Glances

We are specialists and Rossetti Brand Design is our workshop, our habitat. It is here that we experiment not so much to define standard recipes as to generate results enriched (as much as possible) with specific meaning, useful for brands and their consumers.

Through design, we try new combinations, observe reactions, draw lessons. Not all brands are the same, nor are the projects we do for them. Consequently, observations vary both in type and because time passes and perceptions change. Below are some considerations from our habitat.

The parameters for the design of a (good) brand are 3. The first is Structure. The set of geometric elements, solids and voids, curves and straight lines, colours and everything that defines the overall composition. The second is Beauty. Whereas Structure is made up of constituent elements, Beauty is the result of construction. If the structure is well done, one perceives harmony, rhythm and pleasantness, a kind of 'roundness of taste', to use tasting words. The third is Utility, i.e. the sign's ability to evoke coherent (and also non-coherent) meanings through its graphic representation.

A good project is supported by a good idea. It sounds obvious but it is not always the case. Sometimes it happens that the starting idea is not a great idea. Thus, in the absence of substance, form comes to the rescue. Many projects are done this way and it confirms that aesthetics do a great job.

A 20th century designer has quite different solutions from his 2000s colleague. Of course, one might say, there is more than a century gap! But next year's solutions will be even more different than today's: technological evolution makes a significant difference as does that of the human being, even if it is not as apparent or as striking.

To have a vision capable of making a future requires imagination, madness and courage. Imagination is for inventing another idea of reality, madness is for believing in something that is not there at first, courage is for not stopping halfway before that future becomes a new possibility. The vision is a destination, the brand is a means to get there, it is a way of travelling, a style.

Conscious or not - everyone has a style without being a designer or a brand. What does it do? To define an identity, be recognisable and in some cases, become an object of desire.

Just like living beings, brands also grow, change their appearance, size, way of expressing themselves. Over time, they consolidate the values with which they were born, refine the promises to improve the relationship with the public that perceives and uses them. They update, like smartphone apps to 'fix some bugs and improve performance'. But is there an end to this chase? No, where there is life there is updating.

Some aspiring future brands happen to have nothing to say: there is the product, what else? For those who have the ambition to become a brand, it is necessary to make an honest examination of conscience: before doing, before investing, first of all it is indispensable to have a (fascinating) story to tell, the rest follows.

All containers are made for an experience. From the crab shell to the detergent canister, from the house you live in to the car you drive, from the canary cage to the bag of sweets, and so on. Each container contains an answer and, at the same time, generates a promise.

It is an on-off that applies both to choosing a pair of socks and to choosing the man or woman in life. Trivial? Reductive? We notice this every day in our lives as brand designers. A design works if you like it, but if you don't like it, there's nothing you can do about it: design is representative and has something to do with pleasure.

For those who realise themselves through work there is a significant need to remain presentable, that is, to maintain a good appearance even after a certain age. This need goes hand in hand with the fact that we don't like getting older: you lose attractiveness and ending up on the bench means you stop playing.

Notoriety is a topic we have always been concerned with: as soon as someone's ability (e.g. an ace) or the quality of a brand is mentioned, notoriety is triggered. Fame feeds our need for business and our hunger for immortality.

It takes imagination to invent but also to destroy. Imagination is needed to get into trouble but also to get out of it. Brands also live by imagination as we imagine them. Imagination is everything.

It is necessary for those who are not happy with the way things are and want to follow a different path. To change, we must have the courage to change the rules we have wanted. Intuitions and revolutions are needed to achieve that dose of freedom that is indispensable to make a leap. Or rather, to enjoy the freedom that jumping allows us to achieve.

Who among us does not want a better world? Improvement is the force that makes the train of evolution run. Where to? One does not know and perhaps, it does not matter. It may be that we are back to square one after an unprecedented circumvolution or implosion. The important thing is the journey, even the most bumpy, to be made in the most intense way to grasp the beauty of the experience.

