News & Events ¦ Onio Design - a leading integrated design company based in India.2008-05-09T15:04:36ZManoj KothariCopyright 2008, Manoj KothariSPHPBLOGInnovation 1-on-1 http://www.cnet.com/8301-13641_1-9869180-44.html Tim Leberecht and Adam Richardson both work for frog design, a consulting firm specialized in designing innovative products and services for Fortune 500 clients. They reach out to innovation thought leaders, on thier thoughts with these interviews. First interview in the series is with Manoj Kothari, founder and managing director of Onio.
How do you define "innovation"? It is as basic as food, clothing, and shelter in the broadest sense.
What was your most successful innovation, and how did you find it?
For a person whose profession is innovation, it is hard to point out one idea that "would change life." Every idea has its own destiny.
What is the best idea you've ever had and haven't yet executed?
To make a film on Siddhartha -- by Herman Hesse.
Which design "failure" did you learn the most from, and why?
Simple lessons on prototyping: We took some calculations for granted and prepared the whole pilot lot of metal stands to hold 20 liter water bottles. In front of the client the 100 stands gave way...
What lessons can you pass on to others from how your organization has changed to make itself more innovation-driven?
1. Never begin before sensing enough.
2. Do not judge an idea instantly. Hold it in your mind for some time.
3. Do not work only on one idea. Create a 'family' and the 'succession plan' before launching the work.
4. Never undermine the insights that may come through prototyping.
5. Detailing at the early stages is key to smooth implementation.
6. Unless the top team agrees, innovation is a headless chicken.
In your opinion, what are the biggest barriers and challenges that stand in the way of organizations becoming more innovative?
Unlimited vision is only with limited people.
Beyond your organization, who do you admire for risk-taking innovation, and what do you think makes them successful?
Vision, driven by guts and gut-feel. There are several small and big time people around.
What innovation are you still waiting for?
I wish cars could fly and reduce the traffic on the ground (especially in the context of India). ]]>http://www.oniodesign.com/news/index.php?entry=entry080212-0154402008-02-12T00:00:00Z2008-02-12T00:00:00ZPune Design Festival 2007 An event initiated by Onio last year, took the first step towards blossoming into a great design extravganza this year. Nov. 19th to 23rd 2007, several design dignitaries descended in Pune and felt the throbbing innovation culture with design fraternity. Onio Design had taken up the entire communication design and branding work for this festival this year, including logo design (Conceptualised by Prakash Khanzode), print material and outdoor publicity banners. Manoj Kothari moderated the conference session on Trends and Design Research. ]]>http://www.oniodesign.com/news/index.php?entry=entry071203-0531412007-12-03T00:00:00Z2007-12-03T00:00:00ZMy Impressions from World Design Congress - Connecting 07 From founder of Frog Design Helmut Hesslinger to current CEO of IDEO, Tim Brown, futurist thinkers like Paul Saffo and Bruce Sterling, upcoming American designer Yves Behar and other usual suspects like Philips’s CEO and chief designer Stefano Marzano etc. all spoke at length on design and future of design. One could see a sizable Indian gathering with Dr. Koshy, Pradyumna Vyas, Uday Dandavate from Sonic Rim, Mookesh Patel, Surya Vanka, Poonam and Geetha from Srishti, Unmesh Kulkarni from Philips, myself and several Indian students who are studying in USA. Dr. Koshy, myself and Unmesh were amongst the speakers (who were in the list of whopping 142 sessions which split the audience in 8 parallel sessions).
My expectations were grand. I expected grand new dimensions of design, new articulations of the philosophy and new dimensions of practice across the world would be discussed. I was largely disappointed. Though it was enthralling to listen to some of the speakers like Sir Ken Robinson, on creativity. He spoke with any Power Point for 45 minutes and people gave a standing ovation in the end. It was refreshing to hear new point of view of Bio-mimicry (learn from the nature) to bring new concepts i.e. CO2 is not poison. It is poison if we do not learn from mollusks who convert CO2 dissolved in water into Calcium Carbonate shells. etc.
