Kyoorius Designyatra 2009: Showcase Time

The theme for this year’s event is The New Norm – Let’s try something different

Kyoorius DesignYatra is in its fourth year and going strong. The theme for this year’s event is The New Norm – Let’s try something different. There are a couple of changes this year, one of them being a change in venue. The earlier DesignYatra fests were held in Goa over a period of three to four days. This year though, Mumbai has been chosen.

Rajesh Kejriwal, MD, Kyoorius Exchange informs that the venue has been changed so that participants could attend the fest on the specific days that they’d like. Also about 8-10 months ago when the venue was being decided, the organisers felt that it would be better if the festival venue was moved closer to the participants due to the terror attacks. This also allowed for costs to be lower.

Kyoorius Designyatra 2009: Showcase Time

Elaborating on this year’s theme, Kejriwal says, “The constant message that we want to give out every year is ‘Take a look beyond your cubicle’.” This time, along with the continual message, Kejriwal says, “The key is to understand how specialists working in different spaces help businesses communi-cate.” Engagement, he says, is the new king and brands now need to be able to interact with customers and when they interact, overwhelm them with delight worth mentioning.

The event will be held over four days (September 4-7, 2009) at the Renaissance Mariott in Powai. The speakers are a varied bunch that include, Sir Martin Sorell, CEO, WPP group; Jacob Benbunan, co-founder and CEO, Saffron Brand Consultants; Raphael Grignani, head, Nokia Design Service; Shanoo Bhatia, founding director, Eureka Moment Design; Rodney Fitch, founder, Fitch, WPP’s design firm and Michael Wolff of Wolff Olins among many more.

The Brand Reporter spoke to Grignani of Nokia Design on his expectations at Design Yatra. Grignani will speak on design, mobility, sustainability and social issues at the event. He says, “My presentation will address not only tactical topics that need immediate attention and actions from the design community such as energy consumption, recycling, footprints, etc; but also more ethical and philosophical issues such as connectivity as a fundamental human right and the implications of everyone being connected.”

Benbunan of Saffron Brand had attended the previous DesignYatra though this is the first time that he will speak at the event. As part of his presentation, he will talk about a holistic branding approach. He says, “Educating the audience about what branding is about and more importantly, about what branding is not about, is my mandate.”

Apart from seminars where the stellar speakers will make presentations and share case studies, workshops will also be part of the four day fest. The workshops will offer experiences that will put one’s creativity to the test.

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