In case anyone hasn't noticed, we are in the middle of the Holocene. The geological period began more than eleven thousand years ago and sees more or less stable continental drift and climate, we are the dominant beings on the planet. It may seem a little early for naming the next period, but better not to force ourselves into a hasty choice. Given the importance of the topic, we could hypothesise names and thus christen our future, unless a post-Holocene copywriter comes up with a better solution.

In the jungle of brands, the priority is not so much to be different from those living in the same habitat. The priority is to be there. Participating in the race for survival provides a good dose of adrenaline, sharpens your wits and can make all the difference. The animals that live in the jungle know this, but above all, the brands know it.

The most exciting moment in the creative process is when there is an outcome. That is, when, from a nebula of intuitions, ideas and sensations, a possibility takes shape, a tangible, surprising, impossible, even wrong sign. That result tells a lot about the nebula it comes from, about its author(s), what atmosphere they breathe, what rate of wonder and how much smiles reign in that magical agglomeration.

Redesigning a logo is like making it the same but different. The distance between departure and arrival should not be so great. The question is what happens in between: in some cases very little, in others all hell breaks loose. From a graphical point of view, our experience says that it is always better to simplify and give up the idea that a logo does more than its job, i.e. being just the representative sign of a brand.

But how many brands have the double O in their name? In the Italian panorama, they are not few. The double O is a brand within a brand. A sign shared by many brands of the new era animated by the ambition to reinterpret reality and with the desire to simplify life: they are brands that make smart promises. And if you are smart you are cool.

Like us, brands also love touch-ups. The motivations are different from those that drive us to inflate ourselves with implants or to have rebellious flab sucked out, but the moral is always the same: remain attractive by bucking the curve of a physiological decline or correct a factory defect.

All successful brands are similar. Every brand that is not successful, is not successful in its own way.

Any brand is based on the idea of offering solutions, values or goods. Adhering to an idea, sharing an ideal or buying a product involves a choice, which is obviously free. There is no obligation otherwise we would be talking about something else. Brands that are on the side of the people know this. So they listen to their customers, understand and respond intelligently.

The strategy to become an object of desire leads us to implement actions that leverage the qualities we have and that others recognise in us. In short, to become objects of desire we put forth what we believe is our best and we do this by playing the lucky cards that come with the stork or, if not, by trying to be as desirable as we can. Brands follow the same logic.

Designing the sign for a city, devising the name of a new company, thinking about the image of a festival, reimagining a museum space, designing a bean can or rethinking a cream can always means talking about brand identity. Every brand wants to make itself recognisable in the large psycho-physical space of perception through different ways and means, including digital. Being recognisable is already half the business.

Achieving at least some notoriety is an instance of us humans, and the huge rise of social media proves it. So we can stay in a kind of existential warmth called sharing, make the most mundane moments glorious, nurture self-esteem, enhance reputation and perhaps be inspirational. Well, let's start again: why do we need notoriety so badly?

It is a saying one hears often. “Taking care of an all-round brand” is a great ambition. It hints at an idea of all-round action that is honestly difficult to achieve, it is a mission impossible. Being able to do a few degrees of 360 is already a feat, let's be content.

But where do the ideas come from? From a world parallel to the physical one. That world is a stream, like a sea current, where billions of ideas are carried along lightly. The ideas uploaded every moment into the stream are available to all, they become a common good. Creative people know how to catch them, that is their quality: that is why they are special people.

In our lives as brand designers we meet customers driven by a desire for change. This necessity can be substantial, disruptive, unnoticeable, often a headache, sometimes a considerable investment of time, in some cases even impossible projects.

For us, being creative means looking at things in a different way and with this view taking old ideas apart and putting them back together again for a new result. We believe that creativity is a tool, as if it were a screwdriver or a powerful drill, and we are aware that the success of a brand does not depend solely on this art form, which after all, even idealising it, remains a part of brands' logic.

Behind the strategies of brands are human beings chasing dreams, making bets, burning passions: of brands they sanction their glory or oblivion. But above all, they make a very personal vision of it. In a word, style. Style defines a uniqueness in the firmament of those who offer goods or services, and more than ever, when these are almost identical to many others. Brand = Style.