Brand & Design

BRAND & DESIGN
Every great ad makes a guarantee and we promise you'll learn a thing (or two) about brand and design. Read the full text from our Delta Sky ad below.

If the words “brand” or “design” interest you… 

A BRAND LIVES IN THE IMAGINATION. Intuitively, we all know what a brand is. It’s far more than a logo. And it’s much larger than a product, service, idea, or institution. A brand finds its home in the minds and hearts of individuals; it’s made up of stories and experiences that, over time, create feelings. When enough people share those feelings, the brand comes to life.

DESIGN LIVES ALL AROUND US. Design is here and now. It’s immediate. Broadly, a design is a plan and every plan is a design. Whether building a spaceship, planting a garden, launching a political campaign, or opening a business, we all start with a plan. People are becoming aware of the power of design, from the gadgets we use to the environments we inhabit. Our encounters with design alter our daily routines, connect us with other cultures, and build the global economy.

DESIGN BRINGS THE BRAND DOWN TO EARTH. What design does for any brand is make it tangible. Real. Through design, we grasp what the brand is and how to interact with it. That’s true whether the brand is as simple as a booth at a farmer’s market or as complex as an international relief organization. Design opens the door to understanding the brand. It gives us access. And, when design is excellent, design does these things beautifully.

THROUGH DESIGN, BUSINESS MEETS BEAUTY. Within any business, the beauty of design takes many forms. It may be present in the streamlined, efficient functioning of a system. We might sense it in a gracious encounter with a company representative. It might be directly visible in a product. Beauty is revealed because of underlying design integrity. It’s not skin deep. In turn, a design process that’s conducted with integrity will produce beauty.

TILKA DESIGN CREATES THE BEAUTY OF THE BRAND'S FORM AND CONTENT. Whatever the product, service, idea, or institution might be, at some point, others need information communicated about it. That is what Tilka Design does—our specific discipline is communication design. The work is also called brand development, identity design, and corporate identity. We articulate and convey the beauty of the brand’s attributes and define a design system for use.

SUBSTANCE FIRST, STYLE SECOND. At Tilka Design, we are serious about the idea that communication design is a discipline. A practice. That’s why we begin the process with research and analysis; this is the spadework. Substantive research yields brand strategy. Whether we’re talking about new or evolved brand design, the process is equally relevant.

ARTICULATING THE VISUAL LANGUAGE. Tilka Design creates the brand’s common visual language, a language spoken with both words and images and used organization-wide. Our work is critical to ensuring that a company is speaking with the same voice. Other marketing, interactive, and advertising professionals use the brand identity systems we create, too.

EFFECTIVENESS THROUGH DESIGN INTEGRITY. When the design ideas are right, no one ever has to ask, “Do we have to use the logo?” When audiences hear and see consistent messages, they understand and remember the brand. Communicating becomes more efficient. Within the organization, too, people work from the same page, literally and figuratively. That means fewer meetings and do-overs. When people share the same way of speaking about the brand, messages are clear.

HOW TILKA DESIGN DIFFERS FROM OTHER MARKETING FIRMS. “Brand” is a word all marketing and advertising pros use. However, there’s a qualitative depth to Tilka Design’s brand discipline. Other types of firms offer important services, but our emphasis on brand definition is unusually specialized. And we’re told, enduring.

CONNECT, INFORM, RESONATE, MOTIVATE. This is what the discipline of communication design can do for a brand. From development, to the first time the brand reaches its audience, to later stages of maturity, design makes a difference. Business meets beauty. And naturally, when we humans detect beauty, we sense our lives will be improved. Doorways open to trust and respect for the brand. To loyalty.

So while the thinking around “brand” and “design” may be complicated, the feelings they engender are simple. The question every organization needs to ask itself is, “Can we afford not to make good design a priority?”

©2010 Tilka Design