Prepared for a panel discussion, aimed mainly at lay persons whose children are starting d-school, and engaging with "design" for the first time.

2. Design Futures
Looking ahead with a 30-year perspective
© ARVIND LODAYA, 2019

3. “Designis theartof makingvaluetangible.”
PRODUCT & UI/UX DESIGN
SERVICE/CX DESIGN
BRAND STRATEGY + DESIGN
AMBIENCE DESIGN
I am a multi-modal design &
innovation expert, who
synergizes design with strategy.
If you lived in India in the 90s,
chances are I’ve had the
privilege of touching your life
somewhere, somehow.
Most of my assignments have
been successful, many have
enjoyed sustained success.
I am a specialist generalist, and
a pragmatic idealist.
PROFESSIONAL HISTORY:
Graduate from NID specializing
in Industrial Design 1988
Senior Designer with ASA
Design 1989
Design practice 1993
Creative Director of Ogilvy &
Mather’s design + branding
unit, Artistree 1995
Design consulting practice
2000
Faculty/Dean at Srishti
Institute of Art, Design &
Technology 2002
Design consulting + training/
mentoring practice 2011
ARVIND LODAYA
Innovation, Design & Branding Strategist

4. “Designis theartof makingvaluetangible.”
PRODUCTS & GADGETS (HARDWARE) COMMUNICATION
BRANDING & IDENTITY SYSTEMS DIGITAL UI & UX (APPS/SOFTWARE) RETAIL & MARCOMM

5. Four Questions – Add Your Own!
• “What is the scope of design in the future?”
• “What kind of design specialisations will last?”
• “How is design impacting other fields/domains?”
• “How important is (or will be) technology to design?”

6. “What is the scope of design in the future?”
• Basically, two business models:
• Corporate design departments
• Design+ service businesses (or product ventures)
• Two engagement modes:
• Turnkey/Solutioning
• Product, Space, Branding/MarComm, Interaction/Service, System/Process, etc.
• Specialist/Technique/Artistry Input
• 3D, Digital, Motion, Illustration, Modelling, Artisanal/Craft, Art/Installation, etc.
• The future: Ubiquitous, Automated Design
• Importance of image/appearance (in every domain/sector/activity sphere)
• Importance of ‘standing out’/differentiation (branding)
• Unifying image (marketing, advertising, PR) & reality (product)
• Discovering (& deploying) algorithms underlying design choices/decisions
© ARVIND LODAYA, 2019

7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2SxqUvtpIk

8. “What kind of design specialisations will
last?”
• Two themes:
• “Marketing, Engagement & Behaviour Change”
• Communication Design, Game Design
• “Use/Interaction Experience & Delight”
• Fashion Design, Product Design, Space Design
• Emerging areas:
• Smart systems/services (Digital Transformation, IoT, AI/automation)
• Data-driven “generative” design (analytics, visualization, optimisation)
• VR and AR (immersive media/experiences)
• Sustainable systems (disruptive R&D, biomimicry, circular economy)
• Ergonomics & Behaviour (neuro-cognition, psycho-physiology)
• Collaborative/participatory design (complexity/wickedness, interdisciplinarity)
© ARVIND LODAYA, 2019

9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SByymar3bds

10. “How is design impacting other
fields/domains?”
• “Consumerisation” of B2B, Defense, even Government
• Branding everything (including our selves)
• Making “touch-points” and interactions more user-friendly, smooth and attractive
• Introducing element/s of “luxury” (pampering, pleasure, quality) into the transaction
experience
• Reducing “human error”, improving system ergonomics & efficiency
• “Design Thinking” as a universal plug-in/skillset
• Aesthetic, innovative & unique front-ends/touch-points  artistic, content/media,
marketing & service/experiential occupations
• Streamlining product/system/process back-ends for “Human Efficiency” 
engineering, planning & managerial/administrative occupations
• Given limitations of logic & objectivity, “Human Efficiency” as the new dataset 
analytical, research, social & decision-support occupations
© ARVIND LODAYA, 2019

11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJBMWvyGgE0

12. “How important is (or will be) technology to
design?”
• “Ancient activity but a new profession”
• Inventing & reconfiguring/enhancing tools & artefacts to make our lives easier &
enjoyable  “Technology”
• Practices evolved/adapted to prevailing Social-Cultural-Political-Economic orders:
Pre-industrial (artisanal), Industrial (mechanized), Post-Industrial (information-driven)
• Along the way, Technology and Design got separated
• Tech lost its empiricism & empathy, Design lost its rationality & objectivity
• In the digital era, the two are tightly associated once more
• Major credit must go to Steve Jobs for setting an exemplar
• The current trend is towards design becoming the lead innovation discipline
• Going forward, both may merge into a meta-discipline located in human experience
• Is design the same as “innovation”?
• No, innovation need not be ‘human-centric’ whereas design must
© ARVIND LODAYA, 2019

13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dR3hpQy2To

15. Questions? Doubts?
Feel free to ask or share.
Want to get in touch? Email me at
lodayaconsulting@gmail.com