When we think of what a ‘brand’ entails, we often think of marketing. That is, the sleek videography used by a firm in order to motivate you to check out their product or service, or perhaps how they dress their employees, or what kind of funky-fresh greeting they use at the checkout counter.
That said, a brand is much more than that. It is a visual motif, yes, but also a set of core ideals, values, and provisions that help a certain organization stand out amongst its peers. If you ever remember a brand and its visual formatting, that serves as a successful gateway to thinking of the rest of its structure. This is something that design services such as Sterling Brands understand completely.
That said – it’s also important to understand how these brand ideals speak to the design and renovation of a business premises, that is, when a business has the funding to construct, design or renovate such a space. We need only look to entities like Google or other Silicon Valley entities to see how curated this approach may be. In this post, we’ll discuss how to identify brand ideals in construction, design and more:
Functional Oddities
It’s important to consider how the functional oddities and design implements of a space refer back to your brand in the best possible way. Let’s take a larger-than-life example to illustrate our point. Think of our prior reference to Google, where slides from one floor to the other, fireman’s poles, ball pits and heavily cushioned seating areas are designed to give their programmers, creative teams and more inspiration to think up new ideas, to consider new projects outside of the box, and to move forward with a sense of confidence in that light.
Now, it’s unlikely your own firm is going to be installing implements like this at any time, save investment from an eccentric billionaire. That said, it’s worth considering how the larger design oddities can help express what your brand is. From communal meeting spaces within the building to better-than-average break spaces, to circular meeting rooms that provide everyone a chance to contribute equally, to similar art design at offices like Facebook, where wall-length graffiti emphasizes the design elements of the brand and its values.
Colors/Tones/Artistic Licenses
Buildings that tend to be designed with unifying interior design themes generally look more inviting and expressive, despite the parameters of design being more limited.
It could be, then, that using colors that relate to your brand throughout the space could be a great way to distinguish it. From the trimmings, such as the carpet, the handrail colors upon staircases, and the type of tone you opt for in your wood paneling, to the cladding style you use outside of the building, and the large luminous sign you hang on the building for all to see.
If this backs up your brand, then it serves as a great example of your overall design strength to your staff, clients and consumers. It impresses investors, or those coming to take a tour of your facilities. In front-facing buildings that grant access to the public, the building will serve as its own memorable branding element. It’s not hard to see how a combination of these factors can make such a difference.
Room Orientation & Terminal Navigation
It’s important to recognize that it’s not just the fitting and fixtures that help design a constructed space, but the overall understanding of how navigation is structured. For instance, how you set up work stations within an office space, how many you place within access to power sockets, and the navigability of that room can define how unified it is from a social perspective, or how much privacy you give to your workers.
The same goes for how a manufacturing line is set up – for instance, those that make illumination and clear viewing of all elements of the development process tend to be the easiest to inspect and maintain. How you structure your loading bay for careful management of your inventory when taking and making deliveries is also worth examining. Of course, for front-facing buildings, then the essential need for disability access also wins out.
When constructing or renovating a space of this nature, utilizing the services of a capable architect is crucial. This way, you will be able to hit on all of the design suggestions here, or mull over the questions provided.
With this advice and poking insight, you will be able to define for yourself how your brand identity corresponds to your business premises.
