have been launched recently with changed strategies to target the women consumers in India.

Television is arguably the most dominant gateway of globalisation affecting India today. Although TV was launched in India in the late 1950s, it only became widespread in the 1980s. After the government ended its monopoly as the only broadcaster, satellite TV arrived in 1991, bringing with it Indian versions of MTV and other channels. Due to the abrupt end of the monopoly of the state channels and the instantaneous arrival of satellite TV, it has been more disruptive and far reaching in India than elsewhere in the world.

Background Advertising has been defined as ‘any paid form for non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor’ (American Marketing Association, quoted in Bennet, 2000: 117) and more narrowly as ‘any human communication intended to persuade or influence buyers in their purchase decisions’ (Cheng, 1996: 74).

Globalisation also has changed this world a lot. It has changed the way of our thinking and the way we behave. Most importantly it has given rise to a consumer culture, affecting the way people behave, think react and make decisions. Indian women are not an exception to that. The way they use to think and behave 50-60 years ago is different from the way they think today.

The role portrayal of women in advertisement has changed with time but there is no revolution behind the evolution of today’s women. Whatever change they have had in ads has been a gradual evolution spanning many years.

Definitions Liberalisation In general, liberalisation refers to a relaxation of previous government restrictions, usually in areas of social or economic policy.

Globalisation Globalisation in its literal sense is the process of transformation of local or regional phenomena into global ones. It can be described as a process of blending or homogenisation by which the people of the world are unified

into a single society and function together. This process is a combination of economic, technological, socio-cultural and political forces. Globalisation is often used to refer to economic globalisation, that is, integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration, and the spread of technology.

Study of Specific Advertisements to find Out How the Portrayal of Women has Actually Changed in these Years Let’s compare the advertisements of the cosmetic cream Fair and Lovely. In 1960’s it portrayed a dark unhappy women having difficulty in finding a groom but now it portrays a woman landing into the job of commentator with fair skinned beauty.

Lux in 1929 had its tagline as ‘the beauty soap of film stars’ but now its tagline is ‘bring out the star in you’. The women in ads are independent, educated, confident choice makers and the change is prominent enough to be seen in the society. Today’s mothers are taking care of themselves with products like women’s Horlicks. Girls are having fun on the new Scooty.

Daughters and daughters-in-law are making their parents and in-laws happy with their jobs and their power of decision making.

Lux Lux was launched in India in 1929 with its tagline ‘beauty bar of film star’. It has a history of showcasing film stars in its ads. However as the consumer became more aware and intelligent it had to change its strategy and change its tagline to ‘bring out the star in you’. Earlier the brand asked its consumer to aspire to become someone but now it communicates to them to celebrate their own beauty. The consumer celebrates their true identity now rather than a fake portrayal of someone else’s personality.

Fair and Lovely Fair and lovely has been marketed in India since 1975. The brand has been transformative enough to their target customer through different ways of positioning while maintaining the core insight of fair beauty attached to the product. The product launched in the 70’s portrayed a dark woman having difficulty finding a groom for herself. Later the ad portrayed young, unhappy dark women finding it difficult to get any job.

Comparison between Ads in the Last Few Decades and Change in the Role Portrayal of Women 1940’s- 1960’s: The earlier portrayal was very traditional and was as a symbol of aesthetic beauty. The ads showcased them with traditional clothes and jewellery and their role was limited just to the household. That was the time when women were rarely portrayed in the advertisement to sell products.

The social and economic condition of the society was not so good and women

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1970’s: During this time the products started coming in with the improvement in economic condition and the improving condition of industrialisation in India.

With the improvement in media and communication the women became more conscious of their beauty, and although they had no role to play in the decision making, style came into being in their dressing up and the perception of beauty started to change with the concept of fairness cream and other cosmetics. With products they became more expressive. During this time products like Lux, Ponds and Sunsilk dominated the market.

1980’s: This was the time when women actually started coming out of their homes. Beauty, style and fashion became a part of their lifestyle. They were more conscious of the changes and the current happenings around them. They started emerging as a better and smart consumer along with the traditional family role that they had to perform. The role was not much changed and very much out of tradition but surely the role portrayal was very much affected with the changing world around them. The portrayal got more colourful and efforts were made to bring them out of their homes but not as an independent or professionals at job.

Lalitaji was busy making smart decisions and played an important role in inspiring the other Indian women as consumers, while Liril girl was out in the open for the first time to enjoy the freshness of nature. Brands like Bombay Dyeing, Pears, Keo Karpin, Surf and Liril got introduced in this decade.

1990’s: In 1990’s with liberalisation there was an inflow of brands and products and there was an increase in the competition. From 90’s onwards the educational and economical condition of women improved a lot. At this time multinational companies got their opportunity to launch their products in the newly found developing market.

Many of the important change took place at the starting of the decade like winning the miss world and miss universe crown Indian women and the whole concept of beauty was redefined. They became the inspiration for many consumers who followed their beauty endorsement. The concept of slim and trim and a healthy body got introduced. The portrayal of beauty in advertisements turned bolder now and also much fairer and younger. Women were out with their brainier beauty carrying her well and now with more beauty options to reach out to the changing world around them. The role portrayal was more modified by the end of the decade.

2000’s and onward: The role at the beginning of the decade saw many

changes as the women became more aspiring and economically independent.

Women became smart decision makers now. They are featured more economically independent now enjoying their fun and challenging men in every sphere of their life. Their expression got more open now. From home centric their portrayal has now turned to career women. They are much more independent now and at times giving suggestion also. They are now more individualistic taking better care of themselves.

