紀錄01
This isn’t just about attention; it’s about attraction. How will this brand help me, and how does it reflect me? The first issue is simplicity. Busy environments, whether a place or a page of content, trigger deep animal warning signals as we interpret the information overload as an attack on our senses.‘less is more’However, simplicity isn’t everything. Design is the connection of the rational with the visceral, so while simple is essential, it’s unlikely to win love.Today’s commercial brands respond to the same needs, satisfying us in ways they have never done before. We let them into our homes, our lives and ourselves, but only if they appeal to our emotions.Design is to business what evolution is to nature:it enables brands to change and survive. In the most successful cases, you can’t distinguish the brand from its design language. Apple, Starbucks, IKEA and MINI all rely on a visual language that encompasses the entire consumer experience. People notice and respond to the smallest nuances: the difference between BMW and Audi headlights, between the profile of an Adidas and a Nike high-top. We perceive these details and associate the brand values with those design gestures in the same way we would have once spotted prey in a forest.So design not only simplifies but also points to what we like and what we want to be associated with. We surround ourselves with these associations and define ourselves through them.Thelogo was already a clean pictogram of parcel delivery, yet its graphic brutalism and use of capital letters was at odds with a company wanting to communicate a closer connection and a friendly service to its customers.The category symbol – the iconic box – is a valuable asset, but only if it can communicate the right emotional message as well. By removing the arrows, redrawing the box with softer corners and asymmetric edge highlights, flooding it with a drift of warm red and combining it with lower case typography, the new logo retained the power of the original, but proved warmer and gentler.The new logo offers only a hint of stylisation– just enough to let consumers know it’s not intended to be a pictogram. Wearing jeans and a T-shirt because they’re comfortable and conformist is fine, but sometimes we need a distinctive edge. Our emotional bonds come from these differences. We fall in love with a few things, not everything.In a world of endless choice, designers need to work harder than ever to differentiate brands and create desire. They need to go to the brand, its ideas and values, for inspiration. But while brand should lead the design,it’s the design itself that we fall in love with.－－Branding:why less isn’talways moreLee Coomber is a senior partner based in brand consultancy Lippincott’s London office, where he leads the design team. Originally trained in both theatre and graphic design, Lee has over 25 years of industry experience and has been involved in creating some of the world’s most outstanding brands. www.lippincott.com
