Likely in many other parts of the world too, but certainly so in India, a great deal of folks have largely underestimated the importance of the factor of aesthetics in business. When I say a great deal, I really mean the majority. This is so to a great extent due to the lack of awareness that people have regarding the things that can beautify their business besides the means to achieve them.
One of the things that makes a business look beautiful is the design industry. In a city like Varanasi it proves nearly impossible to explain the importance of getting professional design services to enhance their brand image. This can also be said for personal functions such as weddings as well as major cultural and religious events.
Ether was established in Varanasi with an aim to bring to the people of Varanasi services that are at par with the international standards and trends in what we do.
When most individuals in their early and mid-twenties either migrate or try their level best to migrate to the bigger cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, we set a determination to bring about change. We could undertake this mammoth mission at the very least within our sector of professional services.
Creativity
Creativity starts at the very basic level of thinking in any regard whatsoever. For instance, Mahatma Gandhi’s thinking to deal with the Brits “non-violently” was creative thinking of sorts. But let us stick to creativity in its commercial visual form – Graphics, Fashion, Photography, Film-making, Automobile, Architecture and so on.
I suppose we can say that creativity can basically be anything that can be perceived through our five senses. For example, chefs are always trying to develop a creative new recipe. Musicians create music. Nevertheless, seeing is believing as they say; and that’s why visual referencing can be deemed one of the most influential ways to deliver a message or achieve something. That is exactly what Ether’s objective in Varanasi has been – to effectuate a creative change with visuals.
Creativity is not something that is scarcely available in our world. In fact, in one way or the other, we all are creative in our own way. Most of us just either do not know, have forgotten, do not care enough, are too lazy or are scared to creatively think. Perhaps we could lay this responsibility upon our societies that essentially churn out dull individuals through their archaic and rotten systems. Unless a society as a whole begins to appreciate freedom in its various forms and to its greatest degree, it is very unlikely that such a society will produce free—hence creative—thinkers.
Therefore, we can say, albeit creativity is an inheritance of life itself, we’ve still got to constantly foster it to keep it alive due to so many pre-conditionings of the societies that are designed to perpetually smother all forms of freedom and freethinking.
We have somehow managed to create very restrictive societies that foster herd-living. The majority of us completely fail to learn and exploit our own creative interests. They are ultimately left unappreciative of creativity. And that is the mild side-effect of herd-living. On the more extreme end destructive forces prevail. There are living souls out there that would either stop creativity from expressing itself, or if it somehow does manage to manifest, they would go out of their way simply to wreck havoc and destroy. We must prevent this from happening.
Advertising and Aesthetics
Within the advertising and design industries, pretty much like other industries, the notion of good and bad can be subjective. For instance, the impossible choice between Arial and Times New Roman.
Nevertheless, there are some basic principles that can be followed to make an advertisement or piece of graphic aesthetically appealing in its own right. The sense of colours and the human psychology toward perceiving things (and shapes) in certain ways can help determine some of these principles. Hence, through developing a better sense of design, beautiful looking effective artworks can be created. Even untrained laymen can do that through practice. Not to mention some people are simply born with such artistic talents. Finding that talent is another challenge altogether. Plus they might still need the trained eyes of a professional to make a commercial project worthwhile by standing out from the crowd!
Even hideous ads can be effective. But would you rather look at something effective yet aesthetically appealing or a piece of garbage? The latter sounds more inviting, doesn’t it? Launching creative and effective ad campaigns is crucial for any business. We must just try to lace this creativity with artistry.
It is always a good idea to avail the services of highly experienced and trained professionals to have your commercial design work done. Unless you unfortunately end up with a really bad agency, you are likely to receive an outcome that would more or less be in alignment with the industry best practices. Can effectiveness be guaranteed though? No, not really.
Having said all of the above, I must raise a very interesting point: What ultimately is a good design? Well, that sells. But to have a design that sells—and even looks beautiful—is what in my eyes should be sought for.
What does it take to achieve greatness anyway? A visionary, and his or her willpower to back every bit of their vision.
Just some random thoughts here. Take it easy, and stay Creative!
