Shaping Brands - by Christoph Zielke (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

New Perspectives on the Role of Design in Achieving Brand Success

In his book, award-winning designer Christoph Zielke explains the value of brands and the crucial role of brand design. He provides an evidence-based understanding of its methods, mechanisms, processes, and objectives. The book describes a shift in perspective: what determines the choice of a brand is usually not that it is associated with exclusive meanings, but that it can be effortlessly recalled, found, and bought at the right moment.

Brand design makes an essential contribution to this. It ensures that people notice the brand, associate it with products and their benefits, remember it, and recognize it easily. In short, a brand's success depends largely on its presence in the minds of potential buyers and in the market - and this twofold presence is, to a great extent, a matter of design.

Brand design is communication in passing. It is precisely this incidental quality that gives the medium its strength.

Differences in the effectiveness of design concepts depend less on their messages than on the way those messages are conveyed. Good design is not a mere add-on, but a prerequisite for brand success. At the heart of this book lies the power of form.

About the Author

Christoph Zielke is a designer specializing in brand development and Identity Design. He taught at Folkwang University in Essen before being appointed professor at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences in 2010. Together with his colleagues, he established the university's Information and Communication Design (BA) and Design and Interaction (MA) degree programs. He is a member of the Art Directors Club Germany.