IDEO’s CEO Tim Brown presented the case of ‘DESIGN THINKING’ (they are done with product design…they have done thousands of them). Case of Aravind Eye hospital (I think Mysore), where they could reduce the cost of lens from 400$ to 4$ and able to conduct close to a 100,000 operations a year, was used to illustrate the design thinking. Several speakers made it a point to use work done for Indian (emerging) markets as a feather in the design cap. India was the hot favorite though the point of view appeared quite naïve to native Indians sitting there (us). Also, one expects that the design mature economies where three generations have worked on design (as an example Walter C. Teague’s grand son was felicitated there), are still groping for new directions and new articulation of what design and designers should be doing. If INTEGRATED and FUTURISTIC thinking is called ‘DESIGN THINKING’ then it is being practiced by all visionaries for time-immemorial. Design, to the common mind, still evoked images of ‘Beautiful Product’ and not of ‘Beautiful Solution’, as we expect it to be. Probably time has come to re-brand DESIGN. Its classical definition of ‘Creative Problem Solving’ or new definitions of ‘Exploiting Hidden Opportunities’ both have not touched the masses and already become clichéd.
Another prominent theme of discussion was ‘INTERACTIONS’ apart from design for the third world. However, the speakers and case-study presentation sounded stale to me. They do not bring news anymore. I think Indian design community is moving faster than the world and it is about time that more case-studies from India start going out. The socio-cultural complexity that the emerging markets of China, India, Brazil and Russia (along with Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia) present can not be grasped fully by the approaches familiar to us now. My presentation was on ‘Intentiability, that speaks of new design research methodology for such market. However, no other such discussion happened.
Although it was primarily a designers gathering as usual ( I did not come across many CEOs being quoted or being greeted), who do not like ‘portfolio presentations’ from fellow designers, but I think that is a very powerful way to propagate the cause of design. What is stale to designers may still be a fresh insight for rest of the world. I think CII-NID Design conference as well as Pune Design Festival should strongly focus on PORTFOLIO PRESENTATIONS from fellow designers. Ultimately the design community gains when media has more masala to quote from the individual design projects. Richard Seymour did present their work for Virgin Galactic (was far from inspiring). Yves Behars’ 100$ laptop was interesting, without being exciting. Philips’s case of revival through design was very professional and did account for overall business overview apart from usual ‘form’ and ‘function’ discussion.
There was a mention of ICSID and ICOGRADA not coming together for even grand occasions like this one. For a change I was happy to see an Indian name doing rounds in ICSID board (Dr. Koshy). Kudos to Dr. Koshy, he has a great political voice in the international design circles that is badly needed in India, as much as the good body of work from the design community.
There was a small informal meeting of all the Indian participants to discuss the agenda and structure of CII-NID Design Summit, coming up in Dec. Idea was to choose the good speakers from this conference to be invited there. While we need some international sparkle to woo the media, I think the time has come when REAL STORIES from the ground (SMALL and UPCOMING, design lead organizations) should get the limelight on the podium through design community. Trying to call all the usual suspects, who are jet-setting between conferences, presenting the same of old stuff in different settings, is a no brainer for anyone anymore. There are hundreds of new start-ups in India, lead by innovation savvy entrepreneurs who understand the new Indian reality of retail boom, educated consumer, socio-cultural nuances, anti-colonial mindset and Indian’s new mission to go global. Design community will win if they are made the AMBASSADORS of design. Not to forget that PORTFOLIO PRESENTATION should be made an essential part of such conferences (at least in India). I think a good strategy is to divide the speaker list this way- 20% foreign, glossy speakers, 30% Indian design community presentations, 30% Design led new age companies from India, 20% Education and Policy presentation.
Overall, this experience did tell me that excitement is shifting to India and China for reasons beyond market reality. However, we, the design community, needs more mature articulation of ourselves in all the forums that speak DESIGN even remotely.
Manoj Kothari- Onio Design- Oct 07 ]]>http://www.oniodesign.com/news/index.php?entry=entry071028-0258292007-10-28T00:00:00Z2007-10-28T00:00:00ZManoj to speak at World Design Congress 2007, SanFrancisco- http://www.idsa.org/ICSID-IDSA07/people/fairmont.asp]]>http://www.oniodesign.com/news/index.php?entry=entry070725-0258302007-07-25T00:00:00Z2007-07-25T00:00:00ZTrend Workshop for Renault Design Team Onio organised the Trends Workshop for Renault Design Team in June 2007. A 15 people cross-functional team drawn from various design offices of Renault, attended the workshop, lead by Manoj Kothari, the Principal Strategist for Onio.]]>http://www.oniodesign.com/news/index.php?entry=entry070620-0124402007-06-20T00:00:00Z2007-06-20T00:00:00ZOnio writes for Business Week on Design and Innovation in India The author, a strategist at Onio Design in Pune, says a big boom in innovation and design is coming
India has a small, busy community of professional industrial designers (around 3,000 in total). And for them, things have never been so good. While we hear from the European design professionals and interns at my design firm, Onio, how hard it is to find a decent design job elsewhere, many young designers in India find companies lining up with lucrative offers even before they graduate.
