A few days ago I got back from Delhi. The design community headed to the first version of the India Design Forum, which was held at the Le Meridian hotel in New Delhi on the 9th and 10th March 2012. Amongst the attendees were a lot of people form Europe, some form the Americas and some participants from Indonesia also. With the amount of buzz that the word design, design education, design driven startups and anything related to design is creating in India, the event holds a significant position.
To the IDF
This was marketed as the first International Design conference in India, which actually its not, but lets just ignore that for the moment.
This post is not meant to be a press release of the conference and neither a summary of what other people spoke, but just a personal reflection on the event and a constructive criticism for the event .
First the positives
The organizers had done a great job in getting a very good list of people to attend as speakers. That itself must have gathered a good crowd. So full marks to the organizers to at-least reach out to the folks who otherwise would not have graced a design event in India.
I was impressed with the organization in terms of its venue selection, (you would be foolish not to like a posh 5 star hotel) , the effort put into the whole planning out and the scale. I have seen and been to bigger ones outside India, so this was good to see here as well. The halls were really big, the stage was awesome and so was the audio – visual facilities to help follow the speakers well.
The conference started with the pretext that design should come out of its elitist image. This notion was further highlighted in the talk by the renowned designer Karim Rashid in his talk. However the conference was elitist in its highest sense. It felt very much like an elite crowd had come upon the stage and were making these presentations one after the other and boasting of the work they had done.
The tagline of the conference was “The Power of Design”. I really struggled to find and answer as to the power of design in what? In making people spend more money or making them want objects of desire.
IDF 2012 - The power of Design
I felt that there was a lot of presentations around Product Design, Fashion Design and Architecture. Failed to see many presentations on other aspects of design in Sustainability, Design Research, Service Design, User Experience Design, Graphic Design, which are so crucial to discuss in the context of India.
So in my opinion the Power of Design should have been focused around bringing about a radical shift in the way the government and government bodies functions, in the way the services are offered, in the way lives are improved across the various segments of the society. The conference had nothing of that, but it would not be right to expect that as the intention of this conference was not that. When the minister for Industries Shri Kamal Nath gave the inaugural speech, there was a context being set that yes that perhaps Design for better governance, or industries or the could be a topic of discussion over the two days. However that was not the case.
In the talk by Paolla Antonelli, the senior curator from the MoMA (USA), spoke about the design that the world is talking about and she spoke about case studies of examples form last year. A lot of the buzzwords were around Humanitarian Design, Design for Social Impact etc. However none of the remaining speakers spoke about these topics. These are things we have so much potential for in India and there was not one who spoke at length about it. We are still caught up with the crafts and craft inspired product designs and architecture inspired Interior Design, or mythology and culture inspired Fashion Design.
So the other thinking that was kinda bothering me was that I must have got more reference of Italy , Paris, France, London and New York in the whole conference than anything related to India. There were a few sessions devoted to that, but not many. So the question that comes to my mind, is that; ‘Why can’t forum like India Design Forum have sessions dedicated to India and by that I mean not just showing designs created in India, but sessions FOR India.’
I personally believe that the moment the sessions are dedicated towards India and Design in India, you would have great discussions. You could bring in all the great design names and houses from around the world. But put them up in a great discussion on how they see the Power of Design in moving India forward. For them we should not present a picture that for us The Power of design is to adopt Jugaad, and built low scale products and facilities in the name of innovation, like the Tata Nano; but something larger than that. I would love to have them blast the design scene in India if they feel its not approprite. I would love to talk with them on the point that Design is not a DTP job but an honorable practice. I would love to have them discussion and I would sit through that.
That brings to my other major issue I had with the conference. When you call the event a Forum, you need to plan the time table in a way to give time for more and more discussions. In the way the things were planned there were over 50 speakers, who were speaking over the 2 days time. Now I would have totally loved if there was say just 30 speakers also, but there were sessions where the discussions was engaging. With over 50 speakers, and many of them showing works in the genre, the audience was left with lots to grasp in short time.
Some of the speakers were of such a high profile, the audience hardly had the courage to ask questions. On top of that, you had the organizers asking presenters to finish soon. The discussions , Q&A were all skipped and in the end what you were left with is a presentation that highlighted the work of the designer. Now that is something that can be viewed online as well. Stories were missing from many of the presentations. I am a firm believer that you show lesser number of quality stuff than show a large amount of work in a rushed manner.
So often these presentations at IDF felt like portfolio review with the audience as the Jury, and the Jury had no real power to discuss the work. So what this resulted in was the audience not really being able to say the difference between the work done by Dilip Chabria versus the work done by the Italian firm that presented.
Maybe my understanding of design is a bit different than the rest. But to me, the conference as such felt more more arty than designerly. Perhaps it was with the people attending the conference and their attire, or the space in a 5 star, or the presence of certain artists, or the art exhibitions. If I attend a design conference, I expect everything to be designed. If there is a situation where an error could occur, I need to design in way that the error is prevented.
I also think a forum like IDF should also have exhibits from the best of Student Design projects across India. This has been a regular feature at various design conferences worldwide, and was missing here. If India is to become a powerhouse in Design, the world needs to know not from the Indian origin designer settled in Netherlands or America, but in India and students are good channel to know that.
With the number of design educational institutions growing in India (I head one of them) , there are bound to be a lot of people who are more interested in knowing what the Power of Design is to improve the quality of life in India and what is being done at the training in design level itself.
I had really high expectations for the conference. I still have. I know that this is a starting year, and that there will be a better conference next year. It’s just that I am not satisfied completely.
“If the idea is educate “masses”, it should not happen in 5 star hotels. Audience matters.” ; commented a contact from Twitter, who is also into Design education. Triggers an interesting chain of thought. Do we really need to have the event in a 5 star hotel and ooze with elitist image. Can the event me more affordable and approachable for the common man / designer.
In the end I felt, it was a sincere attempt to get the elite of the world of design to a platform which is definitely needed (?) in India. There was an overdose of Product Design and Architecture, some Fashion Design. Hopefully in the years to come, they can expand the gamut of topics covered under the umbrella of the design in India.
To me the meet up / conference / forum felt like more like a design gathering to get an update on what others are doing. In order to make its mark as a quality conference, the organizers need to be made aware of the recent things that happen in Design conferences and make the conference more “Designerly” , which should not be mistaken for an elitist identity and denoting style.
The conferences are no more a one channel thing. There is a dialogue that needs to happen, so that the audience can leave feeling satisfied of learning something new and enriching. I think the event would be a lot better next time ! This time was an eye opener. Next one will be lots to learn! 
So dear organizers of IDF. Our thanks is due to you For the real eye-opening event! Great effort in the organization! We expect more in IDF 2013 now. The IDF event can serve as a good nexus with the design worlds that exists outside. It aims to be an influential platform and that it perhaps can be.
But the questions remains, influential for whom.
