Design Meaning Assessment - PHANTASIA CONSULTING

BRAND MEANING ASSESSMENT – DESIGN

How distinctive is your brand?

This 5-minute assessment explores how strongly design and brand reinforce each other – and where your differentiation may be vulnerable to imitation.

When customers compare your brand with competitors, what makes your design unmistakably yours?

Our products share a distinctive brand face — a recognizable character that goes beyond individual design cues. Our design brings our brand to life in a way people relate to and want to associate with. Specific proportions, details, signatures or design cues make our products recognizable.

What happens when competitors adopt similar design cues?

The individual cues may be similar, but their combination still gives our products a recognizable character. We evolve our design cues to maintain a distinctive visual edge. The cues are one expression of what our brand stands for — competitors can imitate them, but not what our brand represents.

What does that brand face primarily convey?

A coherent aesthetic that makes our products recognizable. A lifestyle, attitude or identity people want to associate with. A distinctive character people have come to expect from our brand.

What makes that brand meaningful to customers?

It reflects something they identify with — or the person they want to become. It represents a lifestyle or image they find desirable. It reinforces what they value and expect from our products.

What role does your design strategy play in shaping the design?

It defines a shared design character that guides what our products should express, without prescribing specific design cues. It defines design values and principles, such as “bold”, “modern” or “dynamic”. It gives design a shared strategic direction with product and marketing — grounded in what the brand is meant to express.

What happens when different designers interpret those values in different ways?

Ultimately, it is up to the individual designer to find a solution that moves the design forward. We go back to what those values are meant to express about the brand and resolve the decision from there. Design leadership has a shared understanding of what feels right and uses it to resolve different interpretations.

When different design directions could all express that character, how do you choose?

We go back to what that character is meant to express about the brand and resolve the decision from there. We test different directions with customers to understand which one resonates most strongly. Design leadership has a vision of where our design character should go and chooses the direction that takes us there.

What gives that brand filter its direction?

The customers we design for, their needs and the context in which they use our products. An ambition beyond market share and margins — design becomes a tool for making it happen. What we want the brand to mean to people — design gives that meaning a tangible expression.

If a new technology made some of your most recognizable design cues obsolete, what would you carry forward?

We would reinterpret them for the new technology — the expression may change, but the underlying design character should remain recognizable. We would use the new technology to find a new expression of what our brand stands for. We would evolve those cues rather than abandon them — they provide continuity and make our products recognizable across generations.

What do your most committed customers have in common beyond buying your products?

They value the functional qualities, aesthetic appeal and value for money we provide. They are drawn to the distinctive character, image and appeal of our products. They see the brand as an expression of who they are — or the person they want to become.

When working on the long-term future of the brand, what guides your vision?

What we want the brand to mean to people in the future. Our heritage and the design character that has made the brand recognizable over time. We have a clear ambition for the future of mobility — and design is one of our tools to shape it.

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HOLISTIC THINKING
UNIQUE EXPERTISE
VALUE PROPOSITION
STRATEGIC INSIGHTS
RANGE OF SERVICES
SECURITY STANDARDS
GET IN TOUCH