“Branding – A tool to differentiate between you and your competitors”
Interestingly, branding is not only about logos and names. It carries a great responsibility to ensure that the company’s or a product’s identity has been strongly anchored in the audience and the current market. It includes the business’s goals, vision, and distinctiveness through its branding. It serves as a conduit for communication between the target market and the goods or services.
Branding in Product Design:
In product design, branding refers to a pragmatic strategy of offering the product a personality to appeal to a wider range of consumers through the aesthetics of the product, name, logo, colour scheme, and actual design. Product design and branding go hand in hand as they determine a product’s success or failure in this cutthroat market. Effective branding is achieved through consistently delivering on promises and values, which provides the company with an increased audience and loyal customers.
Benefits of Branding in Product Design:
As mentioned above, there are numerous benefits the company gets and some of the core and immediate benefits expected from the company are mentioned here:
- Setting up the identity of the product:
The product’s identity aids the product in differentiating and elevating itself in the market. A product’s identity is crafted using graphic and design elements such as its name, logo, colour scheme, and overall aesthetics. To boost sales, these components should ultimately have a strong emotional connection with the intended market. Integrating the company’s or product’s vision or goal into the product’s design for branding is essential for a product to develop a highly engaging identity. If the goal of the business is to promote sustainability, then the product branding can employ eco-friendly or sustainable materials and choose colours that work well together and reflect the company’s commitment to sustainability and the environment.
2. Trust and Recognition:
Branding aligns with certain qualities, values and promises of the product to build trust among the customers. Among the instant advantages of branding is the acquisition of trust. This is the most crucial element in ensuring the product’s success. Building trust is facilitated by branding, which also maintains consistency and dependability in the product. Millions of people have come to trust brands like Apple, Nike, and Coca-Cola because of their product designs, which focus on their core branding to create a trustworthy and recognisable environment for customers. People trust products like Apple for every design transition because of its svelte designs, intuitive user interface, and superior experiences.
3. Broadening value perception:
Products like Louis Vuitton and Rolex are great examples of this idea. Because of their careful branding and design, their products are status symbols in addition to being useful goods. Everything about the brand—from the packaging to the tiniest design element—is created to uphold its reputation for exclusivity and quality.
4. Distinguishing yourself in the market:
In this competitive world, a product needs to set itself apart from the market by offering a unique and memorable product experience. A product design that incorporates branding can greatly help with this. It enables a product to tell its own story. Red Bull and Coca-Cola are excellent examples of differentiating themselves from others using excellent branding. Red Bull has been able to stand out in the crowded market for energy drinks. Although many rivals provide comparable energy boosts, Red Bull’s branding has prioritised extreme sports, exploration, and a fearless way of living. Its elegant, slender design distinguishes it from other beverages and is instantly recognisable. Coca-Cola has worked with innovation and tradition to master the art of branding. A key component of its branding is the recognisable curved bottle shape, which has an ageless and nostalgic appeal.
5. Adapting to the changing trends:
The trend is the one which constantly changes in any market. Product design branding is a dynamic process that can change to accommodate shifting consumer preferences and trends. A company can keep its competitive advantage by changing its design to stay current. Apple’s product designs and branding have changed over time. Apple continually updates its designs to reflect modern aesthetics and technologies, also while maintaining its core values of innovation and user-friendliness. This strategy guarantees that their products will still be appealing to customers in future generations. Being adaptable is essential for sustained success in a market that moves quickly.
In conclusion, branding in product design is fundamental for creating a unique identity, building trust, boosting perceived values, fostering emotions and customer loyalty and standing out of the crowd in the market. A well-branded product is the form of demonstrating the product’s values, quality and promises to its customers.
References :
- www.linkedin.com. (n.d.). The Importance of Branding in Product Design. [online] Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/importance-branding-product-design-felix-chandran-v8auc/.
- Anon, (2023). The Role of Branding in Product Design. [online] Available at: https://sharkdesign.com/blog/the-role-of-branding-in-product-design/.
- Design ✨, T.M. (2024). What is Branding? Definition, Importance & Best Practices. [online] TMDesign. Available at: https://medium.com/theymakedesign/what-is-branding-549a02d94be6.
