Good brands are conversation pieces. Any brand proposition needs articulation and tries to make its essence felt, heard and experienced. Any brand, whether it’s a product or service has a spatial presence.

Spaces are like brackets. They enclose happenings. In fact, they create opportunities for events to occur yet they don’t create experiences. Experiences are created by people. So does it mean, that if one introduces people inside a space it would be synonymous to experience creation? Answer is not an emphatic yes. Such experiences are random and not controlled. Brand experiences are controlled experiences and they occur inside spaces. Controlled experiences happen when the spaces are designed for people or created by the very people who are going to experience the space.

By the people & for the people

A key question that should touch an experience designer’s mind is who are these people?  The word, people is like looking at a beam of white light. A beam of white light when passed through a glass prism splits to reveal a range of its constituent colours. People ecology is somewhat similar and it is important to identify all the key people who are going to be influenced or will influence the brand experience. Any product or service will be associated with multiple stake holders. It is crucial to identify them right in the beginning. Most brands are driven by brand custodians, who are brand managers or many a times owners of a enterprise. In most scenarios brand custodians start becoming the voice of the people. And that in most cases represents a diluted version of the needs and understanding of the people, who are the actual users of the space. Let us take example of a retail space as a brand experience zone. The list of people experiencing some part of the retail space is not limited to the set of usually identified customers but also the sales personnel, the maintenance crew, the product managers, the owners, the supply logistics people and so on. It is the combined interpretation of all the stake   holders’ needs that will lead to creation of a seamless and effective brand experience. It is this definition of people which creates the foundation on which experiences can be created.

People are emotional beings and react to their surroundings. They harbour desires and disappointments. Strong desires are usually accompanied by determination to achieve. Many times when the desires are unmet, disorientation sets in leading to disappointing experiences. While working on Bajaj Probiking retail, the research team quickly understood that the hi-end performance bike customer was a different breed. This customer is a bike enthusiast, a serious biker and not a point A to point B commuter. The Probiking store is a cluster of touch points where a serious biker understands the technical nuances of the bikes, takes a performance ride without stepping out on the road and even selects his own bike accessories. The sales person is a bike dude and quickly bonds with the customer. Understanding all stakeholders’ latent needs and desires and articulating them into experiences is the first footstep, critical to the creation of any experience.

Tracking the user journey

Visit to a store or for that matter any branded space is a 4D experience. A person passing through a space experiences multiple touch points through a varied passage of time. By mapping a potential set of user’s journey in a space, common touch points can be identified. Each touch point can be used to dispense a controlled dosage of functional and emotional needs of the user with reference to the brand, its persona and values. At the new Suzlon campus, the horizontal monotony of the architectural lines and flows is broken by using iconic visual nomenclature for spaces. The core brand thought of sustainability is broken down into iconic building nomenclature like Sun, Aqua, Tree, Sky and the campus itself is called One Earth. The theme played as visual elements reinforcing the core message on to visitors. The basement, which is the entry point for the employees has been transformed into an energetic Terminus. This works as energiser to employees entering or leaving their work spaces. Subtly engraved quotes in the centre court create curiosity and propel minds towards open learning. These design interventions at various touch points create residual memory points, just like post cards from a vacation.

Tell a good story

To catch people’s attention you need a good story and it needs to be told in the most compelling way. Narrative strategies reinforce the impact of spaces. A good story creates a modern day temple where symbolic narration in spaces has the potential of inducing a sacred experience.
A holiday store that constantly reminds the customer of the weekend holiday ambience and fun, the eye wear store Titan Eye + which tells a customer of its expertise at lens making while you open the door or the ICICI bank centre which makes you proud of your local state heritage are all narrative experiences. As humans we love to listen to stories. Coca Cola museum in Atlanta showcases giant cans which tell great stories of passion for buying coke since WWII. These remain as memorable stories in the visitors mind and are told, retold several times over. The power of brand can come alive through stories. The stories need not be restricted to just the brand. There can be stories on people, technology, business and the space itself. Placing the right story at the right touch point can have just the right effect on the people within a space. Duration of the story is directly proportional to the length of the time a visitor may want to spend in the space. What stories will you place in your store? Which story should engage people while the salesperson packs your box or prepares the invoice? A relationship is created when a retail space ceases to be a shop and becomes a place where passion is shared. Stories have the power to engage and that is exactly what you want your space to do. Tell a great story.

