Re-consideration:
Rather than starting with a subject I knew nothing about I decided my direction of study for this module would be est based on a topic on which I have some understanding of, which I could develop my knowledge and have such influence my design work I do in that area. Therefore, I have decided to focus on the specialism of branding. Looking at the link to graphic design, and considering the theoretical links that are associated with the practice, such as:
- Consumer culture
- Consumerism
- Changing consumer trends
- Human communications and culture
I felt this would be an ideal route to lead my investigation as I have experience in the field, creating brand identities for various freelance projects. Especially during my work experience over summer working with Impression in Harrogate, where I contributed to various branding projects, which allowed me to gain first-hand industry experience on the way a rebrand should take place. This allowed me to also work with the importance of brand image, creating designs that align with brands particular values, for companies doing anything from selling energy, creating smart meters, ice production companies to estate agents.
I am also currently working on two live projects within branding, creating a brand identity for a tree surgeon company in Birmingham, an LGBT social event at University City London, whilst I am currently also working towards a looming deadline of creating a brand identity for a bakery business. I believe that through using this opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of the processes that are needed to rebrand and brand successfully, and unsuccessfully, I will be able to improve my own practice and provide a more informed outcome for work I am doing outside of the module.
Issues in branding:
- Educating consumers: Brands face the issue of having to educate their customer about their product or service through the use of branding. Therefore the design must be representative of what the consumer already knows about that brand but also be relevant for new consumers to grasp an understanding of that information.
- Customer acquisition: Brands need to be cultivating audiences now more than ever, in a time where the market is saturated but also the world around consumers is so saturated with signs and symbols a brand and their product must stand out, this needs to be from design.
- Meeting customer expectations: High-end price tags require high-end design to match that can compete in that area of the market. Therefore design considerations need to be taken to consider a positioning of a particular brand within a market.
- Growing distribution: In a world where e-commerce is taking over in-store sales, companies must develop and stay current in an online presence, whilst representing their brand experience.
- Marketing to Millennials: Millennials are grouped together so much they want to feel part of more micro-communities, therefore, brands need to figure out who these are and create designed content to fit these appeals.
- Social Media Marketing: Brands content must be fitting for social media to be able to get the brand noted to a bigger audience. This also appeals to a younger audience and means brands can tap into influencers that represent the brand's core values, and particularly target audiences that will appeal to the product or service.
The decided issue to explore:
The issues that I have identified all explore the relevance to the consumer, and how a brand needs to be able to tap into a new market, whilst keeping up with the way shopping habits are changing and also retain their values and their existing customers.
Therefore I have decided to begin to explore rebrands and refresh, as it seems to be a large trend in branding at the moment, with many international large companies changing their identity with recent developments in e-commerce. Such as:
- John Lewis & Waitrose
- Burberry
- Calvin Klien
- Airbnb
- Debenhams
- Co-op
- Mastercard
- Dropbox
- Autotrader
- Ministry of sound
Companies are trying to develop with the way they're consumed, but why do they need to be developing at an almost constant rate?
Question Idea:
How important is it for a brand to refresh to stay relevant?
I believe this question encompasses all of the elements which I earlier explored that affect current branding, and also being how important is it for a brand to stay relevant is core to a brands success. Investigating such will enable me to gain an understanding of how brands change to be able to position themselves where they are and retain that, which will highly inform my design work outside of the module.
Consumerism is a theoretical practice I am very interested in, as I have a history in the fashion retail industry and this is an industry I wish to explore more; and hopefully gain some experience within my design practice. This question would give me the contextual knowledge to be able to do such.
Initial Notes:
Initial Notes:
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