Second Int’l Design Conference: From Design to Global Identity
American University in the Emirates
Dubai International Academic City
October 25, 2016, at 10am-5pm
Organized by the College of Fine Art & Design of the American University in the Emirates Design, the conference aimed to bring together researchers and practitioners to explore, evaluate and share their experiences and research results about all aspects of global identity.
The first keynote speaker was Rayan Abdullah who is a Professor of Typography and Graphics at Leipzig Academy of Graphic and Book Arts and a Professor of Typography and Graphics at German University in Cairo, Egypt. Other speakers included myself and Mr. Janus Rostok, a Design Director and Head of Architecture, Urban Design & Master planning for Atkins.
Dubai Design Week
My Presentation:
Designing for Corporate Identity vs. Brand Identity
One of the keywords in the 21st century is ‘Brand.’ Now that all the studies associated with marketing, visual design, and branding have become essential factors that must be studied during the design process, the power to move the consumers and the way to gain faith and trust from them can be turned into a brand strategy.
In the 20th-century, the graphic designs intuitively created beauty. It was a way of creating design effects and then learning about market reactions. It was possible because the targets and products of the 20th century were not diverse and were internationalized poorly. In contrast, consumers and brands of the 21st century have been diversified and became international. Now we can buy foreign cultures and products efficiently and affordably without going far. At the same time, brands have created their own diverse and individual personalities that are subdividing the consumers. Thus, visual designs in the 21st century will need to measure and study market reactions through a brand strategy to create a design that can differentiate from competitors and win in the competitive market.
This type of design is called ‘Brand Design.’ Rather than explaining the broader elements of brand design generally, this presentation focused on defining the essential elements of it according to brand identity. The critical elements in Brand Identity design were presented by the linguistic expression, visual representation, brand identity mark classification, and touchpoint design, the elements which have played a leading role in building a brand.
American University in the Emirates is one of the most prominent and progressive universities in the UAE. AUE boasts six colleges and unique bachelor’s and master’s programs in the GCC and MENA. With a diverse faculty, AUE has built its studies to incorporate the theoretical and the practical together to graduate leaders and innovators for the 21st-century workforce.