Result The research paper, through the study of advertisements and comparing them over time, tries to find out the changes in the portrayal of women as consumers and illustrates how the values and ethics have been modified through changing time.

The role of the Indian woman has been modified in every sphere of her life in advertisements. Each and every aspect of her lifestyle is now being touched and improved upon without changing the core values. Not only has the advertising been changed or modified, but corporations are also taking more social responsibilities, now, to improve and uplift the condition of girls and women.

Celebrity advertisements stressing their talents and showcasing them as independent, educated and successful women. They are now portrayed as bold and self dependent.

The look of the woman is westernized now and there is a shift in the focus that is very apparent now. What has not changed is her image as an ideal woman and her image as a care taker or homemaker.

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were confined to their home only. Women were not concerned about their beauty so much and they followed the traditional methods or procedures for keeping their beauty. The basic requirements of life were enough for them and their role in the decision making did not exist at all. Some of the ads of that time were Lux, Phoenix saris etc.

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advertising Nobody Smokes Here Anymore There are some issues which you face regularly in everyday life. Sometimes you try to ignore the problem; sometimes you want to avoid it; but then there are times when you are so affected by the problem that you sit up and take the initiative to go ahead and solve it.

Smoking is one such problem and smokers are the cause of the problem. There are several reasons why a non-smoker would turn into a smoker. Since every person is different, the reason why they smoke is also different. If a person needs to stop smoking or it is required to stop a person from taking up smoking, it is essential to understand all the factors that lead to the habit. Just as the reason for each individual is different, the solution to each of their problems would also be different. However the number of people to be covered is extremely large and it is difficult to study each person separately. It is essential to divide them into groups in terms of their demographics.

Kumar Muesh kumar_mukeshfc3@yahoo.com

Shaheed Bhagat Singh died at the age of 21; Shaheed Sukh Dev died at the age of 24 and Shaheed Rajguru died at the age of 23. These great men died for a great cause. They died for a vision; the vision of a free, democratic and educated country. They died younger and probably we will too, but it is my opinion the reasons would be exactly opposite. They dies for freedom and we would die refusing freedom; freedom from the cigarette. I believe that it is time take charge and embrace your responsibilities; your life is precious, do not let it go to waste.

What you’ve read so far is not just a passionate speech. It is my way of bringing to attention the immediate need to put a stop to this habit. I realised that in order to achieve this I would have to tackle the problem objectively and therefore, I came up with a step by step process that would eventually lead me to achieve my goal.

The Process The entire process was divided into 3 parts: 1. Taking up social advertising as a topic and studying the work that pre existing NGOs had done.

2. Decisions as to the kind of campaign that would be required. Putting together the necessary research.

Collecting all the required data and converting it into information.

3. Conducting primary research in the form of interviews and questionnaires. Studying the behavioural psychology of smokers and designing concepts for the anti smoking campaign.

Research Methodology For the research work I took a two pronged approach: 1. Conventional methodology 2. Innovational methodology For my secondary research I mapped the places where there was a high density of smoking population.

This was the way in which I would be able to get the bulk of my information. I interviewed as many vendors and as many students as I could find. The students were from various streams; this was done in order to study as many different behavioural patters as possible I also circulated questionnaires in different BPOs, export houses, media houses., software companies and other areas where social smoking occurs.

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Conclusion Being a social animal, I was always looking at the social issues and wanted to do something for society. After this research I realised that in order to affect change what mattered was not the strength in numbers but the determination.

Being the student of a leading fashion institute and pursuing my course in the fashion communication department I had developed a keen sense of observation.

I always felt that despite the banning of cigarette smoking by the government (in public spaces), the manufacturers and the vendors continued to find ways to promote their products and their turnover is on the rise.

Here I have designed some concepts for an anti smoking campaign. I will consider my efforts fruitful even if I inspire one person to quit smoking, because I believe that a change starts form a single individual.

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Apart from this I also collected information from the Internet, magazines, newspapers and any other source that I could find. The results were varied and you can see from the graph. I then started compiling the information and soon all the problems became very apparent.

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advertising

Mukesh Kumar mmuukkeesshhkkuummaarr@gmail.com

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advertising Pester Power

Ranjeet Kumar ranjeet.nift@gmail.com

This paper touches upon a sensitive issue of rising consumerism in children owing to the flood of new TV programmes. These programmes present gleaming images of a consumer culture at odds with the realities of most Indian children. Advertisers in India are frankly preparing children to become dutiful consumers in a society riddled not just with economic problems, but also with social and cultural patterns that defy the entry of modern gadgets such as washing machines. There are several ads that could be detrimental to children, either because they encourage them to act in an unsafe manner or because they propound questionable values. Some also misrepresent information. The second issue that this paper addresses is premature brand learning that plays an important role in future brand selection behaviour. The third issue addresses children’s culture, which is over dominated by technologically mediated entertainment and advertising. Indeed, in their culture, advertising and entertainment are converging. This hybridisation is happening in a variety of ways. These include cross-selling and licensed merchandising, program length commercials, product placement and the production of advertisements as entertainment in their own right. Product placement is also growing as marketers introduce brands into the sets and increasingly the scripts of children’s films. Like program length commercials, product placement is a covert form of advertising which promotes brand awareness and loyalty.

Pester Power Pester power is the power children have, by repeated nagging, in influencing their parents to buy advertised or fashionable items. This phrase first emerged in the USA in the late 1970s.

The world belongs to kids. Kids today mean business. Marketing to kids may be the passport to growth.

Companies are using this segment to rake in profits. Kids have a firmer grip over the society than their parents ever had. Not only are they consumers in their own right, they also have a major influence over the family’s purchasing power.