The software industry needs designers to beef up its graphical user interfaces; brick-and-mortar businesses need more traditional corporate design; and product-led companies have started turning to serious innovation and design. But while the overall mood is upbeat, the country's businesses are nonetheless sharply divided when it comes to their ability to absorb or apply real innovation. Here's a brief, personal take on the different attitudes being shown toward design in India today.
Let's begin with startups. There are two types of startups in India—and you see them in all industries. The first is spawned by the second or third generation of a well-to-do business family. These chief executives are aggressive and more attuned to a Western model of experimenting with new ideas than their elders, and they have generally experienced the power of good design.
But these guys suffer when it comes to major decisions that involve large changes or expenditure. Their boards are invariably still made up of older, more traditionally minded family members who make pushing forward a design-driven agenda less than smooth sailing.
Software for the Indian Market The other kind of startup is usually the child of a team of technocrats who left flourishing careers to give shape to an idea—in other words, the more traditional, Silicon Valley style of company. Increasingly, entrepreneurs who were embedded in engineering want to convert that knowledge to capitalize on India's booming gadget market. These startups are more open to innovation, ideas, and expenditure than are those in the first category.
Transtrite, for instance, makes GPS-based vehicle tracking products, which are gaining popularity because of newly constructed expressways across the country. I should note here that despite the media frenzy about the Indian software industry, software products designed specifically for the Indian market are still a rarity. So this is a fledgling group, but one set to have increasing impact in the coming years.
Next are the traditionally successful companies that used to rule the Indian market with their once-great products that may now be badly dated. These are feeling the heat of competition from local companies as well as from better-designed foreign products, and are far from visionary.
Owners cling to an attitude of "We know what works for us. We know the market. Give us a design to match that foreign brand, and we'll take care of the rest, we've done it before."
Big Businesses, Old School Part of this attitude comes from the monopoly they enjoyed in the past, and part of it comes from ignorance of the reality of innovation today. Sporadic or incremental innovation does not accomplish anything, and these companies are heading for a disaster unless they do something radical—and soon.
Then there are the established Indian business houses. These are usually a part of bigger conglomerates with multiple business lines—making and selling diverse products such as soap and software and employing designers across all their companies. In general, all have done well in understanding the language and worth of design. I'm talking here about companies such as BlowPlast in office furniture systems, Titan in watches, Onida in consumer appliances, or VIP in luggage.
But today, some in this category are suffering from a problem of having enough insight (the starting point of design) to decide the course of innovation, but not enough to implement it within the new market realities, which are changing at a faster pace than ever before
Another Round of Mediocrity In one meeting with a TV giant that had better remain nameless, I asked them why, when they've ruled the Indian market for so many years, they had not managed to become the Sony of India? Total silence. Even though they have a full design studio (doing reasonably good work), their products don't differ much from other international players who are putting all their financial and design might into eating the Indian pie.
Once these companies understand that they have to innovate, they don't seem ready to take the riskier step of continuing to do so. It will take another round of mediocrity and failure before they understand that engaging with higher paradigms of design is not optional. These companies have the potential to become shining icons of Indian design, but they need a visionary leader to take them there.
The fifth category is the most recent—multinationals wanting to localize innovation for the Indian market. This one comes courtesy of the booming Indian economy and signals foreign awareness of the end of the Indian consumer's love affair with foreign products. Once upon a time, everything with an overseas label sold well. For years, foreign companies operating in India considered Indian consumers "Third World" residents who would be happy with any foreign label, and who didn't have an idea of ergonomics, style, or evolved taste.
Getting to Know You Products that had proved unfashionable elsewhere were introduced in India, but then the Indian consumer began to catch on. Traditional segmentation and economic capacity-based studies don't wash any more. Gone are the days when Indian consumers would buy whatever was presented to them.
With many choices and plenty of information on what is available—and what constitutes world-class quality—consumers know what they are looking for. So now companies planning for a longish stay in India are seeking more local insights into the minds of their users. One of the companies we are working with is Volkswagen, which is using a mix of market statistics, ethnographic research, and trend research to understand the dynamics of the Indian mind. They still have design studios far away from Indian soil, but there is a sign of increasing Indian involvement in their innovation process—at last.