Media equals all senses

Play of light, shadow, smell, textures has a profound effect on our perception. Suddenly from a one-dimensional experience space becomes multi dimensional. Emotional depth rises into a multi sensorial experience orchestrating in symphony. At the pharma packing Research Company, Bilcare, emotive graphics on the exterior becomes a play of interesting shadow forms. Think while you walk! Feel while you walk! Strong coffee and cookie aroma as you enter the Zest holiday store drives the desire to purchase. There definitely is a link between Gastronomy and Buy-ology. While designing the LG innovation Centre, Anant, it was important to cause a mindset change with employees coming for a think tank session. Any team member carrying a mind load of his shop floor and other day to day issues to the thinking room would turn counterproductive. The design team played with light, visuals and sound to create a dark entrance foyer. The 13 second walk through this foyer places the visitor into a contrasting ambience filled with calming imagery and sounds. The medium of the foyer here acts as a filter and by the time visitors immerge into the innovation centre, they are calm, curious and cleansed of any pre thoughts. Being in two situations, charges up the air. Media needs to be seen as a tool to drive various senses, create effects and situations.

Total Experience

Experiences could be stable or could be spontaneous. More spontaneous the experience, more they are exciting to the people immersed in the experience. Constantly shifting conditions create opportunities for new experiences to occur. A night market or Sunday bazaar are great examples. A busy thoroughfare during day. A memorable, exciting market with eateries, curious wares and performers at night.  Great spatial experiences are created when all people connected with the space choose to enjoy and stay immersed in the environment. People can see, feel, smell and share the experience. They have chosen to be there and are therefore highly receptive to it. This is certainly different than staring at a poster or watching a remote commercial in your living room. Brand and the product become part of the experience process. It’s this process which involves people, tells great stories that people want to hear, at the right space, in the right amount, using the right media and at the right time, is what creates great brand experiences.      

This article was published in Jan-Feb 2010 issue of VMRD Magazine.

Every good manufacturer of AV products today listens to the consumer. Gone are the days when the feature laden new technology developed, was simply dressed and forced on to the consumers. Philips, Samsung, Bose, Panasonic, JBL and similar mass brands all carry out extensive consumer feedback and desire surveys to pin pointedly aim the products for specific consumers. This also helps them differentiate in the market.

Segmentation in the AV product range has driven the manufacturers of AV products to understand specific consumers in each segment and design for them. A big role is played by consumer choice in the AV design process.

There are two distinct parts to an AV Design process. It all begins with understanding & Research.

1.    Technology

2.    User Group

This is a classical chicken and egg story here.

At times the technology is developed and applications need to be found after understanding the technology.

At times consumer voice is (rarely) heard and a technology team starts putting a solution together.

Most AV companies employ designers or design agencies along with ethnographers to go deep inside consumer psyche’. Designers use various techniques like shadowing, videography, focused group discussions, eye ball tracking, one on one interviews. They also carry out co creation workshops with potential or existing users to ideate.

Specific responses on prototypes are measured and pain points are plotted. Segmentation is also clearly identified during such evaluation.  

The next stage is to gather the user / consumer study insights and see possible applications of those insights with the available or developing technology. Identifying KEY FEATURES using these insights is a critical stage of re defining the brief for design. So, simply speaking two columns are drawn. One side is the selected consumer wish list and the other side the AV technology solutions which satisfy these needs. This document is converted into a design ( Industrial Design & technology brief) with expectations from final product clearly marked.

The ideations teams on the engineering as well as the industrial design side go into an over drive at this point.

Techniques like brain storming, simulations and other such experimental stimuli are concocted to envision the final product. These are usually sketches, quick assemblies, assorted features rigged together etc.

An evaluation team critically analyses this “creative” output and use various techniques from intuition to fancy idea filter models to pinpoint the concept direction.

The Design and engineering teams get but busy and try and put a serious reality to the selected ideas.

The engineering teams start rigging up the AV devices , testing , compacting, programming etc. And aim a proof of concept test model.

The Industrial Design team crystallize their sketches , creates photo realistic representations of the final look feel of the AV product. Brand loyalty and image plays a key function in the segment of AV products.

Many brands carry a distinct product style and play upon that as a key feature of their product.

This leads to creation of mock ups and initial prototypes to jacket the engineering teams test version.

The “proof of Concept” is evaluated by an internal team for performance.

A limited exposure is given to the concept at this stage to selected consumers who provide valuable user feedback.

AV company marketing, service, manufacture or sourcing and finance teams kick in to provide their feedback on viability etc. The project gets serious now.

The engineering and industrial design teams jointly work towards a refined design. The design is detailed in terms of production engineering. One or several working prototypes are created and tested by various stake holders. Compliance to global product standards such as CE, UL and other performance characteristics are evaluated. A refined data for manufacture is produced by the engineering and design engineering teams. A thorough discussion with potential vendors, tool makers and molders is carried out. A final approved manufacturing data is released. Marketing inputs on product brand and packaging are incorporated. Product Graphic design kicks in on the finalised surfaces.

The tooling and initial molding phase takes 2 to 3 months. Tooling related problems are overcome during this phase.

T1 & T2 (trial 1 & 2) samples are assembled and tested for performance. User feed is taken again at this stage on a limited scale. Products are sent for CE or UL or other registrations and approvals.

AV product is ready for launch.