Brand Design: Objective
This pill aims to build a clear and practical understanding of the discipline and what are the common traps brand managers fall into. The domain represents the third pillar of Strategic Brand Management, together with Brand Positioning and Brand Architecture. Based on our work on Design and Design Thinking.
Pill Structure
- Design: Definition and Context
- Brand Design
- The Key Components
- Common Mistakes and opportunities
Brand Design: what for?
While factually, BD is:
[..] the process of crafting visual identity, your brand’s signature look and feel that is instantly recognizable in a crowded market landscape. To create a visual identity that refuses to be ignored, you need strategic, intentional BD.
But BD is much more than graphics and colors: it is about setting the scene for brand promise and context. It’s the oil the brand mechanism needs to function, and it is the glue to keep all the efforts consistent and in the same direction.
To understand BD, is to understand brands, as a former Coca-Cola Executive said:
If Coca-Cola were to lose all of its production-related assets in a disaster, the company would survive. By contrast, if all consumers were to have a sudden lapse of memory and forget everything related to Coca-Cola, the company would go out of business.
Design plays a mission-critical role in branding, by creating the right experiences and by setting the right expectations.