Tata Elxsi Redefines Design this World Industrial Design Day

BANGALORE, India - July 1, 2015 - PRLog -- Tata Elxsi, the leading global design and technology Services Company and part of the 100 billion USD Tata group, celebrated World Industrial Design Day, through its annual event – connect D on June 29.

‘connect D’ as the name suggests is an annual design event conducted by Tata Elxsi to celebrate the World Industrial Design Day which falls on June 29, every year. It is Tata Elxsi’s attempt to connect with the Design community at large and promote awareness of the profession of industrial design,facilitate collaborations that help to highlight the impact of design on economic, social, cultural and environmental quality of life throughout the world.

Tata Elxsi has always been committed towards bridging the gap between academia and industry, and connect D is one such efforts in this direction. connect D serves as a platform for students to connect, interact and learn from industry experts the nuances of design.

Shyam Sunder B. K.  – Chief Designer, Product Design said, “In the recent years, design has been majorly addressing emotional and experiential aspects rather than pure formal qualities. This is made richer by the technology advances that are happening rapidly. Even design school needs to imbibe this aspect in to their curriculum and hence it is imperative to connect design enthusiasts with industries. conncet-D provides a well organised platform for students to get an exposure to today's needs and make them realise how design can change the way we  approach various issues.”

Speaking on the occasion, Nick Talbot – Global Design & Innovation Head, Tata Elxsi, said, “Industrial design is all around us, perhaps most importantly in the places where we've just stopped noticing. In this new information age, the scope of industrial design has expanded rapidly, moving from the traditional ‘industrial’ base to lot more new disciplines. The need of this hour is for design professionals, students, and industry associations to come together and deliberate on how design should address aspirations of people and not just solve their needs. We believe connect D, will help future designers to redefine the way design is perceived by them”.

As part of the World Industrial Design Day celebrations, ‘Tata Elxsi organised ‘DesignIt Challenge’ for Design students in Bangalore and Pune to showcase their skills in design thinking, creativity and innovation. Participating colleges included ; Symbiosis Institute of Design, DSK Supinfocom, MIT Institute of Design, Raffles Millennium International, National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) and Nettur Technical Training Foundation (NTTF).

For the Bangalore students a ‘Disaster Management Scenario’ was given which stated that - In the past few years, a number of natural disasters like hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes etc.  have struck all over the world leading to massive destruction of property and loss of life. The possibility of these disasters happening again in the future seems more and more probable. Keeping that in mind, students were asked to imagine themselves stranded in a city devastated by flood and come up with design solutions that one can use to survive for the next 72 hrs till they were rescued.

In Pune the participants had to combine two different experiences and come up with unique solutions in the form of products and systems.

Topics included:

Combining Fuel Station and Gym teams had to come up with solutions to encourage fitnes.
Combining Agriculture and Live Performance how can one exploit different avenues to encourage agriculture.

Students exhibited exhibit futuristic thinking skills and came up with creative solutions in the form of ideas, sketched and skit which can be implemented for a better tomorrow. From design thinking to concept-based projects to interdisciplinary design skills students exhibited their creativity, knowledge and experience in their focus areas.

The event also featured immersive product demos and interactions with Tata Elxsi senior design team where students got an exposure to understand the various aspects of design across industries and service areas

About Tata Elxsi
Tata Elxsi is a global design company that blends technology, creativity and engineering to help customers transform ideas into world-class products and solutions. A part of the $ 100 billion Tata group, Tata Elxsi addresses the communications, consumer products, defence, healthcare, media & entertainment, semiconductor and transportation sectors. This is supported by a talent pool of employees and a network of design studios, development centers and offices worldwide. Key services include embedded product design, industrial design, animation & visual effects and systems integration. Tata Elxsi is a listed company, and headquartered in Bangalore, India.

Its industrial design (ID) division help’s customers develop winning brands and products by using design as a strategic tool for business success. Its expertise extends across research & strategy, branding & graphic design, product design, packaging design, UI design, service design, transportation design, design engineering, prototyping and manufacturing support.

An in-depth understanding of consumers and rapidly changing market dynamics, backed by a multi-disciplinary design team, enables ID to service a broad spectrum of industries. ID has supported the launch of multiple brands and products across the world. It has to its credit several international awards and patents for design and innovation.