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.
Bringing Kindle Back from the Dead
I was responsible for three generations of the Kindle eReader UX. Given my expansive definition of “UX” I pushed to update all the Kindle screensavers to accommodate non-English speaking markets and additional media support. Oh, and users were begging Amazon to ditch the “creepy, dead authors.”
Branding as UX: Parsable
Parsable management wanted a new look to support of an upcoming funding round. I wanted a visual language I could also use in the pitch materials I had to create in addition to product design and strategy.
Branding as UX: ACME Technologies
ACME wanted to move from stealth mode (i.e. no logo, no official name). “ACME” stuck, but the company needed a look to guide marketing efforts and product design. Here’s what I did for ACME.
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: HAN:DLE
HAN:DLE—a startup headed by an Uber board member—promised to revolutionize your email inbox. HAN:DLE was invited to compete at TechCrunch and needed a revamped look to guide product design, launch activities, and, of course, t-shirts.
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.