The Quest for an Office

With most of the intangible aspects taken care of, i.e. the company’s name, tagline and website, and with a lot of great ideas in mind, it was time to look for a workshop where we could put those ideas to work.  We were looking for a decent-sized space in a good location.  After a lot of discussion, we narrowed down on three locations within Chennai: Royapettah, Egmore and Periamet.  Next, we had to zoom in from three to one.  There was another round of discussion and polls and we finally decided on Egmore.

What tilted the balance in Egmore’s favor was its central location, proximity to shopping malls (Spencer Plaza, Alsa Mall, and Fountain Plaza) and other major business houses in the area.  We found a terrace apartment on Marshalls Road across Rajarathnam Stadium, which was located on a private road and had a convenient parking facility.  So that was it!  Without wasting any time, we signed up for it.

But, it was essentially a residential terrace apartment and it was up to us to transform it into a functional office.  We had multiple brainstorming sessions to come up with ideas for designing the studio office.  Initially, the idea was to simply paint the place and put in some functional furniture and equipment because anything beyond that seemed cost-prohibitive.  But, when we deliberated over it, we realized that unless the place was light, fun and comfortable, people won’t be able to put their creative minds to work.

Our Chief Strategy Officer, Syed R, played a key role in providing great ideas in terms of the layout and patterns of the furniture and fittings.  Syed is experienced in working on similar interior design projects and his inputs were extremely valuable.  With these ideas in mind, we approached Sheetal Srinivas, a professional architect to help us design our studio office.  Sheetal came up with great ideas and provided us with a comprehensive office design plan.  In addition, Sheetal also assisted us in procuring the right materials and fittings.

So, our studio office had three “phases” – (1) project room, (2) reception and (3) outdoor.  The entire setup took us almost four months.  We started with the floor work, and followed it with the whitewashing of the walls for which we used a basic off-white color.  The next stage was incorporating a false ceiling with built-in lights.  We also used wooden panels in the ceiling and walls to give a rustic touch.  Then, we needed to customize it making it truly a “D-360” zone.  So, amidst the wooden panel, we added out signage within a glass window.

The D-360 team used to touch base regularly during the setup, which enables us to identify bottlenecks and issues on a timely basis and resolve them ASAP.  For the entrance to the terrace, we decided to have a glass door with our tagline embossed on it.  This was done after much deliberation since we were a little concerned with safety issues given that it was, after all, a glass door.  But since we used a Teflon-coated glass door, we were reassured that it was safe.  That completed the basic setup of the studio office.

Next, we furnished the space with tables, chairs, sofas and bean bags, and also incorporated the air conditioners, computers, wall frames and other accessories.  That was it!  After four months of tireless efforts, we had our studio office.

We don’t need no thought control

In an earlier post “A Thoughtful Tagline”, we gave a sneak peek into the meaning of our tagline.  Now, get ready for a deep dive…

The credit for coming up with this tagline goes to the company’s COO – Imran, who drew inspiration from “The Wall”, a 1979 rock opera by Pink Floyd.

“We don’t need no thought control” encapsulates everything that is at the core of our business.  Everything in life stems from inspiration in one form or another.  Michelangelo said “In every block of marble, I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action.  I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it“.  We thought it would be good if we include caricatures of people who inspire us.  So, from left to right, we have Piyush Pandey, Mark Zuckerberg, Charlie Chaplin, Steve Jobs and David Ogilvy.  And here’s why they are so special….

·                    Piyush Pandey: Often referred to as the Godfather of Indian Advertising, Piyush Pandey is the Executive Chairman and National Creative Director of Ogilvy & Mather India.  Piyush Pandey has won over 600 awards for advertising globally and his major ad campaigns include Cadbury Dairy Milk’s “Kuch khaas hai”, Asian Paints’ “Har ghar kuch kehta hai”, and Kinetic Luna’s “Chal meri Luna”.  In addition, Piyush Pandey spearheaded the Incredible India campaigns and was the lyricist of the patriotic song “Mile sure mera tumhara”.

·                    Mark Zuckerberg: At the helm of the smoking-hot social networking site Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg’s life resembles a movie script.  Initially launched as a “photo address book”, Facebook now has more than 800 million users, and helps people connect with long-lost buddies and distant family.  Mark Zuckerberg, at age 27, has a personal net worth of $17.5 billion and TIME Magazine named him Person of the Year in 2010.  The very fact that most of you are reading this blog through your Facebook account is testimony to Mark Zuckerberg’s achievement.

·                    Charlie Chaplin: A day without laughter is a day wasted.  This is as simple as it gets, and this was Charlie Chaplin’s philosophy.  A superstar of the silent-film era, Charlie Chaplin entertained audiences with his mime, slapstick and visual comic talent.  Charlie Chaplin was always in pursuit of improvisation and perfectionism and was a very demanding filmmaker.  People still fondly remember his iconic character in Little Tramp.

·                    Steve Jobs: The charismatic pioneer of the Apple revolution, Steve Jobs took personal computing to a whole new level with the iPods, the iPhones, the iPads and the Macs.  A demanding perfectionist and trendsetter, Steve Jobs revolutionized not one, but several industries such as computing, telecommunications, music and movies.  Steve Jobs believed in selling dreams, not products and urged everyone to stay hungry and stay foolish.  He said “when you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it.  You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back”.