‘Kidfluence’ is the direct or indirect influence kids have over family household purchases. Indirect influence means that the kids’ preferences are given consideration when parents make a purchase decision.

The major driving force behind this sweeping change is the advertising. Advertising has changed the way kids learn, react and behave to a large extent.

Pester Power in India (Courtesy www.indiantelevision.com) The arrival of niche channels like the Cartoon Network, Hungama and Toonami has given a big push to kid power in India. According to some estimates, in 2005, there were more than 120 million tweens (children between 8-12 years of age). Among them around 45 million live in urban areas who have the power of determining or influencing the whopping Rs.20,000 crore worth purchasing decisions on food, mobile phones, apparel, cars and FMCGs. This offers a big temptation to the marketers to treat preadolescents as mature and independent customers and creates pester power. Using this strategy, they have been successful in making parents almost redundant in purchase decisions.

India’s top advertising spenders have included Nestle India at Rs.1507.1 million in December 2002, Britannia Industries which spent Rs. 906.3 million in March 2002 and Cadbury India which spent Rs. 876.7 million in December 2002 – all of which push products consumed predominantly by children.

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

Apparel

7,000

Gizmos

4,650

Food and Eating Out

2,500

FMCGs

940

Games

150

Entertainment

150

Books

80

CDs/DVDs

60

Catch Them Young at Schools and Web Advertisers have very blatantly entered schools. They put up posters and billboards in the schools, persuading the cash starved schools into opening their doors to them by paying for access to classrooms and space for their advertising material and promotions. Web-based groups providing free e-mail accounts and contests with tempting prizes is another strategy that is rampantly used. This almost approximates to a crime because it is nothing less than attacking the natural credulity of the most innocent, most gullible and most inexperienced beings on earth.

Child Psychology Unravelled

(Source: “Tween Power”, Business Today, January 1, 2006)

Children think and behave differently from adults. They are great observers, highly creative, very insightful, spontaneous, sensitive and volatile. They have different emotional, social and developmental needs at different stages.

Consumer socialization is the process by which these kids acquire skills, knowledge and attitudes pertaining to their functioning as consumers in the marketplace. This is based on child development -how age related patterns emerge across children’s growing sophistication as consumers, including their knowledge of products, brands, advertising, shopping, pricing and decisionmaking.

Drivers of “Pester Power” The Development of Critical Sense Indian society has undergone a sweeping change in terms of the structure and environment of its vital institution - the family.

More working women and consequently more dual income families.

Grand parents’ increasing role in bringing up children because of working mothers. Grand parents’ are the fastest growing income source for children.

Rise in the number of single parent households – Research supports that children in single parent households make their first purchases almost a year earlier than their two-parent household counterparts.

Greater exposure to kids -There is an ever-increasing exposure to kids both in terms of technology and mass media.

Growth of the retail sector -There appears to be a high positive Correlation between the growth of the retail sector and the development of the kids’ market. There are opportunities galore. Every departmental store has a space assigned exclusively for kids merchandise ranging from Kriish apparel to Power Ranger bikes. A perfect example is the growth of indoor amusement centres in malls targeted at children.

Kids channels-a newer phenomenon -The dedicated channels for childrens programmes target kids in two ways- viewing and brand promotions.

Cartoon Network and Disney lead the pack.

Children’s reactions to advertisements can be very different from grown-ups.

Kids have a short attention span and are extremely quick to criticize or reject advertising that does not fulfil their viewing criteria. If adults see a product advertised and don’t find it when they go shopping they forget about it. As children develop the ability to recognize and understand ads and their purpose they start making demands. If these demands are not fulfilled they might start screaming or throwing themselves onto the floor. It is difficult to explain to young children the reasons why they cannot have everything which according to advertising - is ‘for them’.

Research by advertising agencies has confirmed that children’s personal preferences can be targeted and changed by TV advertising. Family dynamics are thus influenced by advertisements that create demands and provide children with arguments for why they should want a particular thing; this can make life extremely difficult for parents who for financial or moral reasons refuse to comply.

Research has confirmed the influence of the media upon the close conformity between children’s tastes and perceived needs and the content of the programs they watch. Teachers say they know what has been on TV the night before by the games the children play the next day.

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How Much Indian Tweens Spent and What They Spent On (Rs. in crores)

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Some Research Findings Findings of the Kids’ Lifestyle Study- New Generations 2005 - conducted by Cartoon Network Mobile phones with cameras rank the highest in the list of gadgets of desire for kids 7-14.

74 percent of the children, who have heard of mobile phones with cameras, say that they would like to own one.

This is followed by X-BOX at 45 percent, Apple iPod at 43 percent and Sony Play Stations at 33 percent.

Nokia turned out to be the ‘coolest’ brand among this age group with 72 percent saying that it’s very ‘cool’, followed by Sony (71 percent),

LG (60 percent), Microsoft (39 percent), Reliance (56 percent), Wipro (35 percent),HCL (32 percent), Google (31 percent), Infosys (30 percent) amongst the kids who have heard of these companies.

Passe Syndrome-The research talks of a Passe Syndrome amongst kids that makes them increasingly dismiss products that fail to cater to their immediate needs, an outcome of the wide choice that they have at their disposal. They seem to be moving to the next beat thing a lot quicker. They form the most disloyal, ever experimenting and most fickle demographic segment, being always in the ‘what’s next’ mode. They are actually promo loyalists and keep switching brands for better offers.

The Chief Design Element These days kids are the chief element of commercials. Kids are everywhere in advertising. They are being used as effective ways of grabbing adult attention.

There is Videocon with Sharukh Khan and a bunch of kids, and Hutch with a pug and a boy to hook the adults to the commercials. Close-up has now entered the fray with two cute tykes. Tata Steel uses children symbolically to show how their company works. Kids with celebrities like Big B in the Hajmola ad make a still more lethal combination.

