An international designer of brands, is a character who makes an intervention on the image of companies or organizations by constructing public symbols, according to an announced communication strategy. Then, the professional has to systematize the means of expression and communication of these identities, thus leaving the leading role on this game.
However this designer has the karma that can never be stopped because:
. He can’t look back and rejoice from his past. When it does, it sinks into his dreams. The past only serves him as experience and as an attribute: the attribute of the credibility that can radiates on the eyes of potential customers.
. He can not give up, even if he has already built a fortress around him, this is going to be eroded if he does not go everyday to build his presence on market.
. He couldn’t stop looking for opportunities. His future demands him to stand always ready to catch his prey anywhere, a new commission that will give him to eat.
. He must always be watching. Few things are crystallized in his world: his clients come from nations where their political and economic situations are in motion. So, even the act of reading newspapers becomes part of his labour.
He can not stop studying: Each job obliges him to learn about the new community that he will intervene. From this study he will need to extract the best course of action, to interpret and influence the context of this new world in which he is working now.
. He can not ignore anything. Ignorance is not an excuse for passing over any characteristic of the cultures of his new customers: he must recognise the meaning of their objects or how that culture expresses its proper features. How its language is graphically represented or how the expected use of images is.
. He can not believe that he already knows how to do his job, even if he has a previous knowledge, this only gives him an old and worn map from where to locate blurred stakes. Demands of each new case will be unique and he will always has to be prepared for approaching dynamic scenarios.
. He can not fail to understand that cultures are not static and that Medias create new labyrinths to explore, and new opportunities to build messages.
. He can not believe that he is the owner of the truth; the truth belongs to the other. His prejudices doesn’t matter, the reaction of the recipient of his work is what counts. The emotional memory of the designer is limited. Travel, see, know and understand as much as possible all about the people involved gives more certainty than previous concepts themselves. The clash with the reality of others is the greatest learning.
. He can not impose his vision about the issues; even if he is convinced that his procedure is the correct one. Both the attraction of his proposal plus the negotiation and consensus building among stakeholders are essential tools to not be left out of the codes and endpoints of the culture in which he participates. With the exemption of the case where he is contracted to copy himself and export his style as an exotic product, a good answer required to achieve cross-cultural solutions and commitments with the involved parties.
. He doesn’t have a single methodology. Flexibility is his best weapon; sometimes he must use methods of analysis of the subject’s proper from anthropology, sociology and often psychology. Further work will be resolved by using tactics that may come from politics, advertising, art or fighting. Everything is valid to reach the intended result.
. No need to have a modern studio. He or she and her laptop can perform most of the work while his team may be scattered across the globe.
. He can not insult creativity. When he design a brand and the magic of art does not emerge, blame lies on failing the understanding in depth of the case, to not seeing the available resources available or of his lack of concentration.
Life of who design brands between cultures can be exciting. An adventure where one growths as a person. It is a work where the designer interacts and provides communication and understanding between individuals and peoples.
On the other hand it is a task that is performed in an uncertain, dynamic and demanding field, since it rest on a an incomplete basis: you can infinitely investigate a topic, get lost on it and forget that after all is just a job and not the only opportunity we have to discover humanity. Take it or leave it.
© Sebastián Guerrini. www.guerriniisland.com
