Category: Design & Development

Just before the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, #Nike released its ‘You don’t win Silver, you lose Gold” campaign. On the face of it, it communication, it comes across as a very straight communication, but when the full meaning sinks in, the problem begins.

There was an instant backlash against this campaign on the grounds that it went against the basic principles of sports and more importantly, Olympics. “Does it mean that anyone who does not win a gold medal is a loser?” was the question asked. #Nike had no choice but to withdraw the campaign.

Recently, in order to lend its support to the #MeToo movement, #Gillette released its ‘Is this the best men can get?’ campaign. This was a slight variation on the original Gillette punch-line ‘The best a man can get?’

Observers felt the ad portrayed men as the culprit, when the intended meaning was to set an example for the younger generation. The visuals failed to establish this aspect. Gillette wisely gave a quiet burial to the campaign, but the controversy kept simmering for a while.

In 2000, #Benetton that must have had the longest record in provocative advertisement rolled out its campaign against Death Penalty ‘Looking Death in the Face” it stirred a hornet’s nest. Thereafter, almost every #Benetton campaign has faced stiff opposition. The  Death Penalty campaign had the victims’ families were up in arms but #Benetton held its ground.

All these incidents show that while provocative advertisement does grab you eyeballs, how you handle sentiments is equally important and thus is an area where brands need to tread cautiously. Following points need careful examination:

• Does you brand have a history: For a brand like #Benetton, controversy is nothing new. Almost every campaign has landed it in a soup. Infact, #Benetton has carefully cultivated this image. Are you sure, you want to take that route?
• Will it help the brand and sale: For a brand like #Gillette, while the intention was right, the execution was not. Post release, there was a sever backlash against the campaign with men refusing to buy Gillette, any more.
• What is the cause you are upholding: While winning gold is the ultimate dream of every athlete, winning silver does not make anyone smaller. Infact reaching the Olympics is in itself a big deal and the #Nike campaign missed that message thereby eventually forcing it to withdraw the campaign from the market.

While it is a fact that #ProvocativeAdvertisement is often an effective way of generating instant attention and interest, at Khurana Brand and Communication we suggest brands be careful about taking that route. It’s a beast that once let out of the cage, may be difficult to tame later.

Although humanity has failed to find an answer to the mother-of-all questions “What came first – chicken or egg?” we decided to pose another difficult one “In brochure design – what comes first, content or design?”

Let’s attempt an answer systematically:

The design-first approach

• Have you been checking out the marketing collateral from #Apple’s stable? Historically, #Apple or its arch-rival #Samsung follow a very minimalistic design strategy.
• With both brands, the hero is the product. While even the hero may change, once too often, what remains constant is their minimalistic design and one terrific punch line to support the visual.
• #Nike is another case in point. The design is always alluring and purposefully meant to get customers to ‘#Just do it.” The copy is also short, crisp and to the point.

Content-first approach

• For service providers, the requirement is different than product companies. Let’s consider of the #Taj Group of Hotels. Unlike product companies, they rely more on content to convey their message. Here content gets an upper hand over design.
• Also, given the fact that a brochure allows longer interaction time to flip through the details, service companies do not want to miss any opportunity to impress the customer, hence focus primarily on the content to get their message across.
• Horizontal classifieds platform (online marketplaces) like #Amazon and #Flipkart want to project themselves as a one-stop-destination for all your needs. Their collaterals are deigned to give an idea of the awesome ‘range’ and the multiple categories of products on display, than showcase the attributes of a single product category. Therefore, there is more width than depth to their visualisations in terms of both design and copy.
• #Uber, the cab hailing service is another service brand with no real assets. The assets are owned by the drivers. So they do not want the cab to divert your attention. For them content is the king to creates a brand connect with a mention of keywords, such as #Ubercomfort and #Uberconvenience.

This brings us back to the start. What must come first – content or design?

At Khurana Brand & Communication, we believe that the correct answer lies somewhere in the middle. If for companies like #Apple, #Samsung and #Nike, design does all the talking; in case of service brands like the #Taj Hotels, #Uber, #Amazon or #Flipkart, the content becomes the design in order to create the right perception.

Brands cannot survive by eliminating one and relying fully on the other. This would be suicidal. However by overplaying or underplaying an element, the final impact can be strategically maximised. Which element needs to be underplayed will however depend on the brand philosophy.

It’s that time of the year, when design houses make predictions to set the tone for the whole year. We are doing our bit, so let’s roll

We at Khurana Branding & Communication believe that the year 2019 will be a year of contradictions in Design. It will witness a confluence of the past and the future. Mark our words it will be very different than what we witnessed in 2018. We strongly feel that it will be a mix of one or more of the following trends in the year to come:

1. Arrival of 3D: The trend of 3D design started gathering steam towards the later part of 2018 and will reach its full potential in 2019. Be it in logos, fonts or graphics 3D has arrived and here to stay.
2. Isometric designs will sell like hot cakes: Creating a 3D effect is a difficult proposition, though a beautiful one. Hence the next best thing to 3D, Isometric designs help in creating the same effect. It will not only be faster to create, it can communicate a whole story in just one glance.
3. Asymmetric is in: Till now, things were pretty much simple. They were very symmetrical because human eye loves symmetry. But 2019 will be a year of Asymmetry. Since asymmetry conveys the kinetic energy better than symmetry, it will be used greatly in various communication tools.
4. Duotones and gradients: Till now single color of multi colored logos and design elements have ruled with ease. But their monopoly will be threatened by the use of duotones and gradients. They will start to dominate logos, font colours, pictures, backgrounds, animations and all possible design elements.
5. Strong return of warm colours: While Duotone and gradients will rule the roost; they will start witnessing a strong resurgence of warm colours. Don’t be surprised if duotones or gradients in warm colours start giving a tough time to the pallet of well established colours.
6. Arrival of elegant and delicate illustrations: Till now, illustrations were in bold and think lines. But off late the trend started going in the favour of delicate and elegant illustrations. There will be an increased usage of natural elements, making the design look very intricately and textured against the artificially smooth surfaces.
7. Beefier fonts: While the designs are getting intricate, thinner and more natural, the fonts will start becoming beefier, especially the serif variety. While custom-made ‘sans serif’ fonts will continue to exist, the utter domination of sans-serif will start crumbling.
8. Typography will get prominence: Till now, typography was seen as a complementing element. But in 2019 it will be the foremost element. Beefier and bolder fonts, but with outline only is the trend to watch out for.
9. Floating elements: It will be a while before the world sees a flying car, but 2019 will introduce a lot of floating elements in design. Being anti-gravity in nature, such elements will convey freedom. Anti-gravity will rule in almost every aspect of design be it logos, graphics, packaging concepts, posters, websites etc.
10. Metallic is in: While gold will never go out of fashion, other metals will get their share of limelight this year. Particularly silver and gun metal will be the flavour of the year, along with shade coral that has taken the ramp by a storm this year.

As a globalised economy, India will also not remain untouched by these strong design trends. Watch this space as we keep a close watch on global design trends that are likely to impact us in India.

To reiterate, we feel that 2019 will be way different from what we have seen till date, and it will be exciting to see how it unfolds!

Please do share your ideas, likes, and dislikes too on this space.