Fast food Design

On my way to office, one day, I decided to pop into the local fast food vendor’s joint which had earned a big name for itself. Since I was pressed for time I decided to pack a burger which I planned to eat during my regular morning meeting with the Studio Lead. After a regular cutting chai, desi burger and a list of things to do, I sat for work. In matter of half an hour I started feeling uneasy and soon there was active movement in every part of my stomach like an orchestra going around. Eventually, I lost my health for a couple of days

Being laid in bed with nothing to do but mull over last week’s events I came upon the idea of writing this blog.


Famous designers and ad gurus say- the problem with today’s designs and ads stem from thoughtlessness and often arbitrary ideas. Nevertheless, culprits are those people who demand work at the eleventh hour and try to involve their own minds with those of ad makers and designers. But, what can the creative minds do other than deliver what is being demanded? All that and more in a window of a few hours.

Agreed that many dramatic ideas that made a paradigm shift in communication design have come overnight but steep competition, use of every medium possible, client’s desire to get new things in a jiffy and at regular intervals topples designs into the Fast-food category.

‘Fast food Design’, rightly named so, is increasingly experienced today, more so, by ad personnel and those who are in communication design. Clients often knock the office door the previous evening, revealing their desperate need to publish an ad next morning, put up a kiosk, set up a stall… everything ‘yesterday’. Result is a graphically insipid work with abysmal content.

Surprisingly, this same client had come back to the same designer because, earlier, a campaign run by him had won rave reviews. This happened in a different lifetime, a lifetime of abundance, abundance of time and space.

Designing is an integrative process, but most people think of a designer as the creative mind who comes up with exceptional display of skills and creativity that is seamless and constantly free flowing. This notion is prominent and I’m unaware of the time it will be take to wipe out this particular notion.

Fast food or ready to eat packaged food may satiate your hunger but does not necessarily add any health value, on the contrary leads to life threatening diseases like BP, Diabetes, Cholesterol, you name it. Likewise Fast food Design will slowly but surely sound a death knell for your brand.

Wonder what the anti-dote to this is …

Any thoughts?