If I had a cat it would wear pants...
Buzzwords (Argumentum verbosium)… I keep hearing, they are ideals senior management tend to jump on and embrace. Diversity Alignment Empowerment Strategy sure does sounds awesome in a keynote but how does it translate to business operations, specifically tactic and strategy?
After starting my new job as a Senior UX Designer it is interesting seeing the crossover of brand design and how it is applied to UX. On a semantical level good UX really does shape the perception a user or client has towards both brand and product.
The issue I find is due to the what I like to refer to as the “Oreo” effect or a disconnect between strategy and tactic from senior to mid to lower levels.
Seniors set the tone and strategy while the lowly employees carry it out as tactic, but there is always a disconnect in the creamy middle. The middle man’s directive is to deliver business cases which may or may not be in the company’s direction or interest because they are there to deliver on certain key FY to FY business cases that are usually set a year ago.
Not Agile I know...
Being agile and able to concentrate on a winner is better than delivering five mediocre business cases, this helps all above deliver KPI’s for increasing the value of the brand
Good design is all about the experience on a brand level, concentrating one good concept is agile and is best practice. I see UX and brand a different side of the same coin because both have the aspect of design and experience to them applied in different ways.
I have discovered people who love a product become more engaged and take ownership in the brand. If the design and UX is well considered the overall experience from the user perspective is far more receptive and allows for bonding with the brand. This is a very key point because when a user bonds with a brand they are more than happy to invest in a good product and keep investing in good products without considering like products/brands or price.
Bonding is far more valuable to a company than sheer presence of brand, they generate far more revenue longterm and are passionate promoters which is better than any ad campaign if you have someone spruiking for you. If anything, good design and UX invests in the best resource a company can have, its clients to keep using what you are producing.
A client with a great user experience with your product is also going to have a great brand experience, it’s a key factor overlooked in larger organisations due to timing, strategy, KPO’s/KPI’s and resources.
In respect good UX and good design translate to great branding because it promotes a higher brand value proposition for people who will be engaging with the brand to just “get it”. My experience tends to favour a great experience will result in higher value proposition for the brand, this is great for the bottom line.