Posts Tagged thought bubble

For your consideration we present the first post in what we hope will be a new series on our ideas:  informing you, our loyal reading audience what, why and how we think about the design and fabrication challenges we face on a regular basis.   While the concept is admittedly unoriginal, we hope to make that up to you with some yeasty content and impelling execution.  (I just won tidy some for using the words “yeasty” and “impelling” in the same sentence.  Boo yah!)

On with the show…

Most businesses put a lot of thought into how their branding looks on things they give to their clients.  Business cards, sales brochures even golf shirts are subjected to extensive debate in long meetings with too many people and bad coffee.  As well they should.  A lot of money goes into the creation of a brand and how that brand is expressed is important.  However, a business card is only one place branding needs to make a strong impression.  Strike that:  a business card is only one place branding needs to make the right impression.

Visit some of those businesses with laser engraved business cards and you’ll find that they put a lot more thought into how their branding looked on their cards than they did on how it is expressed in their lobby.  Sure they may have spent some money, but how thoughtful were they with regards to how what they bought affects their brand?  Maybe they even hired an interior decorator.  The trouble is most interior decorators try to make spaces comfortable or pleasing, not to reinforce the brand.

The branding of your lobby depends on more than just the how the logo is made and hung on the wall.  While logo design, fabrication and installation is important, it really is just a mnemonic device to help visitors remember where they are.  It puts a name to an impression which will become a memory and that memory is what counts.

If a company’s brand promotes their competency within a given field, visitors need to feel that competency.  If dependability, then dependability.  If cost-effectiveness, then cost-effectiveness.  The list goes on.  If the internal brand impression made is not consistent with the external, clients and prospective clients will not only pick up on it, they will react to it, often in a negative way.  In a regular economic climate consistency is important, in today’s, it’s critical.

For most businesses the number of existing clients and potential clients visiting their facility is down.  Fewer visitors means fewer impressions and that makes each one all the more valuable.  If a business is going to spend precious resources branding themselves to get people in the door they simply cannot afford to ignore an opportunity to capitalize on the impression they make when the prospects arrive.

Understanding the difference between branding a space and using a space to reinforce a brand is key.  This is true not only for lobbies and sales centers it also applies to things like trade shows, conferences, and job fairs, basically anywhere a business is occupying a physical space with the intent to create a lasting impression.