A L I T T L E O N B R A N D R E C I P E
Contagious on Contact. Beliefs are like fashion - we wear them as an expression of who we are. That’s why when I design a brand, what I’m actually designing is a belief system.
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Concepts of “brand” are abstract and mysterious – Way too complicated to be useful.
I have always been obsessed with the mysterious success of one entity over another. When you have been in the business for as long as I have, you start to look at things from different angles. From a reductionist point of view, you see that the biggest and best brands can be reverse-engineered to uncover a recipe being used over and over to great effect.
They are doing things that create movements and there is much more to it than great design and innovative function.
To me, belief demystifies brand. I want your outcome to be more than just catchy and visually attractive - I want it to be contagious. So my approach to brand design is belief-based.
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In a world where all the best ideas eventually become the standard, Brand is a company’s most important and powerful innovation.
Nothing attracts competition like innovation. In spite of the brilliance of your, invention, recipe or service, your brand should be among your top priorities. Before releasing your world-changing idea, you should build it into a compelling story and protect your vision with the power of Brand.
The Motivation or the “Motivating Belief” that drove the creation of your business can play a profound role in making it relatable.
In brand, that which guides you, also makes you appealing.
Humans long to belong. No matter its utility, a product’s function can’t create the sense of belonging its brand can. Yet many still focus solely on features and benefits.
While your critical innovations, features and benefits will still play a vital role in the narrative of your brand, the focus is shifted to a big-picture Belief-System of stories, symbols and behaviors. Your product is the what, but people love knowing the who, the how and the why behind the things they buy. That’s why the aim is to convey belief on a strong emotional wavelength through the design of the language of your brand as well as its visual cues.
From Belief comes Belong.
When we feel belonging, a relationship begins to form, and we develop an almost irrational sense of connection.
And love and loyalty become a given...
You may be able to create love through the key selling propositions of your amazing product, but it’s likely true that your product is duplicatable by your competition. Your belief, once claimed is owned and much harder for others to echo. Through exacted branding, your beliefs are made beautifully visible, beautifully relatable and beautifully useful. Executed properly, your audience is using your brand to identify with, saying “this is who I am,” as much as they are for the actual function of the product.
