By Bhaskar Chatterjee

I was driving a colleague to Atlanta Hartsfield airport. As we drove into the airport, I asked him whether his flight leaves from the north or south terminal. He replied ‘blue’.

I had lived in Atlanta for almost three years and driven to the airport countless times, but that day I noticed for the first time that the airport signage had a color-coding system. Locals were actually using it as a primary layer of navigation—blue for the north terminal and red for the south.

Later I noticed that the colour system extended into the detailed signage systems of both terminals. What an American saw as blue and red, I saw as ‘North Terminal’ and ‘South Terminal’.

Big deal, one might say. What matters is that both of us understood the signage correctly. That’s true. But this simple example of “not seeing” indicates a fundamental difference in how I processed the sign compared to someone in the US.

In India (perhaps because of our math and science-driven education system), we process text and numbers faster than visual data. As a result, primal visual elements like colors, icons, and images (which are actually simpler for the brain to process compared to numbers and text) get overlooked. This drives the ability for visual comprehension to the back seat of our brains.

What we see (or don’t see) has a very deep impact on how we design and build things.

• We consider a software product ready to ship if its (functional) code is running fine. We don’t value user interface (experience) design as much as we value code.
• We create a logo for our company and we consider branding done. There is no thought on how the identity and colour system will flow through brand touch points. Is the visual branding correctly communicating the purpose, proposition and personality of our organization? Are we religiously following brand guidelines?
• Are we really seeing?

We all notice that signage systems, public spaces, restaurants, hotels, shopping malls, parking lots, cabs, buses, trains, and even websites and app designs made in the Americas and Europe are visually mature compared to what we see in India.

It’s often made me wonder why we can’t have such a beautiful blend of meaning and aesthetics in everything we design in India. The conclusion I always reach is that these countries are more prosperous and less populated than us. They have the liberty of money and space, so they create beautiful stuff. But this is only partly true.

The bigger truth is that these countries hold design and visual communication in much higher regard than we do in India.

Is Design in India really functional and beautiful? Is there design thinking behind everything we do? Yes, we do have some airports, hotels, malls, and office buildings that are world-class, but that’s minuscule compared to the size and scale of our country. We are one of the world’s oldest known civilizations. Our history is loaded with stories of planned cities, ravishing forts, astonishing palaces, and beautiful monuments. So at some point in time, we did value and create beautiful design.

What then went amiss? Why are we not creating the best designs in the world today:  from our public spaces to our software applications?

Have we stopped seeing?

We all need to learn to see.

• Individuals in leadership positions (CEOs, government officials, ministers, top corporate executives) are the ones who envision and approve projects. It’s paramount that they value design thinking and have basic knowledge of visual communication. This will help them separate good design from bad design and enable good design to see the light of day.
• An introduction to visual communication should be part of our school and university curriculum.
• We need many more design institutions. In the USA, there are design institutes in every city, just like we have engineering colleges in India.
• It’s time the IT industry gives equal focus, time, and resources to design as they do to coding/ engineering. Here is a great example of top executives from corporate India stepping up their learning-to-see abilities: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/ites/vishal-sikka-urges-infosys-staff-to-apply-design-thinking/articleshow/40311789.cms
• Start-up entrepreneurs should take the effort to learn the basics of visual communication and user interface design. A product with good code is just half-baked. User Interface Design and User Experience Design is the other critical part that can make a product world-class.

The art of seeing is a rare skill; it takes time and effort to acquire. For starters, it needs an open mind that truly believes in the tremendous potential of design.

I am fortunate that I get to work with designers day in and day out. Still, my seeing abilities are far from great. On a positive note, I’m seeing a little more with every passing day.

 

Bhaskar Chatterjee
Co-Founder and CEO
Zero-G Design

Zero-G Design is a branding, design and digital marketing consultancy.
We use the combined power of business innovation + design + technology
to help businesses get noticed and achieve rapid growth.