Notes on brand and product design
Design systems
Getting a design system adopted
Why design systems go unused, and what made Bonfire, Outdoorsy's design system, the one every designer and engineer adopted.
Customer research
Research before the redesign
What customer ethnography is, how much research a redesign needs, and how host research set the roadmap for Outdoorsy's host tools.
Product design
From journey map to prototype
What a customer journey map is for, when to stop mapping and build a prototype, and what on-device testing found at Apple Music and Logitech.
Brand strategy
Brand purpose, in practice
What a brand purpose is, how to tell a working one from a slogan, and how one line of positioning shaped the stores and campaign at Garden Variety.
Brand strategy
A brand voice people can use
What a brand voice is, what belongs in a voice guide, and how one word per label holds the Marianne's Harvest range together.
Brand strategy
Brand archetypes, as a tool
What brand archetypes are, how to choose one, and where the twelve-box chart stops helping a team build a character of its own.
Storytelling
What an origin story is for
What a brand origin story is, why customers ask for one, and how the design of the telling shapes it. Drawn from Story (by) Design.
Books
The Futures of Brand
Seven chapters that follow a brand from its purpose to the product in someone's hands: purpose, value proposition, archetypes, voice, customer ethnography, the customer journey and product innovation.
Chris Znerold and David Slayden. Kendall Hunt, 2024. See the book
Story (by) Design
A storyteller's field guide for designers: why stories last, how the design of the telling shapes them, and twelve exercises for making your own.
David Slayden and Chris Znerold. Kendall Hunt, 2024. See the book