Result The media-specifically the television, for 80% of the respondents, represents the primary way in which the kids learn about “cool” new products and brand names. Two thirds refer to TV commercials in this context.

The top 5 products for which the kids have pestered their parents in the last six months include – Fast Food Restaurants, clothing, chips, chocolates, games and toys. ( 35 percent among girls and 80 percent among boys for toys and games).

Recognition of brand names and logos.

Boys have no favourite store when it calls for purchasing apparels whereas girls are store loyalists and do not really shop anywhere and everywhere.

Tweens admit that they ‘nag’ when they want something. 50 percent report

that they “keep asking and asking”.

Parents report that kids influence them into buying by adopting a variety of strategies– offering to pay part of the cost (60 percent), doing extra chores (62 percent) as well as more aggressive tactics - keep on asking and asking (70 percent) and ‘begging’ (70 percent).

Parental susceptibility to tween requests - 15 percent of parents usually succumb to the kid’s requests and buy him the requested item even if it is more expensive.

Parents see peer pressure, to the extent of 40 percent, as the major reason for their kids asking for a specific brand or label.

The most important source of money for the tweens is- pocket money and grand parents.

There has been a differential observed in the spending patterns of male and female tweens. Girls spend heavily on clothes and shoes (58 percent), hair accessories (12 percent) and makeup (22 percent). As against this, boys spend heavily on video games, games, toys and clothing, with no mention of accessories and makeup.

Conclusion Kids are emerging as a homogenous consumer cluster of their own with peer group factor and mass media having an overwhelming impact on their brand choice, consumption behaviour and consumption patterns. Kids are keen observers, ever experimenting, do not take anything for granted and want to learn while having fun. There is no stickiness, no brand loyalty, ultimate materialism and consumerism in sync with the latest trends and fads. Kids are wanton, inexperienced, naïve and easily gullible, but, a very important set of consumers. Catching them young for product categories not actually meant for them is an act of irresponsible marketing. In no case should children be made a target of reckless consumption and materialism.

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

advertising Fashion shows are a visual industry and it is the best way to get noticed. The media involved in it is very important and has to be unbiased in there opinion. Fashion weeks are events which provide a great platform for brands and a smart leverage to investors. Smart, not because they are cheap, but because they have proven to be very effective. They provide an unparalleled style and glamour quotient.

History of Fashion Shows

Shradha Jain shradha__jain@hotmail.com

A fashion show is an event put up by a fashion designer to showcase his or her upcoming line of clothing.

In a typical fashion show, models walk the catwalk dressed in the clothing created by the designer.

Occasionally, fashion shows take the form of installations, where the models are static, standing or sitting in a constructed environment. The order in which each model walks out wearing a specific outfit is usually planned in accordance to the statement that the designer wants to make about his or her collection. The way that each outfit is presented on the catwalk isn’t necessarily the way the designer is trying to make people wear his or her creations in everyday life. In this instance, this is more of an intellectual/artistic construction of the designer for the same purpose of making a statement or presenting a particular idea.

It is then up to the audience to not only try to understand what the designer is trying to say by the way the collection is being presented, but to also visually de-construct each outfit and try to appreciate the detail and craftsmanship of every single piece.

A wide range of contemporary designers tend to produce their shows as theatrical productions with elaborate sets and added elements such as live music or a variety of technological component like holograms.

American retailers imported the concept of the fashion show in the early 1900s. The first American fashion show likely took place in 1903 in the New York City store Ehrlich Brothers. By 1910, large department stores such as Wanamaker’s in New York City and Philadelphia were also staging fashion shows. These events showed couture gowns from Paris or the store’s copies of them; they aimed to demonstrate the owners’ good taste and capture the attention of female shoppers.

By the 1920s, retailers across the United States held fashion shows. Often, these shows were theatrical, presented with narratives, and organized around a theme (e.g., Parisian, Chinese, or Russian). These shows enjoyed huge popularity through the mid-century, sometimes attracting thousands of customers.

In the 1970s and 1980s, American designers began to hold their own fashion shows in private spaces apart from such retailers. In the early 1990s, however, many in the fashion world began to rethink this strategy. After several mishaps during shows in small, unsafe locations, the general sentiment was, “We love fashion but we don’t want to die for it,” recalls Fern Mallis, then executive director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. In response to these shows, the New York shows were centralized in Bryant Park during fashion week in late 1993.

Fashion shows act as a great tool of advertising for designers. It is 360 degree marketing. This means that a fashion show is not only good enough for advertising the brand, but also helps all the people involved like journalists, buyers, international clients etc. It is a portal for designers to bring out their name in the industry.

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Lecoatnet Hemant: A Case Study

the industry.

For the final product I researched on a couple of designers and picked a designer who hasn’t done too many shows in India and tested if the whole procedure of a fashion show can work as 360 degree marketing for him.

My final product was targeted at Lecoanet Hemant. I planned the whole fashion show in terms of the theme, the ramp design, the invites, the exhibition design display, after party invites and the after party club design. I designed all the products for them based on one theme so as to popularise the designers in the fashion world.

Lecoanet Hemant, a trademark registered in all major countries of the world was launched in the early 1980s in Paris, France by the designer duo Didier Lecoanet (French) and Hemant Sagar (Indo-German). They have used the initials of their surname and first name respectively into a logo that symbolizes an ‘L’ and an ‘H’, and is referred to as ‘LH’. It is as LH that they are a recognized institution of the high fashion establishment with the likes of Dior and Chanel.

