It's not very often that I come across an example of a very well designed example of great visual design that totally lacked design strategy in the offline world. I usually either see lousy design execution or excellent design execution combined with a design strategy.

When I first visited Oberon Mall in early 2009, I noticed a rather nice looking kiosk with large sized cavities. It reminded me of Swiss cheese and looked like a kiosk selling childrens products and I was expecting to find children's products in there or information about furniture with a similar aesthetic.

What I did see in the kiosk happened to be home electronics instead of artwork, furniture or products for children. The kiosk does looks attractive and did achieve the requirements (as stated on http://su.pr/2xterT) of appearing as 'smart, vibrant and chick' but I do not think it does the best job of :

• Showcasing products that are electronic in nature
• Hinting to onlookers that there are electronic products inside.

I personally (and professionally) would select such a design to showcase new age furniture and plastic toys for children. A yellow version of the same would be perfect to house information on cheese products because it really would look like a square cut and hollowed out block of swiss cheese.

External Link including images:

1] http://plusmood.com/2009/07/smart-kiosk-kochi-10x10-design-consultants/

Edit:

The phrase "To win the battle but lose the war" can be applied to the above example. The listed design requirements were met and the project was well executed (as per the established criteria) but it can be argued that the goal of the design should have been to attract potential customers of electronic products rather than catch the attention of the public in general (on the plus side, it does attract onlookers and the design and the produced kiosk can be re-used for selling products such as cheese, children's toys and furniture that the design could represent.)

Latest Edit:

The kiosk has been replaced with a black colored version. Rather than shaped as a solid cube, the new design is more open (previously passer by's seemed to have noticed the kiosk more than the products it was selling) and convey's the image that the kiosk promotes and sells electronic products.