Globalisation and Design - Essay Example

?The Effects of Globalization on Design Table of Contents Introduction 3 Globalisation and Design 4 Conclusion 10 Reference 12 Bibliography 13 Introduction Most companies that want to establish themselves in global scale want to command global recognition. Logo and promotion design plays an important role in establishing a company in global market. Consumers often recognise a company with the help of their logo. Logo design is key feature in branding. Logo designed and the colours used in the logo are a symbolical public statement by the companies about their identity. In the competitive market where market share are segmented the survival of a company depends on the visibility it commands. To have a consistent and definite visibility the companies require having a design that represents them. Designing a logo requires a lot of research. The designing of a logo is not an area of art where the creativity has to take over. Designing a logo is a combination of creativity and logic. A company must have a clear idea about how they want to position themselves in the market. Not all the key features of the company can be represented by the logo, so the company especially the designers have to decide which feature they want to highlight in their logo. A logo is not just a symbol it is a symbol which makes the company statement with the help of visual icon. Many companies like Nike, Microsoft and Coke are known for their logo design. They have been successful in positioning themselves in the global market with the help of their logo design. Logo design also wins the company the global recognition. This current trend of global branding with the help of logo design has placed a lot of responsibility on the design industry. It becomes one of the main services for the design industry to design logos that help companies to expand. The design industries often have to do extensive research on the product of their clients and their area of operations. This helps them to design a logo and the promotion message for their clients which are effective. Designing a logo indeed plays an important role in the global branding of the company. 1 Globalisation and Design Globalisation is interconnection of countries economically. Globalisation has made all the companies realise that they must follow marketing strategies that are applicable globally. To enter foreign country a company must be very careful regarding the branding strategy followed by them. In global arena to establish a brand that is recognised by all requires a lot of thought process. Companies today are aware that they have to go global sometime during their expansion and chalk out their strategies accordingly. Consistent brand recognition all over the world is the main aim of all the companies. To design a logo and company message the design industry has to do a lot of research. Especially on the visual impact it has on the customers worldwide. The landscape has changed in the world of branding due to globalisation. According to experts brand must have a global reach. Brand visibility is a must for all companies who want to trade across the borders.2 However some brands do get advantage of being regional. The regional identity gives a lot of brand the ability to operate successfully in their nation. Consumers do recognise these brands as national brands and this gives them an added advantage. On the other hand to survive in international market these brands must have a global appeal. A new middle class has emerged in the BRIC nations namely, Brazil, Russia, India and China. This new customer base has deep pockets and for companies to target them a global approach is required. The design industry has to work on the presentation of these companies in such a way that all these countries feel included. Most companies try to break away from their regional identity to have a global appeal. Coke and Pepsi are the best example they always try to have a global approach .However, there are few companies like Dominos that do promote themselves globally with their regional identity intact. Playing on the idea of local uniqueness often helps a lot of companies to establish themselves internationally. Brands like 42 below, which utilizes the identity of New- Zealand as a pure country to promote its brand internationally. Mostly these companies want to establish themselves as provider of international commodities and their regional identity gives them leverage. 3 The global framework demands the design industry to come up with designs that are perceived by different cultures in same light. Most clients generally emphasize on having descriptive names in their logo. To companies it seems logical but to get trade mark for descriptive names is next to impossible. Designers generally try convincing their clients that their logo design should express who they are rather where they are from. Descriptions are meant to included in taglines and positioning. Designers need to take into consideration many aspects of the company before designing their logo and promotion. The identity the company wants to portray and the customer base it wants to target are two essential factors that the design companies must focus on. 4 The above discussions have presented the changes in design practises due to globalisation. Today, the entire global markets have been received a greater opportunities and better response. The prevailing global companies now have to deal with multiple types of consumers of different tastes and preferences. Therefore, the global companies often