Client profile

Mystical East is a luxury wellness brand. They pledge to bring to the west the ancient wisdom cocooned in everyday products for one’s daily dose of wellness and energy. The company is in the process of launching two product lines – Rudraksha jewellery range called ‘Seeds of Paradise’ and aromatherapy/colourtherapy pillow range called ‘Flaura’ in 150 stores in the US and in large retail stores like Target.

Design methodology

It was important for White Ink to maintain the brand DNA right across all collaterals to create a coherent, holistic and an enduring brand. Mystical East’s tagline – soulful, holistic, blissful – was the foundation for the entire brand milieu. It was achieved through the use of colours inspired by saffron, turmeric and earth, sub-colours of nature rose, lavender, sky, green, seas built upon the language. Melior type emphasised its stability and harmony. An iconic visual language was chosen to best communicate ancient wisdom packed in a modern, innovative way to appeal to the western consumers.

Design process

The client’s brief for the display stand was a light, modular structure, easy to assemble and economical. The stand had to display 76 to 150 tiny aromatherapy pillows and around 250 necklaces and 170 bracelets. White Ink team started its initial brainstorming and ideation process with very few limitations to come up with out of the box solutions. The team redefined their brief to create a product experience which can best showcase the Mystical East pillows and jewellery and give the best interaction experience to the consumers, so that it catches maximum eyeballs and the consumer gets easy access to the products. After their research, White Ink went onto form explorations. While they were busy sketching and creating paper mock ups to really see the feasibility of their concepts, the form and structure got strengthened and the materials to be used seemed to get more and more clearer.

White Ink’s design process of WHITE (What/Hence/Innovate/Test/Execute) is a continuously ongoing process, all the touch points are connected and once deeply immersed, the solution takes shape. One of the foremost things one has to keep in mind is the complete experience. The experience of seeing, getting attracted and then interacting! Ergonomics and user friendliness are things that need to be in the DNA. In today’s world they are a given and White Ink tries and pushes the bar to create something innovative and unique.

Conceptual inspirations

One of the concepts was inspired by phyllotaxy – arrangement of leaves on a tree which the White Ink team had minimised the structure to its three basic components (leaves, central rod and the Mystical East symbol on top). The structure was to be made in SS (steel). The vertical leaves could have the hanging jewellery display and horizontal ones houseing the pillows. It was easy assembly and a unique experience.

Another concept was a tessellation of leaf form. This would house both the pillows and jewellery. The structure was reduced to one basic metallic strip, which would tessellate, and one base. This was a modular expandable structure. Only the contact points needed joints and White Ink explored a lot of snap joints that would work well. Once attached to the base it becomes very sturdy. The jewellery hangs on metallic strings and the pillows are housed on a shelf made of strings. White Ink’s aim was to make the display stand in a way that it brings out the beauty of the product.

The fourth concept was using reinforced corrugated board which was printable on both sides. It was a simple foldable concept which just collapsed and like a corrugated box, it can be made into a structure. It can house both pillows and jewellery. The design was such that it highlights the beautiful products to the maximum. It cannot be seen in isolation but always loaded with the products.

About White Ink Design Shalini Singh White Ink Design is a brand design house which believes that success lies in the success of its clients. Founded by Shalini Singh (NID alumnus) in 2005, it is a small team of passionate designers who are committed to making the world better through good design. Shalini has more than 14 years of experience in this field; she was co-founder director of Lemon Design, Pune and design director of Ray + Keshavan (Brand Union), Bengaluru. White Ink serves clients locally and globally in various sectors, such as telecom, mortgage, skin care, lighting installations, technology and medicine. Some of its major clients include Eli Lilly India, Halo Mortgage, Merino Laminates, Godfrey Phillips India, Owens Corning India, Cummins India, Helio, Whirlpool India, SQ Group Bangladesh, Aiaca, CMEII (Confederation of Muslim Educational Institutes of India), Bedouin Travels UK, Ortel India, Ebay India, ICICI, to mention a few. To learn more, log on to: www.whiteink.co.in or https://www.facebook.com/whiteink.co.in