Siddharth Rao, co-founder of prolific Indian design firm Web Chutney, hands out a biting (and well-deserved) review of Indian publishers and their user interfaces, in a blog entry titled “Indian Publishers have the shittiest interfaces for sure“. Gotta love an Indian blog that dishes it out cleanly:

For all the silly money thats going into the online business in india, most people dont get some basics right in spite (of) truck loads of cash - Designing User friendly interfaces and navigation is one such thing.

Although he is talking specifically about Indian publishers, he also hits on an issue that is more pertinent to outsourcing: the dearth of good designers. Why is it so hard to find a talented, experienced, Indian web designer? Siddharth thinks it has to do with how easy it is to claim that you are one.

Any guy with 3500 Rs takes up a course in Galgotia Computer learning and claims to be a web designer. And anyone with a English Hons from Uthkal University becomes a content editor or even worse information architect.

Yup. This is why it’s hard to find good people. It is why the world doesn’t trust Indian design. And, it’s why Rediff looks like Yahoo leaning over the toilet after one too many Kingfishers.

Tangent: Although Siddharth’s writing is often wordy, he concisely shares my sentiments when it comes to ‘Information Architecture’:

User Interface design mission statements should be simple - give users the shit they need and give it fast.

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Worldmapper.org warps world maps based on factors such as birth rates, GDP, and population. It amazes me how much more significant it feels to see a visual representation of something rather than to read facts and figures (which is why Al Gore climbing a ladder to show the rise of global warming in an Inconvenient Truth was an excellent touch).

Check out how fat India looks based on its population in 2050.

Kinda scary or exciting, depending on your feelings around volume and glasses of water (not to mention the presence of heavy metals in the water, the temperature of the water, the availability of that water, and perhaps the politics around access to that water - makes me want a coconut.)

Wanna see the US get fat? Check out their maps based on carbon emissions or GDP.

One of the few areas where Indian IT often fails to provide a competitive advantage is design. Subjective and highly specific, design is difficult to price and dilutes quickly when scaled.

Also, general Indian aesthetics often lead to earthy tones and cluttered interfaces (though this is changing - witness the simplifying of the Times of India website and of course, the many talented Indian designers beginning to gain international recognition).

Another disadvantage for India is that the evolution of cutting edge design is an urban phenomenon, that centers on a fast-paced group of NY/SF/London (etc.) design houses. The eager desi photoshop-jockey usually can’t compete with the capuccino-sipping, black-cashmere-sweater-wearing, buzzword-making, fashion-show-attending glamour-exuding New York designer.

Unless of course, the desi photoshop jockey meditates regularly and gets his/her nourishment by staring at the sun. Smita Narang taps the ancient Hindu “science of direction” to create websites that take the user “to the destination of peace, prosperity and happiness”.

Wired thought it would be entertaining to ask Smita for her thoughts on the geek iBible, slashdot. I think it might be entertaining to ask other designers for their thoughts on Smita’s website…sorry, Smita, but I’m not really feeling the vastu. And, I worry about the dubious effects these types of claims have on the Indian design industry. Perhaps ancient science does have a lot to offer to web design - I just hope that this isn’t Atkins for the web, desi style. Get more thoughts from Patrix or see Slashdot comments around WebVastu.