Design has traditionally been associated with aesthetics & beautification but the fact it has been mostly limited to the same, is bothersome for Shuchi Gangwal, Owner and Principal Designer at Kypsa. With the desire to take a step towards changing the status quo, passion about design thinking and encouragement from her seniors at HUL as well as her family, motivated her to take a plunge into entrepreneurship. And that’s how Kypsa was (officially) founded in 2014. Her design method is akin to mathematics. She believes in solving rather than mere beautification. She brings ‘function’ to design like no other. And that’s why Kypsa’s clients trust them from step one – from where it all begins, not simply to pretty it up after all is done.
Kypsa’s founder, Shuchi, is a design aficionado who was never a ‘wanna-be’ entrepreneur. She did not realise when she had infact taken the plunge towards it. Her method and approach towards work and their outcomes were such that ‘Kypsa’ made its way through and was only waiting for a name.
Based in Mumbai, Kypsa is a self-funded innovation & activation design studio which believes that design, if applied with a purpose can be used as a strategic tool to ‘BRING ALIVE’ product benefits to establish differentiation that delights end-users.
Kypsa did not happen overnight. It carved its way over the years and acquired a name much later when its significance shone through the work its founder did all the while. And the christening of ‘Kypsa’, for this reason, is true to its meaning because the members are always brewing fresh ideas and applying them to their clients’ briefs. Working as a consultant with HUL, Shuchi was exposed to multiple categories & various aspects of FMCG business; insight into various gaps & opportunities where design can be leveraged to create clutter-breaking ways to bring product benefits alive. There are several agencies who cater to traditional design needs like packaging/ graphics/advertising, but none which is specialised at this.
Kypsa uses design to unveil opportunities & bake fresh, high-level activation & brand design strategy to solve problems through relevant proposition and product. At Kypsa, they design from the top of their heads – they discuss, apply logic, analyse the problem, look for a solution and then straighten it up like it never existed.
Shuchi has been an independent-minded girl who is more of a nomad, which she believes is very important in the field of Design. “Fresh ideas don’t come to you in locked rooms”, says Shuchi. She has lived, studied, worked in different cities and her work speaks of her experience. She makes it a point to travel to absorb the world and paint it across.
She has been working with a host of clients varying from MNCs like Unilever to SMEs & startups. She specializes in holistic brand design & knowledge-based selling & product led activations. Partnering with a network of various specialists and experts in the field of design, strategy, branding, product design, nutrition, chemistry, etc., Kypsa has designed for 45+ brands (including Unilever, Loreal, Thinking Forks Pvt. Ltd.) spread across India, UK, South East Asia & USA.
Shuchi specialises in translating insights into leading design solutions to solve complex challenges living at the intersection of commercial and consumer needs. Her expertise lies in holistic brand design & product led activations. Her top mantra is to listen to her clients well up to the point of having known their expectations, fears as well as misconceptions, at times. Then she bakes her bread, true to it’s taste, bang on purpose and which is indeed, well-done!
At Kypsa, she heads a multidisciplinary team. She is majorly involved in Strategy, business development (pitching and new client acquisition) & Project management. She likes to lead from the front and is often involved in initial concept generation for most of the projects. She also takes guest lectures in design thinking in various design institutes.
The mission of Kypsa is to use a design for purpose & create positive impact. The design studio not only understands how hard brands work to build equity in a consumer-empowered world but taking one step ahead we also understand how hard consumers have to work to feel like they’ve made the right decision. Kypsa offers the services of bringing alive the product benefits i.e. below the line activation across channels like Point of Sales, Home to Home, Digital, creating engaging live product demonstrations, brand strategy design, qualitative research, ideation co-generation workshops etc.
Their near future plans include piloting to establish a vertical where they can provide design execution services; taking in-house initiatives for innovation & partner global enterprises.
Since Kypsa itself was not overtly planned, similarly, each day here is new. It moulds itself around its clients. Their focus is their clients and not on shaping the organisation to analyse ‘where they will be 5 years down the line’. Shuchi says, “If we keep working how we presently are, we will be in a better and happier place (no boundaries attached)!”
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