Design issues

Design Issues

Article by DK Holland 2001

How graphic Design forms society.

This article is about how the impact of branding influences society.

The theme is to inform visual literate people how branding has

changed the way society views products from their function to beyond functionality and its connection to the human mind.

A brand makes these connections through emotion, thought, feeling,

expectation and association. Brand identity is expressed visually and verbally.

Branding is selling a life style and an association with a way of life.

Although I do not believe that this article is academic, it does provide much theory about branding and the philological buttons it presses within the consumers mind.

The brand speaks to the needs and aspirations of the audience.

A recent phenomenon is the branding of sports star for example Venus Williams and David Beckham their marketing people aware of the brand.

The article buts across a good argument that branding is easy when you can the correct product be it a soup brand or a sports personality.

Successful branding creates sub branding due to trusted image of the original brand.

There are ethical questions about big tobacco and liquor sponsorship also the very ordinary fizzy drink strangle hold worldwide.

The issues dealt with included how large advertising agencies For example Wieden & Kennedy influence the future planning and are responsible for the globalization of some of Americas biggest companies.

I found a particularly interesting part of the article about How 19^th century New York was a centre of commerce influence by many ethnic groups where 18 different languages were spoke.

The environment in this newly democratic country provided an incubator for a new visual language to grow and flourish. (Holland, pp20, 2001)

Indeed through its new migrant businesses and through branding there

Branding a new dynamic had been born.

It is difficult to understand how the most dubious of characters have

Been packaged by branding for example Elvis Presley a notorious womanizer and drug abuser and Barbie whose vital statistics on near on impossible but this is the power of the brand.

This article was informative to the American phenomena that is corporate branding and identity and informative to its development

From its origin to its present day global influence.

Bibliography:

Design Issues, DK Holland, 2001.

Everythinggirl.com

Word count: 349