Project Proposal

Design for Development


Design Brief:
Branding, Packaging and Publication Design for products made by Tribal
communities of Narmada District and Women from Surendranagar to generate
income for them and make them self-sustainable.


Current Scenario:
Manthan Educational Programme Society, India is a not for profit organization
focused to ameliorate and instill fresh methods in science communication and
entrepreneurship development amongst students and communities at large.
Manthan focuses on entrepreneurship development with the help of special
skill, marketing and design training. The main objective behind these trainings
is that the unemployed people develop their own businesses by developing
their own products.
Currently there are more than 20 - 25 different groups making different
products. The products developed by the micro enterprises are either sold in
local market or government fairs. These people although being experts in the
field and in spite of huge market for these products they do not get sufficient
income since they do not have enough exposure and proper channel to reach
larger group of audiences.


Main products:
- Rugs from waste saris
- Candles
- Herbal Medicines
- Lifestyle products from Natural fibers like mobile covers, hair clips, etc.
- Clothing


The products developed are of high quality but are not able to reach to masses
in the cities and not able to earn a larger income for the groups. To reach to
national and international level proper branding and proper packaging are
required.
A publication describing the process of the products made and the background
of that area would help the people know about the value of the product. The
content of the publication will be publication the background of the area, the
population and statistics, the importance of income generation, the training
process, the products developed and their process and simple technologies
provided to make their process simple.


Need:
- to generate better income through proper branding and packaging
- to let the people access the process of the work
- to reach to national and international level
- to let people know the real benefit of the programme
- to use design for social development
-to make the process of the work and motive of the programme more
transparent to consumers


I chose this subject as my diploma project as I believe that craft despite
being marginalized due to urbanization has very strong potential. My
previous experiences in the area for eg. Visit to Virvallanur and Rajasthan
and communities like Dastkar has inspired ideas in me which I feel have not
been explored enough. I intend to use my knowledge and skills as a visual
communication designer to develop brand identity and packaging which
facilitates effective communication.


Challenges:
- design branding and packaging for products from completely different areas
- design branding and packaging for completely different products within the
time frame
- to design packaging that will be cost-effective
- displaying the rural touch for urban market


Research Questions:
-how do I put my knowledge to improve their financial condition?
-what kind of branding will be suitable to the products?
-how do I present the product as a marketable product?
-how can I use rural touch to the likes of urban Indians?



Approach/Process:
-research and analysis of different kinds of branding and packaging
-interviewing rural people and knowing their background and products
well enough
-ideating and formulating a style
-designing and layout ideas
-constant feedback from the users
-prototyping to check workability


Materials-Resources:
-People: visual communication designers, users, rural people
-Books on branding and packaging
- Internet
- Other organizations working on similar subjects
-blogs
-Camera
-Drawing materials and paper
-Printer and scanner


Learning Outcomes:
-to demonstrate skills in the area of social communication
-to give contemporary look to very traditional products keeping in
mind the cost
-to facilitate effective communication through this process
-to communicate with rural people and know their lifestyle
-to explore different mediums and use appropriate technology
-to make products marketable products