They maintain offices and showrooms in Paris for their European and American clients, but have moved their manufacturing units, along with their European staff to Gurgaon, India a few years ago. It is with these people that they are training their Indian staff with the skills of standard international quality manufacturing for couture and ready-to-wear. The idea behind this move began to open LH to Asian markets.

LH is a fully owned and paid up debt free company, valued at 12 million Euros. They grew from a tiny workshop, to a boutique, to a full fledged fashion house. The LH product range comprises high-end ladies western garments for day and evening wear, leather garments and accessories such as luggage, handbags and belts as well as shoes, and a gent’s line that has been launched in 2006.

Target Audience The target audience of the brand can be classified most easily as extremely up market; overseas holidaying; Gucci and Prada adorning; Mercedes driving; gizmo enthusiastic; trendily accessorised; Page 3 partying and luxury craving people!

I observed through time, that one of the reasons a brand sells the way it does and is respected for its exclusivity and high craftsmanship is because of the meticulous design process followed by each designer to ensure that the end product is truly a piece of perfection.

My Final Product I chose this topic firstly, because I have a keen interest in fashion; fashion shows in particular. One of the main reasons is also because even when I look at my career prospects I see myself in an event management firm which handles fashion events. Hence I took the opportunity provided by my college to increase my knowledge of how fashion shows work and got an idea about

I chose to do this as my final product so as to prove that a fashion show could be complete marketing in itself which was the aim of my research in the first place.

Conclusion Fashion shows are the best form of advertising and are not at all overrated.

Fashion shows and exhibitions are a portal for designers to showcase their collection. It is up to them to decide how they want to enhance it – ramp drama and celebrities are just a few ways to attract more attention than they already receive. Fashion shows are definitely the best way to get noticed. A two minute walk on the ramp is better than any television commercial or print advertisement. The stage presence, the drama and the designer’s sensibility grabs the attention of the target audience and makes it all an unforgettable experience.

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

advertising Advertising is a single component of the marketing process. It’s the part that involves getting the word out concerning your business, products, or the services you are offering. It involves the process of developing strategies such as ad placement, frequency, etc. Advertising includes the placement of an ad in such mediums as newspapers, direct mail, billboards, television, radio, and of course the Internet. Advertising is the largest expense of most marketing plans, with public relations following in a close second and market research not falling far behind.

Advertising is used to achieve a whole range of objectives which may include changing attitudes or building image as well as achieving sales. It is often described as above the line promotion with all other forms of promotion being termed below the line. Moreover, in decisions over communication plans, it is the cost effectiveness that matters most. The use of different combinations of what has traditionally been known as above and below the line has blurred the meaning of the terms and there are many promotional strategies which can be seen to erase the line or, as it is known, pass ‘through the line’.

Sabyasachee Ghosh Dr.Sabyasaachi@gmail.com

One model known as the DIAGMAR model (Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results) describes the sequence of stages through which the prospective customer has to move: -- unawareness -- awareness -- comprehension of the offer -- conviction -- action Basic things that a retailer has to consider before advertising: Targeting the right customers: Although many businesses “think” they know their customers, in many instances this is not the case. Not everyone wants the same products, so it’s a waste of time and money to attempt to target them all.

Understanding customer needs: The biggest element of marketing is to thoroughly understand what potential customers actually want. Making mistakes here will develop a product people don’t want - and the sales will be minimal.

Customers not knowing about the product: So you know what your customers want and you have developed the perfect product or service, but ensuring your customers and prospects know about it is of course elementary. So many companies use the wrong communication channels and fail to let their target customers know that their product is available.

Poor communication messages: The actual words used in marketing messages are crucial. It is not just what retailers write but the way it is written. Everyone knows that it only benefits sale and not features - but extracting the benefits that are going to turn prospects into paying customers is perhaps the hardest part of marketing.

Over ambitious projections: Everyone thinks their new products will grow exponentially in the first 12 months but in reality this is rarely the case. Marketing plan must show a realistic path to profitability that proves actual revenues and profits are comparable with written plan.

An inability to sell plan: Having a consultant prepare a plan may save a headache, but it is the retailer who needs to explain to the sponsors every question they have about their plan. Retailers need to understand everything that is written in the plan.

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Types of advertising Product advertising: Product advertising is aimed at enticing people to the store in order to consider specific merchandise. Product advertising will feature the promotion of merchandise that is new and exclusive.

So how do you put on a successful sale? The most important requirement is to have a systematic marketing plan. The elements of the plan are detailed: 1. Proper Timing 2. Acquiring Customers 3. Merchandise Pricing 4. Direct Mail 5. Newspaper 6. Radio and Television 7. High Impact Signage 8. Merchandising Techniques 9. Inventory Recommendations

customer card so you can update your mailing list. Even if they don’t make a purchase, they are potential customers.

-- Acquire membership lists of local organizations, clubs, and churches. (If you don’t belong, ask employees or customers) -- Copy names and addresses from customers’ cheques.

-- Purchase qualified names from mailing list companies.

Experience shows that retailers who have up-to-date customer mailing lists receive the best results. It is better to have 500 to 2,000 qualified names rather than 5,000 to 10,000 non-qualified names.

Merchandise Pricing Retailer’s markdowns are critical to the profitability of the sales campaign. If the majority of his merchandise is current and in season then only a small percentage of his stock needs to be marked down below 25% - 30%.

General Guideline for Pricing Seasonal Merchandise: 1 to 4 months old ( in season) 5 to 7 months old ( out of season) 7 months and older ( oldest merchandise)

Proper Timing Focus on the best months for in-store traffic. Below are average response rates based on hundreds of sales over a period of years. You can hold a sale any time of the month or year; however, some months have proven to be better than others.

