Chapter: Identifying Mimo56
Design, Chaos and Fury
Experience design to design experience
A discourse over the span of almost four years has shaped and refined our vision as a team, as a company. In these four years of internal and external difficulties, we have probably improved in some departments, as a company, but we struggled to resonate together. But in these times, few things never changed and because of these things we are together and more aligned than ever. Many things have changed in our lives, yet so many things haven’t changed around us. Struggled with definitions and presumptions, we fought our creations. We have accepted- Culture is not our friend. We must shape our own, mold by mold, word by word.
Beginning our operations in 2015 as design consultants, it has been a bag full of experiences that shaped us. It took a lot of rigor and patience to discover prospective clients and then convincing them of the value of design and its impact. Most people who we came across were looking for instant results without actively participating or providing resources and money. Some even dared to think that design is free. Sometimes we came across people who were expecting us to execute “their” idea of design. Maybe because they don’t have the required skill or confidence to execute or do not want to take responsibility at all of their design. Most people recognize design as the end outcome and avoid or completely restrain from the process which is equally important. Point is, the way people perceive design and its practices is feeble and uninformed. This made us think that if we don’t sync with their idea (of design) how will we be then ready to just build it for them? Often it made us question our idea of design. Are we delusional with our subject?
Subjects are often seen in silos. Design as well is perceived as a subject of boundaries, and here lies the irony. It is not a practice which is done in isolation; it requires the thinking of a researcher, the creativity of an innovator and the excellence of a craftsman. Design is the glue that binds many pieces and creates multiple artifacts in the process.
“Look up in the night sky, annotate all the stars with subjects, practices, and anything you do. Now look up again, the things you do not see, is design.” — Prakhar
We might have missed a few stones unturned. Maybe the way we presented ourselves was wrong, or it is possible we came across really rigid minds. Probably, we were quite strict ourselves in pushing our point of view. Nevertheless, in our journey with refined vision, we will rather work as design practitioners than as design consultants. People might not seek design solutions. However, anything that is made, has been made through a process, a process whose intent may/may not be conscious. Every single thing that exists has a design process. One wants a tree but does not want to take it through the life that it should go through. Perhaps in recent future people can demand grown up adults instead of going through the whole process of birth and nurturing a child from the start.
“It was not curiosity that killed the goose who laid the golden egg, but an insatiable greed that devoured common sense.”- E. A. Bucchianeri
The vision should undergo as less as changes possible. In a way, that it sustains our interest and momentum over the time and does not let us drift away from it even if we want. And then working on the intersection of ideas and interests that can become one vision. The vision should keep the seekers in order while giving them courage and patience to embrace chaos, for it is the one that drives us.
“Can we bridge this gap with a vision so compelling that it genuinely shows not only the direction to a long-term goal but also holds us together?” — Gaurav
The new vision is built on our evolving personal goals and interests. We always remind ourselves and others that Mimo56 as a collective is more powerful than us individually. We will stay honest and responsible as a design company — be fearless in producing work that is disruptive and not always meaninglessly driven by business and ethics when designing.
We design interactions — interactions with people, technology or both, at a granular level through experimentation.
Designing identity for oneself is quite tough.We strongly believe that multi-lingual can be leveraged to understand this complex world a little better. We are hence combining Hindi as a secondary language in our identity to expand our understanding as it is our first language, the language that we think and speak in. In future, we will look at more combinations to expand our horizon as we grow.
चला जग में मतलब ढूंढता, उस मतलब में ख़ुद को ढूँढता,
उस ख़ुद में सब को ढूँढता , अब सभी में ख़ुद ही को ढूँढता ।
Follow us on our new social media handles.
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
And do not forget to follow us on Medium.
