Branding

I knew this lecture was going to be good when it begun with Beatles songs being played...

When I first read the title "Designers and Clients" I was a little unsure of what would actually be discussed and whether or not it would be interesting. Pleasantly surprised Emma Murphy, Graven Images, talked expressively about the company that she works for and the techniques used by herself and others when dealing with clients.

Something that particularly interested me was when she talked about branding and the issues surrounding that. Giving examples of some of the companies that she had worked with, she discussed some of the issues surrounding their company brands.
She stressed the importance of having a similar theme running through both the brand and the building/product, e.g. when a company brand claimed that they to be trustworthy but on visit to their office, the atmosphere created was not very inviting. Something which Emma and Graven Images changed, installing glass divides, the office felt immediately more appealing and engaging! These changes meant that the brand and company communicated the same ideas and reinforced clarity among it's customers.

As discussed many a time in previous blogs, advertising is something that is becoming increasingly more and more influential. With companies trying to appeal to people in a particular way, those opposing what they represent are constantly trying to 'sabotage' their image.

A good example of this is McDonalds...


When the film/documentary called "Supersize me" was appearing, many people were shocked with the hard hitting facts being revealed about McDonalds. Morgan Spurlock aimed to spend a month eating nothing but fast food from the McDonalds menu, intending to eat at least everything on it at least once. To begin with Spurlock was quite excited about receiving his meals but as time went on he soon became a little sick of it all and this started to show through his health. In the end Spurlock has to stop the experiment because the effects of the fast food were so detrimental to his health that he faced a high risk of suffering a heart attack. This had a damaging effect on McDonalds and as sales started to suffer, the company needed to rebrand itself...

Trying to recreate their image, McDonalds were trying to hit out at the critics who claimed them to be 'evil' and 'money grabbing' and were trying to show that they really did care about the people. An article that appeared in the Guardian "McDonald's goes green - but not all customers are lovin' it" talks about some of the schemes undergone to try and remodel themselves. Changing to healthier fats to cook in, redesigning the interiors and funding community projects, the company looked are rebuilding it's image and portraying itself in a more positive light. Judge for yourself if you think it has worked...can a cheetah really change it's spots?



Something I would like to thank Emma for though is talking about all the different skills she uses and for breaking down the idea of what a brief is in detail. It was refreshing to hear someone who works out in the big bad world in a design company talk about the skills they use and the processes she used to gather information - a lot of which are similar to the techniques we are using at the moment in our assignments.

With thanks:
Emma Murphy, Graven Images
http://indianaintellectualproperty.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/mcdonalds.jpg
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/jul/05/lifeandhealth.consumerandethicalliving

Sustainability

We have now been given the next part of our brief for our sustainability project where we have to renovate a run down house for a client called Emma Fraser.

Emma is a book restorer who is looking for the house not only be her home but a place she can also work from with a studio space and reception area where she can deal with clients. It is really important that we understand all Emma’s needs as this is a place that she would theoretically spend a lot of time.

Meetings with the client in person allowed us to get to know her a bit better and understand what sort of job she does and the things that she requires. Asking questions from what materials she liked to what does she likes to do in her past time, we were able to gather a rough idea of what she would and wouldn’t want from the house and getting a general feel for her needs. This was useful but when Emma talked about all the equipment that she used for restoring the books it was hard to imagine what these looked like and how big they were…next came the visit to the lab she works in. It was really good to actually see the equipment rather than just visualising it and estimating roughly how much space it would take up within the studio. Taking photo’s and asking yet more questions we were able to step into Emma’s life and get yet another insight to the way she worked. The part I found particularly beneficial to look at was the desk where she worked at. Here I was able to see how she liked to organise things and set things out when she was working, something that I just wouldn’t have got from a question and answer session.

This is really relevant just now with the assignments that we are doing in the Design Studies part of the course – getting to understand the people we are designing for. It’s been helpful for me for the two to be running along side each other and some of the skills that I have already learnt doing the previous assignments have proved useful when conducting this new brief. I have been able to apply new skills that I have learned practically in this project so far to the Design Studies assignments and gained a greater understanding of how much you need to get in the mind of the client. Book restoration is nothing that I know about but after quizzing and looking at how the client works, I feel I know enough now that I can begin to design a space most suited to her. Take this afternoon for example, while travelling back on the bus home after getting a tour of the lab I tried to place myself in Emma’s shoes. The studio will be the main part of this project as this is the place that she would spend the most time during the day (Emma stated that most likely it would be 9am-5pm) so it will be important to consider certain issues of comfort: height of the desk, width of the working desk, the light that would enter the studio (this is very important to take into consideration for restorer’s as the light can interfere with the books), where the machinery would be placed within the room, etc. With so many things to think about, the way in which I was visualising things allowed me to start thinking about possible design solutions.

Meeting with the client is such a useful process for me (even if the project will not really go ahead) because I am getting used to working with a real life client and designing for them. The process behind this project is a good way to learn more about working alongside the client and listening to exactly what they need and want.

After completing the first part of the brief, (refer to earlier blog - A picture can tell a thousand words (series9)) I didn't understand how beneficial this part of the project was until after this week. This week we focused on trying to get into the mind of client, before we were actually working like the client would be (okay so maybe not exactly!). I found myself sprawled out over my bedroom floor - constantly trying to find more room to do my work - a problem that might be similar to Emma. It wasn't until now that I realised how helpful it was to actually practically get involved in the thought process that we need to undertake.

With thanks:
http://www.helensanderson.com.au/images/Gallery_Rm8/w99_open_close_book.jpg