The last category is the large public sector companies, hitherto untouched by "design." They are the legacy of pre-liberalized India and still enjoy huge support from the government in terms of money and policies.
Design here is a not a mandate. Usually it is forced by competition—one of the senior managers decides to try it out. The problem they face is that it can take a long time before the power of design is truly understood by all tiers of a hierarchy. So they continue to struggle with good design, bad design, and no design all lumped together. But these companies are becoming bigger beacons of design. They are ready to experiment.
Excitement Ahead So where does it go from here? Well, the Indian economy is booming. Consumers are showing signs of becoming discerning mature buyers and users. Companies are ready to spend money and take risks. The government even declared a National Design Policy (though the effect on the ground will take a long time to become visible) (see BusinessWeek.com, 2/14/07, "India's Designs on Innovation").
New design schools are opening every year (there are more than a dozen now). Design companies are getting their acts together to attract investors and grow (WPP invested in Bangalore-based Ray+Keshvan, Tessaract became Idiom with the help of Future Group, Onio got angel investment.) Internationally acclaimed design houses like IDEO are on the prowl for their piece of India. Even the Italian government has seen the opportunity and is promoting the Italian design industry heavily on Indian soil. All of this points to an exciting road ahead for design in India. There are hurdles for sure: the lack of a trained intermediate layer (design engineers and design managers) or a governing body for design practice, the lack of skilled supporting resources such as model-makers and prototyping companies, and above all, the lack of trained designers in the country may slow the big boom of innovation that can transform India. But it's coming.
Manoj Kothari is founder, director, and senior design strategist of Pune-based industrial design and branding firm Onio Design.
]]>http://www.oniodesign.com/news/index.php?entry=entry070514-2308452007-05-15T00:00:00Z2007-05-15T00:00:00ZManoj Kothari at one of the formative meetings of PDF (Pune Design Foudnation) for Pune Design Festival ]]>http://www.oniodesign.com/news/index.php?entry=entry070514-2307162007-05-15T00:00:00Z2007-05-15T00:00:00ZInsights from Insight India 2007 at CopenhagenDo Indian consumers still look at European styling with awe? Do they always yearn for European products? What is the 'Indian' element in product design that consumers are looking for? Is sustainability a far fetched idea for Indian market?
These were some of the questions generated and discussed in the Insight India 2007, organised by Onio Design and Style-Vision of France in collaboration with Copenhagen Institute of Future Studies. It attracted people from senior management of companies like IKEA from Sweden, Henkel from Germany, Volkswagen from Germany, Symrise from France and Propeller from Sweden.
Manoj Kothari from Onio spoke on the socio-cultural insights that affect the innovation strategy for India, followed by a joint presentation of current trends along with Genevieve Flaven of Style-Vision.
Mr. Axel Olessen, the managing director of Copenhagen Institute of Future Studies did notice that the real race for Indian market is still two years away for the Scandinavian companies.
Participants were surprised at the subtle innovations appreciated by Indian market as demonstrated by Onio's case for Lexi pens. The key insights for innovation for Indian consumers as demonstrated by Onio i.e. Bold & Gold, Longevity, Collective Wisdom, Inherent Value and Quasi-static changes were well appreciated by participants in the context of design.
]]>http://www.oniodesign.com/news/index.php?entry=entry070325-1246522007-03-25T00:00:00Z2007-03-25T00:00:00ZBusiness Week Report on Onio's views on National Design Policyhttp://www.businessweek.com/innovate/co ... han=search
India's Designs on Innovation
Compared with its Asian rivals, India has been slow to make design a priority. But a new national policy commits to doing business with style by Nandini Lakshman
In India, design has never been a part of the business lexicon. Now, New Delhi wants to change that. This month, 40 years after setting up the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad in the western state of Gujarat, the Indian government finally ratified a design policy to make the discipline a national priority.
To achieve this, the new policy envisages a "platform for creative design development, design promotion and partnerships across many sectors, states, and regions for integrating design with traditional and technological resources."
Not only has the NID been deemed a university, the government wants to set up four more NIDs and make design a part of the curriculum in engineering and other educational pursuits. Finer details are still scarce, but with education as the key issue, it will bank on public-private partnerships to foster design.