·                    David Ogilvy: Proclaimed by TIME magazine as the most sought-after wizard in the advertising industry, David Ogilvy was the Chairman of Ogilvy & Mather, a leading advertising agency based in Manhattan.  Some of his famous advertising campaigns were for Dove, Rolls-Royce, Shell, Schweppes, American Express, Gillette, Kraft, Mattel, Nestle and Unilever.  Ogilvy believed that the best way to get new clients was to do exceptional work for existing clients.  David Ogilvy said, “the best ideas come as jokes; make your thinking as funny as possible”.

So, go ahead and unleash your creativity.  You, like us, don’t need no thought control !!!

In search of a domain name...

Image is everything.  In today’s fast-paced world, a company without a website is like a company without an image.  It is imperative to spread the word about the business and the website is probably the most popular way to do it.

We shopped around for domain names in godaddy.com and, in due course, found dsigners360.com.  However, the domain name was lengthy and there were high chances of it being mis-spelt (mainly on account of the missing “e” in “D’Signers”).  We reviewed all possible options and decided to shorten the domain name to d-360.com.  This domain name was trendy and easy to remember.

But as luck would have it, d-360.com was already taken.  So, we approached Acquire The Name (ATN), a brokerage firm that specializes in domain transfers.  After numerous long email threads and paying a hefty price, we finally acquired the domain name.

The website is currently under construction.  But do check out www.d-360.com when you get a chance.

A thoughtful tagline (no pun intended)

One thing led to another and Imran, who has great experience in the branding industry, came up with the perfect tagline – “We don’t need no thought control”.  As Imran explained, the idea is to not impose restrictions or limitations on our creative thought process.  Rather, the idea is to let the creative juices flow so that we can consider all possible solutions before narrowing down on one.  More on this later !

What's in a name??

Now that we’ve decided to start a branding company, we had to come up with a name.  And we’re sure you’d understand what an uphill task that is.  Two factors contributed to the selection of the company’s name: (1) Sayeed’s IT experience and (2) extensive research.  Let us explain…

All IT projects began with a “design”, be it functional specification design, technical design, or business process design.  In other words, a “design” is the basis of everything, and everything begins with a “design”.

Any creative thought is followed by a “design”, whether it be strategic solutions, creative solutions or even something very routine.  Likewise, a solution to any problem takes the shape of a “design”.  “Design” is a fully-loaded word, which is all-encompassing and gives shape to thoughts and ideas.  Closer to home, “design” is the cornerstone of a branding business.

Furthermore, “design” is a very generic term, and that gave us the flexibility to potentially branch out into new streams of business in future (say, fashion designing, interior designing, campaign designing, you name it!).

So, we’d narrowed down to “design” and we consider ourselves “designers”.  BUT….”Designers” did not have a “wow” factor.  After numerous iterations, we came up with “D’Signers”, where the “D” stands for “design” and we, as “signers”, affirm that design.  You may want to re-read the previous sentence...

So, we now had “D’Signers”, but it wasn’t good enough.  We wanted to emphasize on the all-encompassing nature of “design”.  Hence came “360”, which represents a full circle and covers the horizontals and verticals of all businesses and industries.

Drumroll……we now have a name….D’Signers 360.

Creating a logo based on the name happened very quickly.  We wanted elements of black and white, and also wanted to add colors.  So, we had the letters in black and white and included colored dots that represent our different service offerings.

Second drumroll……we now have a name and a logo!

D-360: The Beginning

Every business venture has an interesting story. So does D-360. As the economy began coming out of recession, we at D-360 figured this would be a great time to be in the market. We drew inspiration from success stories where people of ordinary means did extraordinary things. They proved to the world that the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little “extra”.

There are times when one sits back and reflects on his/her life and career and designs plans for the future. In July 2011, Sayeed had one of those moments. He had been in the US for eight years, and as an IT consultant, Sayeed traveled extensively and had the opportunity to interact and work with different people across different locations and in different industries. During these projects, Sayeed observed how each company serves its customers and meets their requirements. He had the opportunity to study the initiatives taken by each company for developing their corporate identity and enhancing the value of their brands. In addition, having participated in several corporate and social events, Sayeed realized that companies are very keen to invest in their brands. Needless to say, a brand provides identity for a company.

During an economic downturn, brand maintenance poses a big challenge for the companies. While companies are focused on cost-cutting initiatives, they also understand the need to showcase their brands to improve their top line performance. The opportunity was hidden in what we call “creative branding”, which is a cost-effective solution to showcase a company’s brand. The business of branding is not seasonal (even though it may appear that way to many people). Rain or shine, a business faces competition. In order to outshine its competitors, a company must market its products/services to grab the attention of the customers.

A company’s brand is born along with the company. The brand, good or bad, exists as long as the company exists.

With these thoughts in mind, Sayeed undertook extensive research to get a better understanding of the branding industry. The research provided insight on how branding takes place, who the players are, what strategies are currently being adopted by companies and what is in store for the future. It would be a cliché to say that a lot of information is available on the Internet. The various articles on the web provided different perspectives and ideas relating to both local and international brands. One thing led to another and the research got deeper. But, Sayeed, being a practical and action-oriented person, drew a line at one point and stopped all research. He knew the time was right. He made the leap. And D’Signers 360 was born.