Design is the Differentiator!

Any brand to survive the aging process must look at the design component and it is more true for the print media with its dwindling circulation (world wide, though it is a little different story in India). We have seen various newspapers experimenting with its mast and a little about the page layouts, but Hindustan Times has undergone a complete metamorphosis with its more smart-looking designing.
In a word of competing brands and mushrooming 'me-too' products, the design emerges as the clear differentiator that adds value to the money one spends.
HT has acknowledged the presence of competition and numerous other access points for a prospective reader to get information and news and entertainment, and has clearly won over the hearts of the youthful India with its make over.
The mast set in lower case in a strong Swiss expanded type font, it is Vonness, in fact, in double color, stands our strongly, and the famous Florida based designer Mario Garcia has done an excellent job in carrying the design elements across various other pull outs and add-ons.
The clever use of color to highlight select words in the headlines or other text adds zing to the entire process of going through the newspaper. These 'hooks' indeed provide an entirely new experience of scanning a newspaper for a reader who is spending less and less time with it...approximately 14 minutes on an average.
It is however would be interesting to closely watch its circulation stats as to how the youthful design is impacting the readership.

CJ

Good Design is Good Business

This nugget of wisdom came from Thomas Watson Jr, former IBM CEO, while addressing the Wharton School of Business in 1973. The Indian companies with the opening up of the economy have also started realising the importance of good design, whether it is product, services, or communication. A well executed design brings in lot of respect, brand identity and loyalty, and trust, especially when it precisely communicates corporate philosophy and is consumer friendly.
The Indian designers therefore are much in demand across the globe for their aesthetics and ergonomics which they are capable of creatively deploy in the products.
It is worth reading the latest 'Outlook Business' for a comprehensive overview of the emerging communication scenario and how the design, or the visual imagery, is being used not as a mere support function but as a part of the corporate strategy.