find it difficult to development a common brand perception among to its different types of targeted consumers. Moreover, with the increasing competition, the brand imitation has been become a trend that is ethical and illegal. In such scenario, the task of brand management has become more challenging in the prevailing competitive global business environment. In this respect, the priority of brand managers is to differentiate its product, company, services, corporate reputation from the other competitors. Schmitt and Rogers have presented the argument that the design plays a very crucial role in differentiating a brand from other. Therefore, they have realised that the primary and prior focus on the brand manager seeking to develop its company’s brand should be on the design of the brand5. The major aim in developing a design for a company must be effective in attracting the target audiences’ attention. However in order to explain the relevancy of design in brand building and the relationship between a specific design and its corresponding brand, it is necessary to understand the basics of design. A design is not a simply portray or drawing but is also indicates the intention or a massage of the company. Technically, the definition of design is that it “is an activity involving a wide spectrum of profession in which products, services, graphic, interiors, architecture all take part”6. Brigitte Borja de Mozota has argued that there is a very close relationship of design with brand and strategy. In case of developing corporate strategy, the decision makers use designs as a strategic tool for making the visibility of strategy, and on the other hand, in the process of brand building, “design is a link in the chain of a brand or a means or expressing brand values to its different publics”7. David Airey has critically evaluated that design a logo for any brand may seems to be very simple task, but in fact, it requires multiple skills. While designing a brand logo, there are a number of factors that must be taken into consideration. First of all while choosing an iconic design for a brand, five features must be realized i.e. relevant, simple, enduring, memorable, distinctive and adaptable8. Another major aspect of the linkage between the brand and design is the identity. Using an effective design, a company can be able to define its identity or it can redefine its identity afresh9. The globalisation has brought with itself several developments in terms of in terms of international trade and in technological advancements. Due to rapid expansion of trade and developments the prevailing competitions has been intensified significantly. In such scenario, the brand becomes an important and strategic phenomenon for combating with this intensifying the competition. With this course of intensifying competition, the design industry and design firm are emerging. It has been already explained that for developing an effective strategic design multiple factors have to be taken into consideration, and the emerging design firms like FutureBrand, Interbrand, and Lippincott Landor Associates etc are the global leaders, and they have developed many famous strategic designs for many popular international brands which has created strategic value for them. These design firms have become very crucial for companies because they play a very crucial role as strategic partner. Apart from designing logo or packaging they offer their consulting services for creative marketing and branding strategy. The existing market players have become very conscious regarding the taste and preferences of their target consumers, and therefore they aim to follow customer centric strategy. In case of brand business process, the necessity of customer focused strategy become more important and each factors affecting their behaviours needed to be traced10. On the other, the in post-modern society, media plays a very significant role in every aspect of human activities and it is also considered to one of the most powerful tool for growth and development. The electronic media and online media and communicational means have narrowed the notional distance of people. With this massive and astonishing development in the field of communication, the design firms are facing a better scope to perform but in a much complex way. Therefore, for presenting strategic design, the way of communication must be chosen as per the target market11. The client companies who are availing services consultancy services for branding strategies from design firm are seeking to establish a distinct identity in the mind of the target consumers. In this process, the client companies seek entire marketing service but, the design firms are not specialized in the appropriate marketing services. In spite of this fact, the client companies want to avail more the brand design services. Moreover, due to the intensity of the prevailing competition, the speed of service delivering has increased significantly. The emergence of the global design company has also facilitated the local design firms’ exposure as their services have led to create a specific trend of brand strategy. At present, most of the global companies are competing with each other on the basis of brand, and with the help of the global design firms, the client companies have gained a better source business opportunities12. In order to explain the role of globalised design in the field of business development, the examples of two designs of global companies (Starbuck and FedEx) are given below. Starbucks wanted a unique logo to re-brand