Response rates for producing in-store traffic: JAN Excellent

FEB Good

MAR Good

APR Good

MAY Good

JUN Poor

JUL Poor

AUG Fair

SEP Good

OCT Excellent

NOV Excellent

DEC Excellent

Once the retailer decides when to start the sale, he should allow 3 to 4 weeks for preparation. With careful planning and follow-through, he will be able to ensure higher profits by deciding the correct timing, preparing the advertising, and balancing your inventory to ensure a profitable turnover from start to finish.

25% to 30% off 30% to 50% off 50% to 75% off

Main concern is to turn inventory into cash. While there are many ingredients for successful retailing, price is probably the most important influence on consumer buying, and the retailer will sell merchandise in direct proportion to the savings he passes on to the customers. Merchandise is not like fine wine; it does not get better with age. He has to be aggressive when pricing slow-moving merchandise.

Direct mail If the retailer wants to boost sales while he drives down costs, he should be using direct mail. Direct mail is one of the most targeted, measurable, and cost-effective ways to sell products and services. He can deliver the message directly into the hands of a specific individual. He never has to guess about the results. When he tracks the responses, he builds an information base of good customers that have demonstrated a need for the products or services.

Retailer controls his marketing efforts by assuring that his message is received by the right person at the right time.

Acquiring Customers Get off to the right start. The most important thing you can do to create a successful sale is to develop your customer mailing list. Some simple methods: -- Ask every shopper who comes into your store to fill out a preferred

By sending your customers special sale announcements, you are creating new opportunities for your customers to buy. You’ve told them they’re special, you’re assisting them to re-start their buying relationship with you, and you’re presenting them with more opportunities to buy.

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

It is important to mail the sale announcements first-class. Bulk mail may cost less, but it is not reliable and may not get to the customer in time. Timing isnd superior in aspects of quality and designs as well as creating awareness of complete assortments or special merchandise events.

Markdown event advertising: This is used to create some excitement about a special period of lower cost offers for products. It is likely to be more successful if the reduction is believed to be part of a genuine sale of products which in the past had been fairly priced.

Institutional advertising: This type of advertising is used to sell the store or shopping mall as a pleasing place to shop. With the use of institutional advertising, the store attempts to reinforce the image of one or more of the following: a leader in fashion, fair prices, wide merchandise selection, superior service or quality, a leisure experience or somewhere to enjoy visiting.

Co-operative advertising: This is used where manufacturers fund part of a promotion by supplying leaflets or advertising material for use by the store. The store can add its own address to ready prepared printed material and carry out mail drops or other methods of distribution. Alternatively, a manufacturer may agree to share equally the costs of an advertising campaign. Manufacturers are keen to have their brands stocked and sold; therefore, they often enter into joint advertising schemes with retailers. Co-operative advertising may involve a combination of one or more retailers in an area as well as the manufacturer.

In addition, co-operative promotions may well extend to agreements to provide joint branded window display material and point of sale material.

Retail promotion in relation to that of manufacturers: There are differences between retailer and manufacturer advertising strategies. Retail advertising is often based upon short-term objectives with the emphasis on value or price of the products on offer. This is unlike manufacturers’ approaches; they often attempt to build favourable attitudes or improve the image of the brand or organisation over an extended period of time. A manufacturer will need to create awareness of its brand across major market areas, a retailer may have more geographically concentrated target markets.

Therefore, a retailer has to take into account the local habits, conditions of the marketplace, availability of local media and have a clear idea of the housing areas where potential customers are living.

Push versus pull strategy: The promotional decisions have to consider whether the company chooses a push strategy or a pull strategy or a balance

of the two. A push strategy involves ‘pushing’ the consumer through the channel by directing the marketing activities to promote the store or benefits of the channel. As retailing is a channel service this approach is unlike that of more traditional forms of product marketing as it is the channel service which is promoted. The pull strategy is where marketing promotion activities are targeted to the consumer to induce them to buy the retailer’s merchandise or services. Retailers may enter third party agreements for promotion whereby the cost of the promotion is shared between the retailer and the manufacturer to encourage more sales of the manufacturer’s product.

Sales Promotion Sales promotion involves any paid non-personal marketing communication activity, other than advertising, which offers an incentive to induce a desired result from potential customers, trade intermediaries, or the sales force.

This is sometimes referred to by the term sales incentive. Sales promotion campaigns will add value to the product because the incentives will generally not accompany the product but will typically be offered as mail drops or as coupons to be cut from newspapers, etc. It is usual for a sales promotion campaign to be used as a temporary offer to the customer in order to stimulate an immediate response. For e.g. free samples or money-off vouchers and offers are frequently used in sales promotion campaigns for brands or companies which need to improve demand at certain periods. Included in these campaigns are: displays, contests, sweepstakes, coupons, frequent user loyalty programmes, prizes, samples, demonstrations, referral gifts and other limited duration selling efforts not included in the other techniques. Most incentives are planned to be offered on a short term basis only.

Summary of types of sales promotion 1. Point of purchase / Point of sale 2. Contests 3. Sweepstakes 4. Coupons 5. Frequent shopper 6. Prizes 7. Demonstrations 8. Referral gifts 9. 2 for price of 1 10. Branded giveaways 11. Samples 12. Premiums 13. Special events Characteristics of Promotions There are three basic ways to increase sales and make business grow: -- Find new customers

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To receive optimal response from your mailer, consider the appeal of your message, its sense of urgency, and of course, the quality and size of your mailing list. Your mailer should be distinctive and directed to a qualified, selected audience.

