A recent quote from designer and author, Craig Oldham summed up a lot of my thinking about the design process: "Design, to me, is an intellectual discipline not a visual one.”

When working with design teams, I’ve always tried to get them to sell the idea to me before I even see it. "Describe it in a sentence or two" I would say, and that would usually be a test of whether or not it’s going to extend beyond just the visual aspect of the concept.

It’s hard for many designers and creatives to think beyond the visual. After all, it’s usually the final output, and often the beginning inspiration. They might think it’s the perfect time to play off that great bit of inspiration they’ve had, the exhibition they saw at the weekend, that interesting type treatment they found on Pinterest. In practice, this is rarely the case.

If design and brand are primarily about communication, we need to retain that core in everything we do. Sure, having your attention grabbed by a great piece of design supports the idea of communication, but so does being whacked round the head by a ‘golf sale’ sign. They’re both effective, but don’t usually extend beyond the immediate.

Thinking about design intellectually and writing about it makes the design process considerably easier. Without it, decisions are made arbitrarily and subjectively. It enables each choice about color, type or layout to have thoughts that lead them. Much like a good brief, good rationale and thinking (words) will create better outputs (pictures).

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Reliant on high-gloss formulaic TV advertising since the 80s, the perfume industry seems to have little time for breaking the mould or exploring new ideas. None of us need to endure another Keira Knightly fronted mini-epic ever again, so it's great news to see that Kenzo have enlisted the talents of Spike Jonze for its latest commercial.

Famed for his music videos, it bears more than a passing resemblance to his video for Fatboy Slim starrring Christopher Walken but nonetheless it's a massive breath of fragrant smelling air for the industry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABz2m0olmPg

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Nobody ever built a statue to a committee, so the saying goes. The coerced opinion of many, rarely warrants hours chiselling away at a block of granite – yet the results can be startlingly similar – what once was a strong mass can become weak if you don’t know what you’re chipping away at.

So when it comes to the business-critical-business of sculpting and building a brand, do you want a master sculptor or a chisel-wielding army, guided by their own subjectivity?

The importance of stakeholders and steering groups, should not be forsaken, their wisdom and experience is hugely valuable. Without it, an agency’s concepts and propositions would be nothing more than naive and unfounded; unjustified stabs in the dark with neither rhyme nor reason to back them up. This insight is key to our process, and becomes the foundation for creating solid brands that support the strategy of a business, providing resilience for both growth, and the challenges of tomorrow.

The difference between insight and opinion however, is vast. Insight is the fuel that drives a brand project, whereas opinion can wrong-turn and sometimes even breakdown a project. That’s not to say opinions are not valued or welcomed. They just have to exist within the structure of a larger vision.

By defining a brand vision with real purpose, you arm yourself with a manifesto for every decision. From everything we say to everything we do, it’s all based upon the higher purpose. And funnily enough a strong vision works best with a visionary to leading it. An unenviable and largely thankless task, their job is to keep things on track whatever gets thrown in the way.

A show of hands for a brand visionary normally yields no end of willing victims, alas there’s usually only one suitable candidate: the CEO. By working with them to ensure the brand vision aligns with their strategy for the business, we create a fertile environment for the brand to flourish – one which can now welcome wider input on the finer details and day-to-day workings.

"If you want to kill any idea in the world, get a committee working on it."

 Charles Kettering

It’s with this approach where your real competitive advantage emerges, a same-page unity driven business-wide by someone who really knows what’s best for the business. It’s where the first real communications challenge arises also; how best do we rally the troops to get behind the brand? A clear communications plan is essential here, outlining the essence of what we’re trying to say paired with the most valid tactics of how to get this out there. Once armed with the comms plan, the brand champion can drive the brand within a solid framework of messaging that communicates the core vision to all parties, internal and eventually external.

With a solid business-wise manifesto in place, strength in numbers aids the cause – both by getting behind and living the vision – it comes to life through the actions of many. I call this approach community over committee, and it delivers a value truly greater than the sum of its parts.

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