themselves it meant a huge change. The design required for this purpose had to be something that represented the rebirth of Starbucks. Steve Barrett was given the key responsibility to come up with a design. Barrett and his chosen team members did a thorough research on the established global brands. The team did intensive research on brands like Nike and Apple. The team decided to remove the verbiage which made the logo of Starbucks have a cluttered appearance. The decided that the siren should remain because it was recognised by many as one of their trade marks. Lippincott was entrusted to come up with a logo and promotion design which will help Starbucks to establish themselves as a global brand. The Lippincott’s team that worked on the Starbucks design was led by Connie Birdsall. Lippincott decided to some significant changes in the design to increase the visibility of Starbucks amongst their global customers. Following are few major changes which were made in the design. The siren lady was made more prominent. Her face was given significant prominence in the logo. Her face was designed with mature features and optimistic expression. The word mark’s letter format was given a bit more finesse and sharpness. New brand cues inspired from the mermaid’s scale and other significant features were incorporated. Higher quality of design aesthetic was incorporated in the design to give it a more global look. Lippincott was successful in designing a logo that helped Starbucks to re launch itself globally.13 When FedEx realised that the company was not able to attain their goal of maximum global market share they gave Landor a well recognised design company the contract to come up with a design to have a global impact. Landor in their research realised that the company was not successful globally because the company was not well recognised in many countries. Landor to give FedEx the global look came up with a design that could be used in catalogues, plane exterior and the FedEx official trucks. The logo was done in orange and purple. The term FedEx was written in such a way that it conveyed speed and global reach. The design was made in such a way that it had a consistency and this gave the company the global recognition it was lacking. 14 Conclusion As a concluding discussion, based on above discussion, globalisation is the prime factor that has brought the revolution in design. On the hand, the increasing competition in the global market palace has boosted the exposure of design. With this increasing necessity of the global business, design industry has also played a significant role. With the help of technological advancements like information technology and innovation in the field of design, the global business environment has found a better platform to perform and a specific basis for competing with other. On the other hand, the effect of globalisation on design has not remained limited in the brand strategic movement but it has also influenced other field of design. People has have realised the importance of design that does not imply merely a drawing but it also depicts the intention, massage and internal feeling. For example, many company tried to create their design that strives to create value of their brand. Therefore, in the present world, designs are used as a means of notional communication. In order to create a successful communicative and attractive design four major factors must be taken into consideration i.e. audience, objective and message, reason for design and the use to modernised technology for artistic. The developer of design must have a sound knowledge of graphic, influence of colours on different types of audiences15. Reference Abela, Andrew V. Advanced Presentations by Design: Creating Communication That Drives Action. United States of America: John Wiley and Sons, 2008. Airey, David. Logo Design Love: A Guide to Creating Iconic Brand Identities. United States of America: New Riders, 2009. Chua, Perry and Ilicic, Dann. Top Brand Design Firms Share Their Naming and Identity Strategies. USA: Rockport Publishers, 2008. Davis, Melissa and Baldwin Jonathan. More Than a Name: An Introduction to Branding. Singapore: AVA Publishing, 2006. Healey Matthew, What is branding. Singapore: Rockport Publishers, 2008. Hoi, Aldrich Quai “The Effects of brand globalization and the design industry”. Monday 19 May 2008, http://www.aldrichquaihoi.com/assets/pdf/rmit/Semester_1_2008_Professional_Theory_Practice/1_brand_globalisation%20pdf.pdf (accessed May 13, 2011). Landor Associates, 2011, http://www.landor.com/index.cfm?do=ourwork.casehistory&cn=1157&bhcp=1. (accessed May 13, 2011). Lippincott, “Starbucks”, No date, http://www.lippincott.com/work/starbucks/ (accessed May 13, 2011). Malaval, Philippe. Strategy and Management of Industrial Brands: Business to Business Products and Services. USA: Springer,2003. Moulton, Kirby S. and Lapsley, James T. Successful wine marketing. United States of America: Springer, 2001, 183. Mozota, Brigitte Borja de. Design management: using design to build brand value and corporate innovation New York: Allworth Communications, Inc., 2003. Schmitt, Bernd. and. Rogers, David L Handbook on brand and experience management. Great Britain: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2008. Whitbread, David. The Design Manual, Second Edition. Sydney: UNSW Press, 2009. Bibliography Burdek, Bernhard E. Design: history, theory and practice of product design. Germany: Birkhauser, 2005. Clark, Hazel. and Brody, David Design Studies: A Reader. New York: Berg Publishers, 2009. Read More