Another lecture I was lucky to catch at the symposium was the talk with Ian Thompson. The lecture was mainly focused on branding and the different elements it can bring within a company regarding gaining more customers, profit and expenditure. Ian’s history began in 1984 when was a freelance designer then moved on to starting his own design agency Thompson. He explained why companies should invest in branding, as the identity would bring in more money in the long run so they should see it as an investment. Ian also touched on why people should pay for the work we do as designers. Besides pretty artwork, the main product the customer is investing in is the idea. The thinking process will be overshadowed by the business plan the company has and the pressure of your idea working is dependent on this.
Ian also explained clients have a primary objective which is to make money. They all seem to be more interested in this than how there product or identity looks but as a designer, you know your thinking plays a big part in making money for the company which is one of the reasons branding is so effective. When working on a brief, Ian said that quality is the best business plan. This can cover your thinking, art work, presentation or engaging with the client and understanding what they want.
When presenting your final ideas to a client, Ian touched on what to think about when preparing your pitch. He said ‘’Ask yourself if you can afford to take the weakest piece of work out’’. This was useful to know as I myself in the past, when presenting work, have small regrets about using work when I didn’t need to. Ian presented some nice work he did for Durex and how he re-branded there packaging. He explained the sale figures went up 290% after his work was completed. This has made me realize that being a designer covers more than I thought. I plan to do more branding working over the Christmas period.
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