Innovation for Emerging Markets
Strategy & Innovation powered by
human-centered design
New Delhi • Bangalore • Phnom Penh • New York
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Quicksand is a strategic innovation consultancy headquartered in India, and working in emerging markets. We are driven by a passion for human-centered design - a powerful approach that transforms a rich, evocative understanding of people, into potent opportunities and high impact outcomes. We craft meaningful experiences through multidisciplinary collaborations, expressed through manifests that thread product, service and systemic interventions.
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We partner global corporations to envisage new business opportunities.
We work with international development partners to drive social impact through innovation.
We explore and incubate open networks for creativity and collaboration.
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Our work spans a diversity of sectors and geographies.
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We partner organizations in the process of sense-making and ideation at a stage when the very nature of an opportunity is still fuzzy.
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Quicksand’s portfolio reflects our commitment to resolve complexity and ambiguity through an applied understanding of human experiences. Quicksand’s articulation of it’s humancentered design process is summarised through three simple, yet powerful phases MEETING PEOPLE TELLING STORIES CRAFTING EXPERIENCES
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MEETING PEOPLE Framing an opportunity through the lens of peoples’ needs or desires is our entry-point in the innovation journey.
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MEETING PEOPLE
People are at the heart of our practice.
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MEETING PEOPLE
Tea & Coffee Cultures Idea Couture, Canada A research study designed to inspire ideas for next generation products for a major beverage company. Explorations ranged from roadside tea & coffee stalls on one end to premium coffee chains on the other.
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We guide cultural expeditions into unfamiliar territories; infusing global discourses with local expressions.
An image from a visual narrative of a nomadic, folk theatre troupe in India.
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MEETING PEOPLE
Co-creation drives innovation.
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Anti-clockwise from the top: 1. Cultural probing with a camera, where a user documents the resources of his community. 2. Sensory toolkit for a nuanced study of olfactory perceptions in Nigeria. 3. Mapping the water ecosystem of a home through a collaging activity. 4. Card sorting activity to ascertain financial choices of an agrarian family living in poverty. 5. Evaluation of beta-prototypes of a water filter by the community.
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MEETING PEOPLE
“Quicksand provides a vibrant team of lateral thinkers that are able to apply ethnographic and qualitative research skills to a range of policy questions. They also work well within mixed methods teams, supporting quantitative surveys with deep dives into communities and working on solutions in a collaborative manner. Finally, their specially skilled graphic designers produce the best reports! Definitely amongst the top human centered design firms working in India today.� SHWETA BANNERJEE Former Analyst and Project Manager CGAP / WORLD BANK
A qualitative study of the Government to People electronic benefits transfer in rural Andhra Pradesh for CGAP
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TELLING STORIES Stories have the power to bring together teams and provide a rich, fertile ground for insights, ideas and inspiration.
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TELLING STORIES
WE ARE INVESTIGATORS Exploring the marvelous complexities of human systems WE ARE INSTIGATORS Pushing an agenda for the vibrant articulation of opportunities.
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An infographic depicting the vibrant local economy of a village in rural India
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TELLING STORIES
We create vivid archetypes of users through the thoughtful creation of personas
Characters from a game designed to understand and improve financial capabilities of people.
Scenarios and sketches comparing perceptions and rituals of cleaning in Indian and Indonesian homes
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User personas that explain dierent archetypes around health and lifestyle for a global technology major
Healthcare & Consumer Electronics Samsung Electronics, India & Korea An ethnographic study across India to identify emerging trends in health and wellness. In collaboration with experts in medical technology and design, Quicksand identified breakthrough product opportunities that could help consumers manage lifestyle related health conditions by leveraging digital technologies and appliances.
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TELLING STORIES
IMMERSIVE ARTICULATION of behaviours, object culture and experiences
INSPIRATIONAL MULTIMEDIA RESEARCH that catalyses innovative thinking
IDEATION WORKSHOPS that transform insights into opportunities 24
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TELLING STORIES
We envision scenarios that breathe life into strategic planning and ideation exercises
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LEFT PAGE • Top - Retail scenarios for selling FMCGs in Nigeria Bottom - Ideation for sanitation branding within urban slums RIGHT PAGE • Top - Illustration explaining the existing electronic benefits transfer in rural Andhra Pradesh Bottom - Storyboard for The Great Wash Yatra, a hand hygiene and sanitation travelling campaign from Maharashtra to Bihar in India
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TELLING STORIES
OPEN INNOVATION PLATFORMS
Potty Project is an open platform with insights from a year long design research study with India’s urban poor. It has emerged to become a widely used global resource for urban sanitation, by a wide variety of stakeholders. www.pottyproject.in
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A rich media open archive of bicycle-based commerce in India titled ‘VeloWala’ has been used by several product and community system designers. www.velowala.org
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TELLING STORIES
BlindBoys is a progressive, yet practical model for the dissemination of independent work by photographers from all over the world. It works as a catalyst, incubator and showcase for expanded interactions between emergent photographers and hyperlocal viewership.
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BlindBoys uses the city streets and public spaces as exhibition spaces through ‘BlowUp- Open Street Exhibitions.’ Images featured are from BlowUps in India, France and Cambodia
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TELLING STORIES
Quicksand GamesLab was set up to explore the processes and implications of gamification. ‘Antariksha Sanchar’ is the title of the debut video game and transmedia project of the lab. The project has been structured as a cultural entertainment franchise transforming Indian sociocultural inspirations into a global expression of the times.
