KyooriusDesignYatra is the largest and most respected creative conference in the country.
SomeOne’s Co-founders Simon Manchipp and David Law were guests of India’s largest creative forum in September. They were stopped for a chat with India’s national TV channel CNBC (annual audience 161 million people) about matters arising from progressive branding practices.
An Edit from an article written by Julia Sagar, Deputy Editor of Computer Arts Magazine… SomeOne executive creative directors David Law and Simon Manchipp hosted an session at Kyoorius Designyatra, India’s biggest design and creativity conference, held annually in Goa.
What if, we could figure out how to make every brand a super-brand?
“What if,” they asked, “we could figure out how to make every brand a super brand?” The pair then proceeded to explore the idea through the medium of animated GIFs, balancing an obsession for skateboarding dogs with sage advice and a walk-through some of their most interesting design projects.
Co-founders Law and Manchipp have some 40 years of industry experience between them.
Here are 11 things they’ve learned along the way:
1 – You start from scratch every time Clients don’t care about a designer’s past. They just want to know what’s in it for them, now.
2 – Generics risk ‘genercide’ The greatest worry of any brand is becoming category generic. If you don’t change and adapt, you very quickly die, particularly if you’re a category leader.
3 – Actions speak loudest The actions of a brand are the most valuable part of a company. It’s what puts it apart from the norm. If you get to the stage where you’re no longer able to define a brand with your actions, then the brand is often finished.
4 – The best brands create loyalty Why you do something is far more important than what you do. It’s why people get involved.
5 – Be entertaining Everywhere has a bit of entertainment. There’s always something interesting in everything. Our job as designers is to find that interesting thing and elevate it.
6 – Brand control is a complete illusion… …We simply help steer the course. Our job is to help clients better connect with their current and potential audiences. Brand guidelines are simply a bible of no – no one likes being told what to do. We encourage people to get involved.
7 – Find edges We like working with brands that operate at the edges of their sectors – that’s what we find interesting: it’s the need for an approach that operates on the fringes of what’s seen as accessible.
8 – Explore the borderlands Really exciting things happen at the edge. It’s important to learn from continuously operating outside your perceived boundaries.
9 – Play The more we play, the better it gets for the brands we work with. Play is central to the journey to becoming a super brand. Brands need to play more: they’ll affect people more, and move from being a needy brand to a needed brand.
10 – Apply liminality to brands Liminality describes the state where this is no specific end point. If we can view that in-between state, the result will be a snapshot of where you happen to be, right now. If you can learn to think at the threshold, the result will be more interesting, for entertaining and compelling, whilst always based in what we already know
11 – You need to enjoy the journey and believe Transformation is a liberating process that opens up the door to new thoughts and processes. We’re having a great time and can’t believe we get to do a job we love – but people love the variety of what we do. — Huge thanks to the organisers of the conference — it was truly inspirational.