Brand Values You Can Hold: An Introduction to Visual Design Languages.
Inevitably there comes a point in the product development process where a deceptively simple question must be answered —
What should our product look like?
We believe that the answer lies in proper communication. Products need to communicate a story that is both desirable to consumers and understandable at a glance. And the story a product tells about itself can be complex. Products need to convey the values behind the logo, how they fit into a tiered strategy, why they’re better than the competition, how they fit into emerging trends, and how they help to evolve consumer lifestyles. The list goes on and on.
So how can your brand communicate the value of your product portfolio to your customers in a way that they can see and feel? And how can we ensure repeatable success with next-generation product releases?
With challenges like these, we typically suggest developing a Visual Design Language.
What Exactly is a VDL?
The building blocks of our spoken languages are words and gestures and this is how humans communicate with one another.
The building blocks of a Visual Design Language (VDL) are experiential elements and this is how brands communicate with customers through the look and feel of their products.
Experiential elements are all the tangible touchpoints of a product that give it a recognizable identity — form, color, material, surface finishes, logo placement, buttons, lighting, interfaces, and overall experience (just to name a few).
By codifying a curated set of experiential elements tailored to your brand they can then be applied systematically to your product portfolio. The resultant visual continuity both connects products as a family and materializes your brand’s values to consumers.
Brand Values Coming Alive
Experiential elements like color and shape are often viewed as subjective qualities of a product, or matters of personal taste.
We hold that experiential elements are the physical manifestation of everything that your brand believes in and stands for, so it is essential that they provide objective value to both your consumers and to your internal design team.
We have found that collaborating with core stakeholders from start to finish is the key to developing a VDL that is both relevant to your audience and embraced as a product development standard within the organization.
Research-Driven Process
This introductory phase of a VDL program is essentially a fact-finding expedition. There are 4 concrete areas that we need to understand thoroughly:
1. Brand — Where do you stand now & what is your future vision?
2. Audience — Who buys your products?
3. Market — What sets your brand apart from competitors?
4. Trends — What forces are shaping your industry?
With this information in hand, we can begin to visualize a system of experiential elements through moodboards and product concepts that are authentic to your brand, relevant to your audience, differentiated in the market, and responsive to current trends.
Measuring Success
VDL programs coalesce organically as discussions and ideas evolve into an authentic visualization of your brand. Throughout the process we pressure test our thinking because at the end of the day we believe that a VDL needs to check all the boxes in order to be successful:
✓ Increases brand recognition
✓ Drives consistency & efficiency across your portfolio
✓ Facilitates objective evaluation of designs and ideas
✓ Differentiates your product within the market
✓ Enhances the consumer’s experience of your product
Let’s Talk
Ultimately, a VDL firmly rooted in both your brand’s values and vision for the future will become a “living system,” with the flexibility to encompass product launches on the horizon and the capacity to evolve in response to emerging consumer desires and market trends.
Whether you’re interested in developing a VDL for your first product launch or for your next generation product portfolio, Pushstart is ready to collaborate — just drop us a note.
