Sonia Manchanda is one of the Directors at Idiom, one of India’s very dynamic design houses that was set up in April 2005. Idiom was the result of the coming together of Esign (founded by Sonia in ‘95) and Tessaract, with Mr Kishore Biyani as the mentor.

 

She is a graphic designer by training, with a keen involvement in strategic design thinking: she along with the senior team at Idiom has spent the last three years designing a design firm – processes, design units: to grow it from a 35 people space to 220 people in the last two years: already demonstrating business success for its clients and design success in the form of awards. Design thinking and design leadership have been the key ingredients for this growth.  

 

Even in the early years of design in India, Sonia was actively involved with Public private partnership change initiatives and with large cultural projects, learning and demonstrating the use of design as a strategic tool for change.  

 

First and foremost a design thinker and then a hands on designer, Sonia has been actively involved in creating robust business identities and salient retail brands over the last 12 years.

 

Idiom takes it projects through from insights, to ideas to implementation. Already a multidisciplinary place, with graphic designers, architects, product designers, working together with other disciplines, Idiom’s humble ambition is to demonstrate the use of design as a way to transform business and life. And also to define the universal yet unique Indian Idiom of design.

 

 

 

 

 

Thought design is the ability to transform business or life. By applying lateral thought processes or ingenuity and arriving at radically simple ideas. Which are then demonstrated through effective design. With skill, imagination and speed.

 

This may seem like a simple and obvious thought. However, it becomes extremely relevant in the new and emerging Indian market. Where the idea of design itself is relatively new. In a country that is running on the treadmill of change. In this scenario, Indian design is still in its infancy.

 

There are too few designers and too much to do. We need ideas that are game changers, to create any impact or acceptance of design. And we do not have the luxury of time and money or slow, sequential evolution. We have to crash-evolve… yet raise the bar. We have to create many more ‘designers’ who haven’t had the formal opportunity of having gone to design schools. We also have to identity, support and stand by those who believe in design and the need for national transformation.  

 

We need to work closely with these thought leaders. To seed in ingenuity, to seed in thought design. Where, the approach itself, where the way of thinking is design for significant transformation. From this will emerge even more powerful ideas. And powerful leaders - who have the ability to bravely think differently from others and make big breakthroughs.

 

Only then, will we see design grow as a profession. We will see support for design education, for design projects, for even design organizations. From these very thought leaders. To raise the bar, ultimately we need many more designers, diverse sets of people turning to the design profession, ideas and people that challenge our thinking. For that design needs to move out of being a skill based profession to being a thought based one. And most importantly, a profession that can convert thought into action. Rapidly