Advice

13 Nisan 2014 Pazar

Is boiling down a brand to a single word the key ingredient to design success?

Who’s that cook famous for his sauces? Is it Marco capital of South Dakota White? (pre Knorr sponsorship). Probably. Anyway, I bet if you raise him what the key to his sauces is, he’d mention one thing to try and do with reduction. 

It is sensible after you admit it:boiling away the surplus to induce the $64000 flavour. It’s aiming to the essence while not compromise from stuff like water.Unfortunately this isn’t an editorial on sauces. Instead, it’s regarding the principle of discovering the core of one thing. For years I wont to begin planning websites while not absolutely understanding the core of the complete.



Sometimes I’d surprise why my styles were principally pretty-looking webpages while not abundant feeling. basically, the water within the sauce that, if gaseous, wouldn’t leave an excellent deal (apologies to my pre-2009 clients). I place myself beneath monumental pressure to come back up with an inspiration simply from reading a folder, complete pointers and a handful of style books. When I couldn’t think about something, I assumed i used to be rubbish. I wasn’t, I simply hadn’t reached the core so as to make the correct plan. however what’s associate idea? In his book a way For manufacturing concepts, James Webb Young reckons it’s ‘a new combination’ of things. therefore so as to make the concept for your shopper, you would like 2 things: the core of what they’re regarding (Ingredient A), and one thing else picked from knowledge that goes with it (Ingredient B). I won’t get into detail regarding concepts themselves at once, all of typically|this can be} regarding finding that all-important however often elusive ‘Ingredient A’. If you start planning while not a minimum of Ingredient A, chances are high that it’ll feel pretend, light-weight and dishonest. therefore however does one get thereto core, or Ingredient A? And what the euphemism will it look like?

Where your man Marco continually reduces his sauces to get that concentrated flavour, for me it’s about finding a single word or phrase that encapsulates everything. I find a single word works best, as words behave as symbols of emotional experiences. Once I’ve got that word, that anchor, things fall into place far easier in my mind. Brand immersion is critical - I start with the mission statement. What have they always set out to do? I’ll ask questions like, ‘How do you want to make people feel?’ and ‘What are they famous for?’.

 I find out as much as I can, asking anything, no matter how seemingly irrelevant. When it gets weird, it gets fun. I also highlight keywords or things someone says that grab my interest. Once I’ve learnt enough to the point I’m bored, I go off-road. I’m on Google and Wikipedia all day long, searching those keywords I picked up. Often, I’ll find a sentence written by some obscure bloke from Norwich in 1932, and tucked away within it, might be my word.

 If not, I keep boiling everything down until I can bring it to that single word (or particular phrase or sentence). I find this part actually more tortuous than design itself - but it’s a lot less painful than trying to do both simultaneously and ending up with meaningless designs. I don’t know about you, but at this point when reading articles, I’m thinking, ‘Oh that’s nice, but there’s not a hope in hell I’ll apply all of this without some kind of example.’

 So here it is. Recently I worked on a project for a flash sale site offering daily deals in fashion. They had a loose set of brand guidelines, but no word jumped out. So I began trying to understand the popularity of online flash sales. Okay, getting a bargain is one thing, but there’s something that runs deeper. Why would someone suffer this bloody barrage of emails, day in, day out, urging them to buy stuff they generally don’t need? After further boiling, I reduced it down and got my word: ‘spontaneity’. 

So here it is. Recently I worked on a project for a flash sale site offering daily deals in fashion. They had a loose set of brand guidelines, but no word jumped out. So I began trying to understand the popularity of online flash sales. Okay, getting a bargain is one thing, but there’s something that runs deeper. Why would someone suffer this bloody barrage of emails, day in, day out, urging them to buy stuff they generally don’t need? After further boiling, I reduced it down and got my word: ‘spontaneity’. People like the feeling of spontaneity! The fact they’re getting a bargain merely adds to the high, but it’s the spontaneous nature they’re addicted to. Nobody plans on waking up that morning and ordering three pairs of fluorescent jogging pants before they’ve brushed their teeth, but heck, they’re going to anyway and now they’re going to take up running. It’s a lifestyle change! So then I looked for visual references representing the word ‘spontaneity’, eventually linking it to bright, bold colours, full of vibrancy, life and creativity. The competitors did nothing like this; they all looked the same. Without this attachment to the essence of the brand’s business ethos, I felt a new approach based on this essence was needed – and this was it. And that’s about it really. When thinking about design I just keep boiling down until I get what I need and – unlike my cooking – there’s no fear of burning anything if boiled for too long.

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