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-- Increase average sales transaction -- Give customers more opportunities to buy more frequently from the business Improving any one of these three categories will boost the sales. However, the moment the retailer decides that he is going to systematically improve all three categories; he will automatically catapult the business.

The purpose of any business is to bring in customers, and that can only be accomplished through marketing. The most important survival skill is to be able to anticipate change and identify new opportunities. Small stores can fight back by updating their customer lists and business strategiesrefocusing on items, price, and efficiency--and by countering with in-store celebrations, glamour and fun.

A successful ‘Big Volume Sale’ is the fastest and easiest way which can boost sales, win customers back, and raise a large sum of money (from current inventory) in a short period of time everything.

Newspaper promotions:

prices, and create customer urgency.

A good ad can run over and over again, until you become bored with it. It can also be reprinted and used as fliers, hand-outs, mailers or even enlarged and used as a poster. Your ad may be entertaining, it may be informative, and it may keep your name before the public, but its primary purpose is to bring customers into your store. Remember, the objective of your advertising is to sell!

Radio and Television Radio and television gives you flexibility, the ability to do target marketing, and the opportunity to provide urgency.

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To write a great script, you should: Mention your store name at least three times Make the message urgent Offer a bargain Develop a slogan Describe your merchandise Don’t use too many words

This is a valuable medium for your sale campaign. Ads can be placed and changed on relatively short notice allowing you to design a last-minute ad as your sale goes through its different phases. You can adjust percentages, stock selection, and other special points as the sale proceeds.

Check the stations for rates according to time slot, and compare the stations’ demographics with your customer profile.

Based on responses from most communities, Sunday is the best day to advertise, followed by Tuesday and Friday. Sundays have the highest readership because people are relaxed and have extra time. Tuesday is normally a slow day, giving ads more prominence. Friday is also good because consumers are planning weekend activities, home improvements, and shopping activities.

The purpose of your sale signs is to attract attention and convey the feeling of an exciting and vibrant sale event from start to finish. The more signs you use, the more your store will appear to be different and attract new customers.

When you contact a newspaper, be prepared to give the ad department the following information:

High-Impact Signage

Your signs should be attention-getting and to the point. Signs are an important part of the customers’ perception of values. They can significantly change your store image, enhance the values of your merchandise, and increase the average sale transaction.

Conclusion

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Your store logo and address The type of sale Starting date of sale Categories offered Markdown percentages

An effective ad is hard-hitting and easily recognizable. It should have a dominant headline, use white space well, clearly state percentages or range of

The evolving retail in India more or less means a convergence of all the resources as a pool. Here it is meant to work out the best strategies to ensure healthy competition from competitors and at the same time to guarantee that one can strive ahead of them without playing dirty.

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

advertising “For I am the first and the last I am the venerated and the despised I am the prostitute and the saint I am the wife and the virgin I am the mother and the daughter I am the arms of my mother I am barren and my children are many I am the married woman and the spinster I am the woman who gives birth And she who never procreated I am the consolation for the pain of birth I am the wife and the husband And it was my man who created me I am the mother of my father I am the sister of my husband And he is my rejected son Always respect me For I am the shameful And the magnificent one”

Iqleen Bhogal iqleen@gmail.com

- Hymn to Isis, 3rd or 4th Century B.C. Discovered in Nag Hammadi What remains when everything is gone? What can possibly stay forever and three days? Who beats time? The answer to all above and more lies simple: words, with the power they possess. To find out the truth in my belief and conviction, I chose to explore the powerful possibilities of words in all their sense, recognised and unrecognised, and how they work in moving minds and not just act as fodder for feelings and thoughts. In this one and a half year long research paper, what I wanted to seek was how simple words can make such a huge difference. The prime concern was to understand ‘how does’ and ‘how much does’; ‘less is more’ as a mantra works in regard to the power of words. And, where all, can this aspect be found; moreover where can it be delivered as a mean of communication?

This motive gave me reason enough to find how important words were in our mundane lives; and where are all those words that, in reality are able to seep inside us and make us do things, sometimes even unwillingly. My search sought advertising. Why? As it deemed a place where words actually, somewhere, moved people to make decisions on a physical level and just not as a mental connect or a concept.

Introduction They say that the moment of change is the only poem. And what brings that about eventually, I believe, would be words and solely soulful words. Everyone knows that words have power, and not just to sound; but to manifest. Words create impressions, images and expectations. They build psychological connections. They influence how we think. And since thoughts determine actions, there’s a powerful connection between the words we use and the results we get. Words crystallise our thoughts. Make them recoverable. The fundamental question here is how do we come to know the world in terms of words. How do words function as a grasp on the everyday world? How do words form a language so

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individualistic of one’s own, that one is identified with it? How does language acquire this power? What do words do in this role? How do they do it?

What I want to emphasise on is, the unrecognised power of words, the value of each individual word. We take words for granted, just as we believe that everything we say or do will be understood in the same context as we put forth, which I am afraid does not hold true every time and everywhere. The trickiest thing on Earth is being human. With so much endowed to us, we either don’t know or forget what to do with it. We walk royally on this planet like we are here to rule, but then again, very few of us realise that, the only reign we can ever hold is on ourselves. We are the kings of us, with our subjects to look after. Coming back to words, without them what would we be? Isn’t that the only thing that separates us from animals, the power of speech and the free fundamental right that comes with it? Otherwise, in most cases animals have shown more feelings, intelligence, strength of character and compassion too, towards their fellow-beings. Isn’t now the high time for the tide to turn, a time for us to once again find and understand the deeper meaning of words, in the meaningless talks that we engage ourselves in? They say everything important has been said before. So how do we contribute?

Let’s say if not in new words, then, in giving new meanings to the old answers.

