Day: 10 April 2006

A Brand is a name, a visual image in peoples mind. Some people said brand is a myth. Or perhaps it is not a myth, it is real..if it’s in our everyday life, if it is in our culture.

Or can we say the brand world is a world that is full with the theory of dematerialization and materialistic. The mission is to make profit and create empire. Regarding to Al and Laura Ries in their book called “The 22 Imutable Laws of Branding” brand name is nothing than a word in mind.

But yet is it brand is the one who makes the customer choose when they decide to buy any product? Or the product itself?

Al and Laura Ries says there is always a preference brand in customers mind when they choose a product. Why people dont trust the product it self? Why do we have to trust the brand to choose a product?

H2O for example is a only a water but in branding they were called commodity category. Almost every person in America has access to good, clean water out of the tap, there is no need to buy water from the store, but many people do.

Why? May be because the water that been sold in the store contains mineral? Make its different from the ‘tap water’.
Product such as Spring Water and others sells this h2o other wise known as water to people and make people believe that these water is better that the other water. How and why?

How powerful is that? If is only a name how can it be so strong? What else in brand that make the brand famous and known? What about the product and the designer?

Brand, it is only a name.
What make brand different is the product, the values and the qualities of the product, the acceptance of the community of the new creation in the market and the experiences of the people when they use the product.

Questions:

Can brand survive without design and culture?

The definations and understanding.

If we can design our way out into difficulty, we can design our way out says John Thackara.
“Everyone designs” wrote scientist Herbet Simon, ‘who devices courses of action aimed at changing existing situations, into preferred ones.”

“Design is basic to all human activities, placing and patterning of any act towards a desired goal constitutes a design process.”wrote Victor Papanek.

Designing is what human beings do.

Questions:

Where do we want to be as a designer? What exactly our ‘preferred situations’ or ‘desired goals’?

How do we get there? What course of action will take us from here to there?

by Nurul Rahman

Cultures are constantly changing in response to the arts, knowledge and globalization. Mass media and international trades have increased inter-cultural and cross-cultural awareness. Therefore, the need for design to translate efficiently into different cultures has greatened. As the developed world has moved from smokestack to information-based societies, the role of design has moved rapidly into the forefront of market economies.

Developing countries are invaded by foreign cultures, whether they reject the invention or blend the ˜new style as their own.

What are the implications of branding and global versus local brands in this process?

Culture is by nature complex. Some parts are subject to fashions and trends; the rest the core part is less flexible.This is however refers to the myths, hopes and beliefs, defines and differentiates from other cultures.

How can the understanding of a specific culture help communication designers to anticipate its needs, to improve the creation of products and services or to strengthen communication strategies?

How can communication designers make use of cultural iconography to create a sense of national identity and community? And how does this relate to national branding and subsequent product promotion?