Design Latecomer So far, India has only a dozen design programs, compared with 241 in China. There are 300 design colleges in Korea, in contrast to India's 10. While China churns out 30,000 design students annually, India produces just one-third of that number. And while Asia is increasingly becoming the hotbed of design, India is nowhere on the scene.
This policy is the first sign that the government wants to rectify that. It comes at a time when both China and India—with their roaring economies—are among the most happening destinations globally. Says Sridhar Marri, head of the communication design group at Infosys Technologies, "The design-led economic transformation that we have always dreamed of in India can now be visualized on the horizon."
This initiative would put an emphasis on innovation at all levels. Even as Japanese and Korean brands consistently give their western counterparts a run for their money, Indian brands continue to dominate only in their home market. But with Indian companies increasingly displaying global aspirations, the realization that only innovation and design can set them apart from the crowd is dawning.
Crucial Differentiator "This is a great move from the government of India to express and indicate support for India's design and innovation capabilities in the global arena," says Niti Bhan, a San Francisco-based emerging-markets strategist. "If India takes a leaf from the other Asian nations' books, they have a chance to be catapulted onto the world stage."
Until now design has never been a big concern, but more an incidental function in Indian business. But today, with stiff competition and scores of foreign brands and services invading India, design and product offerings are being touted as the only differentiators in the clutter. "The policy has the power to create an innovation ecosystem in the country," adds Marri.
Driving this system are hordes of small and midsize enterprises that are using design to make their presence felt. Drawing on the vastness of India, with all its cultural diversity, marketers are using design to make a global foray.
Making It Click Take the case of the Lexi pen, made by a small manufacturer. It has a cap that makes a satisfying click sound when it's shut. With the click denoting the preservation of the object, the pen has been a roaring success in India. Manoj Kothari, founder of Pune-based Onio Design, which designed the product, claims his client is set to launch this product overseas, with certain tweaks. But he adds, "Most of our design has been reactionary rather than preemptive."
And such instances are few and far between, as India is struggling to develop its own Samsungs and LGs. Kothari also points out flaws in the policy—a lack of practical application pointers, for one. "The generic vision statement has a Utopian bonanza built into it. What's missing is a sustained and integrated plan for design and innovation," he says. He compares it to a patchwork of swatches from different world baskets that have been sewn together. "We are using design as a noun, but it should be also a verb for systematic innovation."
At the very least, the policy is an indication that design and innovation are topics at the tables of the nation's leaders.
Lakshman covers India business for BusinessWeek.
]]>http://www.oniodesign.com/news/index.php?entry=entry070215-0033082007-02-15T00:00:00Z2007-02-15T00:00:00ZFinancial Express Report on Insight India 2007 and Onio Design: 15th Feb 2007Copenhagen to dwell into the minds of the Indian consumer: Geeta nair
PUNE, FEB 14 : India is going to be the flavour at Copenhagen. There is new-found interest to design for India and figure out what India wants.
So the Copenhagen Institute of Future Studies along with Style-Vision, a trend research company from France and a design studio from Pune, Onio Design has organised a meet ‘Insight India 2007’ in Copenhagen on March 15-16, at the Danish Design Centre.
‘Insight India 2007’ is hoping to help Scandinavian and other European industries to evolve innovation strategies based on a deep understanding of Indian consumer culture, for a successful entry into the Indian market.
Onio Design will provide a view on the Indian consumer culture, design and trends. It had organised a similar round-table at London, as a part of London Design Festival with top managers from global giants like Procter & Gamble, Steelcase and Hitachi in attendance.
“This was a first such event organised by an Indian global design company outside India. There is a lot of interest and curiosity about India. Many companies want to come here but do not know how and where to begin,” says Manoj Kothari, the founder director and senior design strategist at Onio.
Kothari will speak on centuries of socio-cultural influences and modern influences of TV, Bollywood, software industry and internet that are shaping the today’s Indian consumers. Abhijit Bansod, chief designer of Titan Watches will talk on how Titan has done it on the basis of its insights of Indian consumer.
Axel Olsen, head of Copenhagen Institute of Future Studies, Genevieve Flaven, MD of Style-Vision and Karl Grondal, who has worked in India as senior designer with Onio will present his observations on Indian culture and design. ]]>http://www.oniodesign.com/news/index.php?entry=entry070215-0030092007-02-15T00:00:00Z2007-02-15T00:00:00Z