Brand design
A logo is not a brand. And a company does not control its brand.
A brand is the sum total of the associations that users, anyalysts, thought leaders, and the competition have about your end-to-end user experience. A company hires designers and writers to create logos and content in an attempt to influence those associations.
But early-stage companies have no brand to speak of. Therefore, a cool logo and thoughtful content are needed to start building a brand in the minds of future customers. And since a product designer is often the first creative person hired, that person (i.e. me) will often take the first stab at a branding system.
Branding as UX: Palate Home
Palate Home was a startup funded, in part, by Don Norman (yes, that Don Norman). I was asked to do the original product design in support of its incubator graduation. That also meant the company needed something cool to put on T-shirts, at least.
Branding as UX?
A UX designer is often the first creative person hired by a young company. The UX designer often ends up taking a stab at the company’s first branding system in order to provide a framework for detailed aspects of product design.