How to transform your branding in an icon through Design Thinking

I don´t know if its clear for you, who is reading my text right now, the relation between Design Thinking and branding, I think some of you will understand, some won´t, but I would like to discuss my perspective about that.

Designing a brand is far beyond to drawing an image and transforming it in a symbol. The picture that image reminds us is beyond the visual aspect, if you think of just this aspect: related an image to an action, you are just creating a pictogram, nothing else.

Have you ever asked yourself why brands like Apple, Nike, Adidas, are valuated in million of dollars, and some of us, regular designers, work our asses off to convince our clientes to pay at least a part of what it actually costs?

That´s the point of my text, that´s where Design Thinking can help you. When we talk about brand, we aren´t just talking about design, we are talking about marketing and value. When you create a branding, your are constructing the company image, the very first impression that people will have and associate to products, services and companie values.

So, it´s crucial that the co-creation process, with the people who are responsible for the marketing. But it´s not about a well elaborated briefing, you have to put yourself into the client´s place, create something that converges your style of creation but satiesfies your client and most of all, makes their customers love it. Make their customer consume that because they identified themselves with it in some level.

Who doesn´t go throught it in some level, think, specially when you are, or when we talk about teenagers: if you leaved in 80´s don´t you ever put a pet in your jacket? If you lived at 90´s, didn´t you ever put a button in your backpack? In 2000 we put stickers on our notebooks, using t-shirts of events, and who never went to an event and got in the line for a nice gift and put it in you work desk?

Dear reader, that´s the power of branding when you associate with Design Thinking that I´m talking about. You don´t do this kind of stuff because you liked the drawing, or because it was made by a super cool designer, you used that because that means something to you in an emotional level, you identified something meaningful to you that made you associate something yours to that.

My point is, awhen you are a designer thinker and create a brand, you have to get out of your comfort zone, you aren´t the programming guy, who stays in your desk and get for a walk just for a cup of coffee. You have to find the person who better understands the company, the services, the customers, and this, most of the time, makes you talk with marketing people, product people, sales force, etc.

Your duty is to represent something bigger than a draw, a brand project means that. If you think about this perspective, and if you start to spread it to people you talk with, the chances that your logo really becomes an strong icon increase, and maybe when people start to talk about the company or product, they start to ask: this logo were made by who?

So this is my tip: get allies into your job, make them contribute to your job, think in a design project as a team effort taht you are responsible for. For you actually to project to other people you have to involve them on your process, otherwise it is just a personal design style´s draw.

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