Adonis Diaries

After all “Who is a credible designer”?

I have read the interviews of about renown 22 designers of brands and products, and almost all of them said:

“A brand is a story, best if the story is telling an archetype mythical story that people are familiar with…”

“A brand is a promise, and experience…”

“A brand is joining a tribe of satisfied customers adopting common social values…”

“A brand is supposed to make you feel better, after enjoying the experience…”

“A brand must be human-centered…”

“A brand should send an authentic message…”

“A brand should be seductive to attract our short attention span…”

“Designers are excellent in pattern recognition and quickly ferret out what normal people skip in unusual situations…”

My position is that a success brand is wittily sending a daring message: “I challenge you to try this product…” People respond to daring challenges like the bitten Apple, the archetype mythical story of Adam accepting Eve challenge to try a state of consciousness…of the invitation of Nike to try sport…

The story is the witty means to conveying the daring proposition.  After the first experience with the product, it is no longer the brand responsibility, but the company sustainable promise to deliver good on the experience…

After all “Who is a credible designer”?

First, a designer must have a rich and varied background knowledge on the product, the history of the client company, the target users, their idiosyncracies, their particular culture…

Second, a designer is a modern “Renaissance Man” who dabbed in many artistic fields and was initiated to a variety of art production…

Third, a designer must conduct usability research with the targeted users..

Four, designers implicitly tap into the current sociopolitical ideology of value system and figure out where the balance is leaning (conservative or protest behaviors…)

A credible designer must be able to say to his client: “You cannot promise something you have no intention of delivering…Your product with fail and my brand will fail on its challenge and my name will be tarnished…”

A credible designer would say to his client: “You should not expect me to design a success brand that will provide jobs so that you fail on your deal to delivering better than expectation experiences…I am not interested in a project that will ruin the first experience, my name, and my credibility…”

A credible designer would say: “You need to negotiate, educate, and come forth as a force of change:  offering beautiful, accessible, affordable, safe and healthy products, friendly with the environment and exempt of toxic materials…”

A credible designer is not in the business of “art for art sake”: “I am designing in a human-centered mind, and I am not interested in a one-piece, museum product for downtown galleries…”