Udibaba!
“(udi Baba” (also “ore baba re”) is an interjection expressing shock or surprise in colloquial Bengali. The closest translation (not literal) to English will be “Oh my God!”.
India the land of disparity always shocks the world with its diverse range of cultural notions about what’s appropriate for women. While the pandemic increases the distressingly low levels of female urban workforce participation, we have Dr Swati Mohan an Indian-American aerospace engineer, as the Guidance and Controls Operations Lead on the NASA Mars 2020 mission.
On the other hand (pun intended) we still grope with No sexual assault if no skin-to-skin contact verdict is passed by the Bombay High Court on January 19'- 2021. Udibaba indeed!
As we swim between freedom, fascism and fiction, students experiment with how to adapt to 21st-century elements and shed out-of-date practices. These are incremental efforts that play out this Spring at the Communication Design — Sustainable Packaging program.
Girls just wanna have fun!
Communication Designers Aveera Juss and Saumya Arora are willing to take a risk and try something new with a speculative and innovative packaging solution for the Indian market with ‘UDIBABA’ a speculative Chewing Gum variant by ‘Hindustan Unilever Limited’ offering aimed at a new audience who crave desi’ flavours for their sweet-tooth.
In the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry, particularly in food, Indian brands have been following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘vocal for local’ or localisation vision for a while now. Emphasising on a self-reliant, or ‘aatmanirbhar’, India, the government has asked that products not just be made in India, but also for the promotion of local brands, manufacturing, and supply chain.
Aligned to Unilever's Positive Beauty vision and strategy, with Pop art on the outer package, it further merges the concept of ‘tattoo art’ which doubles up as a wrapper for our desi flavoured Chewing gums’ and comes in a easy to carry and store tin box. (Enabling getting rid of the used chewing gum in a manner that is more user and environmentally friendly)
Creativity can be most private and yet a public experience as Indian women /girls seek out equality through design with its pre-dominant underlying message being Girls just wanna have fun is transformed into — “It just means that girls want to have the same damn experience that any man could have.” Without being judged or shamed!
As slut-shaming and sexual repression are still problems we are dealing with in 2021…
Enjoyment and empowerment can come out of female solidarity and design/creativity can be political as we seek to change the world around us.
Secularist cherishes hypocrisy and India with its complex and diverse culture is commanded by male supremacist doctrines of subjugation of women. As India enters the 21st century, it is these young designers who will make the change…
The final packaging includes a 2.5cm tall cylindrical box that can easily be carried in one’s pocket. It contains two large chewing gum pellets that are designed to fit the shape of your mouth so one can enjoy the unique flavours of the chewing gum, coated on all sides. These are wrapped in a covering that has two parts, one of which can be used for disposing of the gum while the other has patterns printed which can be used as a tattoo.
As the theory of design begins with a problem… the problem might be specific systemic or subjective — Communication Design students now speculate on longer-lasting sustainable practices for the future where it’s time to include conversations on social constructs and make design a space that includes — activists, lawyers, artists, intellectuals and journalists who can join in courageously and openly without fear of repression.
As a mentor, I shelter and guide my students within a hypothetical space where creative liberties can take wings of fancy even so as we try to bridge the gap between the real world of cultural tyranny and the creative world which seeks freedom and equality.
Students have engaged in various speculative design based solution in an academic space. Disclaimer: All creatives are hypothetical classroom projects. All rights reserved — 2 0 21
Creative Mentor: Program Director Communication Design:
Prof. Utkarsha Malkar — Author | Design Thinker | Creator - A desire to understand the world and to improve it always remains at the core. Design is a managed process and my quest for knowledge is subject to an inquiry of the apparent, the imagined and the recalled. As I speculate and design, my liberty of self-expression is in direct correlation to my existence and knowledge. https://www.utkarshaofficial.com/
