Design applies the power of the brand. A strong brand identity encourages customers to trust existing products and to try new ones.
The company brand has a significant impact on the design process. This is particularly the case in companies where the brand sees customer experience as a key value enhancer. In these, the design process reflects the need for design to be used as a mechanism by which a consistent message about the company and its products and services is delivered to the end user.
For example, in companies such as BT, Starbucks and Virgin Atlantic Airways, the strength of the brand and the way in which a customer experiences it is strongly linked to the quality of the product or service that is offered.
There are several key examples of how brand impacts upon the design process at Starbucks. For example, the designers in Starbucks’ Global Creative group test each of its graphical executions for store promotional materials against five key principles that represent Starbucks brand values. If an execution does not live up to each of these guidelines, it is not in line with the brand and therefore discounted or changed.
Starbucks also has a brand guidelines manual, which is handed out to every employee, and a manual which explains how the designed campaign materials, such as carrier bags, promotional materials, posters and cup sleeves should be arranged and used throughout the Starbucks chain of stores in a consistent and brand-conscious manner. This awareness of brand in the design process enables the effective translation of the Starbucks brand into the store environment and customer experience.
Within product-focused businesses the brand is also a key guiding principle in the design process. For example, at BT, all Brand and Identity Managers report to the Head of Design, and design and the design process is inextricably linked with the corporate brand and marketing. This is evident in the example of the Home Hub, where the product design of a router has become the vehicle representing the BT brand in consumers’ homes, and has now become an integral component of advertising strategies for BT’s broadband offer.
Similarly, product design at BSkyB emphasises the importance of brand consistency and recognises the Sky set top box as a key brand touchpoint which the consumer will place in their homes. In the BSkyB product design process, while formal interaction between the design and branding departments is limited once product development is underway, a key aspect of their approach to product design is to commission an agency that has a deep understanding of the Sky brand and the ability to place this at the heart of its product design.
In contrast, the Alessi brand is comfortable with accommodating the ideas and artistic expressions of the individual designers with whom it works. This approach necessitates flexibility in the design process, allowing Alessi to adopt the design process of a given designer once it starts working with them, and to adjust internal processes accordingly through the group of design engineers at Alessi's HQ who manage the interface between designer and manufacturers.