It’s not what one says, but how one says it, that matters. In words, that is where the power lies, the key to all that makes a difference; is the way they sound and the way they cause the effect that suggests their viability. This is just what one gathers through advertising as well, one of the most sought after weapons in today’s world, which helps one to surge ahead of others and to kill the ones that head past one. When I mention advertising, I am not referring to what it means or how many types do we have. My idea of choosing advertising was to take it as a medium of learning how limited words are strung together in such a way, so as to give maximum impact. Where else do we see such miserly attitude give out such abundance.

Taking forward the journey of words, they say there is nothing as gentle as real strength and nothing as strong as gentleness. To ponder over the last bit.

“If I were rain, I would go where water cannot be found.”

So simply put, and by no one but a street kid only twelve years of age called ‘Rani’. What catches one’s attention here is the way the words are put, with little effort and the trail left behind is the deeper meaning that comes across and makes one stop and wonder. I specifically chose to put a child’s persuasive powers and not go back to the old scriptures as anybody looking through these glasses would want to take a journey into how words came into picture and how they finally acquired so much of power. My intentions lie in recognising this power inside me. To see if I can lead words to submerge and leave an impression even if as a faint watermark. So I say.

Say what you always say So you know what you say

And ask why you say it Let’s listen to the eternal winds And christen to the message it brings For when thoughts put together They form community And thus call immunity To the very calamity We know nothing happens in isolation So why bring down things to desolation It is in my fashion That I’ll do it And in my own way Shall I say?

But should one really forget or ignore the respect that this is due to all the things that have been endowed to us, through millennial time. Let me face the facts and abide to the laws of the universe; there is no progress in denying the source one happens to be risen from. There is no fulfillment of purpose without paying proper credits. So I decided to explore the teachings of time in a fashion that this world today understands. How to comprehend a simple teaching one would first deny, defy, mock, or plainly question out of no reason.

So I decided to play the martyr and become the catalyst that brings about the change. It shall be seen below in my little effort which talks in a manner where there is what they say, how I say and what we say then.

They say : “Seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.”

I say : “Knock, knock…………………………………………….

Open Fast.”

We say : “If the service takes longer than usual, that tells it’s a good restaurant.”

They say : “As soon as there is life, there is danger.”

I say : “Don’t I love dangerous business.”

We say : “Love is sure blind.”

They say : “All the answers lie within us.”

I say : “Please come in and help me find them.”

We say : “You should not let strangers enter your kitchen.”

They say I say We say easy.”

They say

: “Nothing is as easy as it looks.” : “Except, legs that move inside those fancy-lit windows.” : “You’ll get two paths to choose from, in life: the right and the : “Happiness is a state of mind.”

NIFT / FASHION COMMUNICATION / BATCH 2009

: “And, what is the capital of this state?” : “Be your own Columbus, Explore.”

They say : “Time is the biggest healer.”

I say : “Why, what happened to Dr.VenuGopal?”

We say : “Eat one live toad the first thing in the morning and nothing worse

will happen to you the rest of the day.”

They say : “The Future is now.”

I say : “Isn’t that wrong grammar?”

We say : “Don’t let school interfere with your education.”

They say : “When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.”

I say : “What an easy tongue-twister.”

We say : “Anyone can make the simple complicated.

Creativity is making the complicated simple.”

They say : “I have a dream…”

I say : “I have many…”

We say : “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.”

With this little exercise, and all the research in my mind; I worked out a hypothetical project done for an educational institute. Since I could not move further from my own i.e. NIFT, I chose to explore one-liners and couplets for the reception wall which caters to all but talks mainly about communication, design and fashion or just plain ideas. Further I figured out some lines for each department in the institute that sum them up more or less to an appropriate degree, for the prospectus. Given below are some of the winners of my own race of thoughts:

“Charcoal your imagination, Photo-ink your fantasy.

Imprint your thought; So it is not sold but bought.”

“Design is to just to know--What should you place; When things are falling, So they fall into place ?”

“BeautyAsks you to look at her Bow down, Kiss her hand And pick her tail.”

“Colors are much more than just a way to distinguish rooms, Hold higher office than just a shade against your skin.

Not even a dire frequency Or the channel Or a spectrum.

ItsWhat you see outside that you are painted with in.”

Knitwear Design “Inter-looped in a pattern that doesn’t require an accomplice.

I engage, I envelope, I expand.”

“Winners usually lose to themselves.”

Textile Design

“It’s our Yes or a No. That decides where we go.”

“Style is what fashion is born out of and retires to.”

“The pucci and the polka; From the threshold to the whole.

Prints that I print, Imprint the soul.”

“Design is when you use a broken glass pane to make the full one feel less.”

Accessory Design

“Fashion was invented so you could learn to bear yourself.”

“Mind the time, Watch the step, A weapon of innovation, A change to be kept.

Relentlessly material; We create the conquest.”

“Payback design- create yourself.”

“If everything is too calm, Start looking for some chaos.

There is always some to settle.”

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I say We say

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REFERENCE All reference and research material of each paper, comprising secondary and primary data, case studies, questionnaire database and survey reports, has been documented and is available for reference purposes with the Department of Fashion Communication, NIFT, New Delhi.

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This end will hopefully mean the beginning for some very promising careers. If you see a hidden promise of employment in these pages, please do get in touch. Our students are ready to stand up to the rigours of employment‌to give them the opportunity, the details are as follows: Dimple Bahl Assistant Professor - Design Center Coordinator Fashion Communication Department NIFT Campus, Hauz Khas Near Gulmohar Park New Delhi Tel: 011 2654 2144 Email: fcniftdelhi@noncomposmentis.in www.noncomposmentis.in