GAMES LAB
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This Page - concept art from the video game and graphic novel Left Page - characters from the game inspired from early 1900s India
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CRAFTING EXPERIENCES
A well designed product or a system is a standout experience first. Articulation of this experience can create a clear roadmap for how an opportunity may be brought to fruition.
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CRAFTING EXPERIENCES
Understanding unique aspects & constraints of the Indian education system, to inform the design of a service aimed at providing ongoing academic support to teachers in rural Indian schools through accessible communication platforms.
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Visualisation of the information flow cycle to answer queries from teachers over an automated IVRS system
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CRAFTING EXPERIENCES
We iteratively prototype and evaluate concepts for products, services and experiences
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LEFT PAGE • Top - Proof-of-concept Prototypes of water filters for the rural poor Bottom - Concepts for sanitation spaces within urban slums RIGHT PAGE • Top - Alpha & Beta Prototype Development Bottom - 3D Render of a full-fledged sanitation space with multiple facilities
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CRAFTING EXPERIENCES
Our work in sanitation, in partnership with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will eectively double the community toilet infrastructure in two cities in India; directly touching the lives of 60,000 people living in urban slums.
Project Sammaan is a multi-stakeholder sanitation project in India that seeks to re-design community toilet services in urban slums thereby providing a sustainable model to mitigate open defecation. Photography by Enrico Fabian
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CRAFTING EXPERIENCES
Practical Tools for Social Innovation Nesta, London A toolkit developed to bridge the gap between theories of innovation and the everyday constraints and challenges of social innovators worldwide. Co-designed in participation with users across nine countries, DIY was launched as a publication and digital resource and has been accessed by over 350,000 users across 200 countries in less than a year.
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The DIY toolkit has had 350,000 page views and 40,000 downloads from people in over 200 countries in the past year. According to a survey done recently, 100 percent of its users feel that it has made their work more eective and have lauded the practicality of the toolkit.
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CRAFTING EXPERIENCES
We foster networks of creativity that represent emerging competencies for the challenges of innovation
Immersive workshops on ongoing projects that bring together multidisciplinary practitioners & researchers
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UnBox is a platform anchored by Quicksand that attempts to build momentum around inter-disciplinary, cross-cultural collaborations as the means of driving more sustainable and impactful social and cultural change (that is rooted in peoplecentric, real world contexts). Through four editions of a multi-format festival UnBox has now become the leading space for emerging and disruptive ideas from individuals and organizations that are pushing the boundaries of their own practice.
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CRAFTING EXPERIENCES
We are creative entrepreneurs.
BLOT
WE INCUBATE CREATIVE ENTERPRISES
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A collaborative performance by BLOT! involving musicians and visual artists
Partnered by Quicksand since its inception, BLOT! is India’s foremost audiovisual performance collective. With an agenda to explore selfpublished electronic arts, BLOT! represents the disruptive possibilities of incubating creative enterprises in emerging markets such as India. BLOT! is today, a regular feature on the Indian and European electronic music scene, and has a variety of engaging arts projects under its belt. 47
CRAFTING EXPERIENCES
We incubate technology enterprises that bring people together
KITES Kites is a collaborative project between Invisible Flock and Quicksand, that looks at connecting people across geographies through stories and shared experiences, using SMS as a medium for personal and intimate communication.Using text only responses to curated questions, KITES offers up a sparse snapshot of another life in a one to one exchange, challenging preconceptions, exploring our differences and our similarities.
Off-Grid With the intention of setting up entrepreneurial digital technology ventures within Quicksand, the studio is currently incubating a year-long app development project in the social networking and discovery domain.
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Our multi-disciplinary teams and global networks harness creativity, analytical rigor and empathy for users.
Ayush is one of the co-founders of Quicksand and leads the studio in new business, strategy and project management. Ayush was granted the prestigious Yale World Fellowship in 2012 for his advocacy for transformative roles for design within public policy.
Babitha - a partner in Quicksand and with experience in the education sector - leads Quicksand’s social innovation projects. Babitha anchors Quicksand’s Bangalore studio and is advisor to the Victor Papanek Foundation.
NEW DELHI
BANGALORE
Kapil is a filmmaker and photographer, and one of the co-founders of Quicksand. Kapil leads the creation of rich media ethnography at Quicksand, and is also the co-founder of Blind Boys a community photo-network.
Kevin’s a corporate communications and marketing expert. He leads the outreach efforts for Quicksand, with a focus on the development sector. Kevin also leads the business development for Quicksand in America.
PHNOM PENH
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NEW YORK
Amsterdam Astana Bangalore Barcelona Budapest Cologne Copenhagen Hong Kong London Moscow New Delhi Paris Pittsburg Singapore Tokyo
We are part of REACH a global network of highly skilled and experienced design research firms
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Quicksand services organisations, institutions and communities with a commitment to advancing human experiences. Innovation for emerging markets requires a convergence of imagination, relevance and responsibility. Founded on principles of open dialogue and honest enquiry, our approach is uniquely positioned to address the challenges of crosscultural innovation. A human-centered approach is well poised to facilitate the process of understanding a cultural context, creation of new knowledge and shaping coherent, meaningful experiences on the basis of it.