This is my inaugural post on the Official Blog of OFB. So, I decided to start with an ice-breaker. Here is a list of products I personally endorse. By endorse, I don't mean that I'm getting paid to talk about them (though it would be nice to get a lifetime supply of Starkist Tuna). I mean that I personally will never purchase a different brand of each of these products because they either work exceptionally well all the time or have become so integral in the function of my day-to-day activities that convincing me to use another type of product will be a tough sell and might even piss me off a little. On to the list...
As a designer:
- Sharpie Permanent Markers
- French Paper
- Scotch brand tape
- Field Notes notebooks
- MacBook Pro
- Seymour Chwast-brand humor
As a human man:
- Kikkoman soy sauce
- Starkist Tuna
- Armour vienna sausages
- Tom Waits music
- Q-Tip cotton swabs
- Ivory soap
- MagLite Flashlights
- Speed Stick antiperspirant deodorant
- Twitter
So, as you can see, it's a pretty short list. I bet your list is just as short. As I said, some of these are on the list because I think they work better than the other brands (Q-tip, MagLite, Scotch Tape), and others are on this list because they have become a part of my identity (Twitter, Sharpies, Tom Waits). For a brand to become a "name" brand, it has to do one of these two things for its customers. And in a world where every college sophomore has read No Logo, everyone is more "brand" conscious, which makes things slightly more complicated for young companies trying to make a name for themselves. Actually, it's really complicated. (See: Pabst Blue Ribbon). Young consumers are more aware, more cynical, and irony has more influence than name recognition.
Maybe this means that "design" is more important than ever. I'm not sure yet. I just know the companies I stand behind make things that work 100% of the time, or show me they love what their doing 100% of the time. And smart design does both.