NID firms up Design Clinic plans

With the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) approving the National Institute of Design's (NID) design clinic (DC) initiative, the institute now plans to firm up the same. In some of the sweeping changes that the National Institute of Design (NID) is undergoing with the appointment of a new director, the institute now also plans to take up other sectors like ceramic and consumer durables, to name a few.

So far, NID had looked only at sectors like handloom and handicrafts primarily under its design clinic initiative.

"The design clinic will be the first level of interface between the industry and the students where the latter will guide manufacturers in designing their products and services. Recently, the Ministry of MSME has also approved of the design clinic and will promote it across the country. We are now looking at how many graduates can be gathered to help these clusters," said Pradyumna Vyas, director of NID.

According to Vyas, the clinic will help manufacturers analyse their products and services and suggest designs to increase its utility and awareness among the consumers. "A manufacturer may not know anything about design and may find problems in selling his products. Just like a patient comes to a clinic for initial diagnosis, the design clinic will help these manufacturers tackle basic problems in designing the products. Instead of designing the product ourselves, we will help manufacturers design their own products," added Vyas.

Apart from the design clinic, the institute is also looking at adopting certain clusters in Gujarat to begin with. "We are looking at adopting a cluster and then look into aspects like health, productivity, ergonomic issues, management, risk minimisation and tools development," said Vyas.