How to Use a Design-Pro Mindset to Reach Buyers
The success of design is closely tied to a skill and sense for translation. Creatives take a big idea in their grasp and form it to fit a brand strategy, meeting the buyer wherever they happen to be on their journey – thinking through every last detail of scale, substrate and media.
So, how do we get there?
The process of design encompasses countless possibilities, and that’s what makes it rewarding. We fully embrace and honor this exploration at NK. Yet we also revel in the final steps, where our strategic minds come to play in a complex exercise of forward-thinking.
Simply put, good design always looks ahead. This requires becoming entrenched in the buyer’s motivations and patterns of purchases. It requires understanding and planning for every instance of the brand’s applications. Once those paths are mapped out, it involves building consistency through every touchpoint.
An effective way to approach such a complex web of interactions is to ground the design exploration in a few key – and the most disparate – applications. Such as branding viewed on a billboard, mobile device, and a small cartridge of medical supplies. Or a packaging design displayed on video, printed brochures, shipping boxes, and single-serve condiment packets.
A true litmus test for a good design system will ask:
The big idea is only big if it’s executable. Architecting desire at each step of the customer’s journey and building fans requires an attention to the end result. In other words, it requires paying attention to executability.
Some medium pose more challenges for design translation than others. Below are useful launching points for thinking through the executability of various design work.
When you see well-executed design, it feels like everything naturally fell into place. Yet design-insiders understand the level of strategic intention it takes to create such a sense of ease. We relish the art of taking brands there.