JKR

6. “Success has many fathers…”

Creating iconic brands requires anything but a passive client – the best work comes from a healthy partnership between an ambitious patron and an inspired designer. The quality of the answer is dependent on the quality of the question. Be it about “thinking different” or “the real thing”, there cannot be an iconic design expression without a focused point to express. And this point must be about what makes the brand different, not its business objective or the category context. The idea comes before the icon.

While the results depend as much on luck as judgement, here is a formula which attempts to define the three basic inputs that iconic design requires:

Without a genuine point of difference, whether product truth or unique emotional approach, the design solution will only ever be style without substance. With a decent “point” branding has something to express.

Without distinctive design the brand will get lost in category norms. With a more idiosyncratic (yet expressive and relevant) design language the brand will be noticed and hopefully its merits will be appreciated.

And crucially without a bold client, a project will not just lack bold ambitions and choices but also strong custody in the face of all rational evidence that such idiosyncratic design is too much of a risk to launch unless all the interesting edges are smoothed off. With a bold client on board, there is at least a hope in hell!

And then only time will tell…

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