Corporate identity and emotionalization

08/21/2020

A good corporate identity helps the company build feelings between consumers and the brand through the personality it creates. It serves as a tool for emotionalizing a brand and as a bridge between target groups and the company.

Experiences and products that linger in the memory

Emotions and design

Looking at the development and history of design, it quickly becomes clear that attractive design today is more than just functionality and aesthetics. Digital products must attract attention and offer a great user experience in order to establish themselves on the market in the long term. They should be enjoyable to use and linger in the memory.

The Bauhaus school succeeded in taking an important step in design history with its guiding principle of “form follows function.” In modern design, user-friendliness and beauty go hand in hand, so that the design language and form can be traced back to the function. Although this design principle is still timeless today, successful design is defined by positive and memorable experiences. Terms such as “emotionalization” and “emotional design” have become part of a designer's vocabulary. In this process, people's needs come to the fore in the design and UX development of products. Digital devices fade into the background, and objects become more human.

Human behavior has changed significantly since globalization. Families have become smaller and technological developments are increasingly influencing society's behavior. Thanks to digitalization, life, living spaces, and working hours have become more flexible. The communication process is becoming faster and faster, and the thirst for information is growing. Phenomena such as “sharing” are emerging, where society is pursuing the trend of sharing rather than owning, so that young adults no longer prioritize owning things, but rather collecting experiences. We live in an age of digital transformation, where much is just a click away, everything is faster, more accurate, and quickly accessible.

Why is corporate identity so important?

Every day, we are confronted with enormous amounts of information. With the help of selective perception, we cope with the daily flood of media and advertising. As consumers, we decide within seconds whether a message is interesting or irrelevant. For this reason, it is becoming increasingly challenging for companies to get noticed in the marketplace. So how does a company attract attention in this gigantic flow of information? What is needed to create meaningful corporate communication?

Positive emotions such as satisfaction, success, originality, anticipation, and reliability play an important role in design processes, marketing analyses, and successful strategic corporate management. How can such feelings be built between companies and consumers? How can target groups be made to identify with a brand and feel understood and at home? Nowadays, a clear and defined brand identity is more than necessary if you want to be competitive in the consumer world. Emotionalizing a brand through the use of a structured corporate identity is essential for its recognition in the market. A structured CI serves as a strategy that must clearly and unambiguously define the corporate identity or self-image of the company.

Photo of a ballet performance with several ballerinas in blue light

In principle, CI refers to the creation of a defined and specific personality for a company so that it is perceived as a social system and can act accordingly. A good, well-thought-out CI enables a clear distinction from the competition, making the brand unmistakable. The development of a CI is based on the company's self-image and is the representation of a conceptual construct. The design must meet the requirements of the target group and represent the values of the company in order to create a sense of belonging among consumers. As an impetus for the design and to create a common thread in the CI design, designers must not forget who they are designing for, what topics interest the target groups, and what the company's message is. The typography, logo, color palette, and design language of new design elements are essential for clear recognition value. A clear CI serves as graphic support for the institute's values and represents the essence of a company.

“Emotionalization” as a strategy

Humans naturally strive for a sense of belonging. Everyday things, such as the music we like to listen to, how we prefer to dress, what our favorite foods are, and what hobbies we have, are characteristics of our personality and represent our identity and culture. A good CI helps the company build feelings between consumers and the brand through the personality it creates. It serves as a tool for emotionalizing a brand and as a bridge between target groups and the company.

Emotional design or “emotionalization”? If you look at the use of this term analytically, it is striking that only positive feelings are considered “emotional.” Strong negative emotions such as disgust, fear, or anger are to be avoided and should not be associated with a company. According to this guiding principle, design must appeal to people's positive feelings, whether through interaction with digital or analog products, a service, or through intellectual engagement with them.

Why is it important to make a brand emotional? In principle, consumer goods meet the needs, intentions, and goals of the user in a specific context. For designers and the design process, this means that the starting point for design is “personal interests.” A clear CI with a target group-oriented design helps to evoke joy and positive emotions. Prestige objects or status symbols reinforce a person's self-confidence and self-assurance. As soon as a user perceives a product or experience as completely satisfactory, a brand achieves success through the feeling of trust, reliability, and security it conveys. Thanks to targeted design, consumer goods or experiences become a necessity. By creating a positive cognitive connection, companies ensure that they remain in the memory for a long time.