- Design and branding are part of every single thing
that we do as humans.
It's a way of signaling to others non-verbally
who we are, what we believe in, what is important to us.
(upbeat music)
There was a time when a different form, a different flavor,
a different bottle shape,
those things really did excite consumers, people.
But people have so much more power
than they've ever had before.
They want to understand and know that the things
that they're buying are coming from companies
they feel are worthy of contributing to.
And that's something that we have really never seen before.
And that has created a real democratization of design
and branding.
Hi, I'm Debbie Millman and I am a brand designer.
I am an educator and I am the chair of
the masters and branding program
here at the School of Visual Arts in New York city.
My most recent book is called "Why Design Matters"
which is based on my long running podcast
Design Matters with Debbie Millman.
(calm music)
Design and branding are some of our
earliest behaviors as humans.
As far back as 10,000 years ago
we started to construct symbols to communicate our beliefs.
And we began to do this all over the planet.
I consider those early constructions very bottom up.
We created these symbols for each other,
by each other for free.
It's really only in the last 250 or so years
that the model of bottom up branding was tipped and turned
when the corporation began to appropriate that behavior
to create widespread recognition for branded products.
Whether it's a religion, political platform,
sugar free beverage, all of these constructions use branding
in exactly the same way
to create more recognizable consensus.
But it's really only in the last 10 years
that we have begun to see that top down model
begin to flip back to bottom up again.
And that is really the thing that excites me
almost more than anything today.
Branding is no longer just a tool of capitalism.
Branding has become a profound manifestation
of the human spirit.
People aren't as interested in different anymore.
They're looking much more critically
to see what organizations stand for.
A really good example of an organization
that is taking some risks with communicating
what they believe is what Nike has done
with Colin Kaepernick.
When Nike first introduced the idea
that they were supporting Colin Kaepernick,
quite a lot of people were up in arms.
But that initial wave of displeasure was fleeting
and what we saw long term was a majority of people
were actually very supportive of Nike
communicating their beliefs
through the behavior of the brand.
And then we also began designing our movements
in this bottom up way.
And one of the most powerful, and one of the most successful
has been Black Lives Matter.
It has all the tenants of branding.
It has a name. It has a hashtag.
It has a website. It has a logo.
It has passionate, passionate belief.
But it's much more than a brand.
What this movement has done is question,
challenge, and provoke behavior of change.
We've also seen that happen with the pink Pussyhat.
We've seen that happen with Me Too.
Certain embedded behavior is no longer being tolerated
and we've seen behavior transformed.
We really do have the power to change the future
of this planet, just with the sheer decisions
that we're making about what we buy
and what we choose to contribute to.
The markers of success or failure in branding
are really evident.
It's in how many people believe you.
Anybody that is thinking about creating a brand,
the first question has to be why.
Why do we need this thing, idea, belief, product? Why?
The second question has to be what is the benefit?
(inspiring music)
People are going to be giving you money for this product
or people are going to be giving you a piece of their soul
if it is a movement.
What is the benefit for humanity?
And if you have sound strategic answers
to both of those questions,
then you have something that you can begin to build on,
to create something that has meaning both for the planet
and for humanity.
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