What is the relationship between branding and The consumer self?

 "What is the relationship between branding and The consumer self?"

During my research, I have read "Olins, W (2003) Wally Olins: On Brand London: Thames and Hudsons". The book is about to inform the readers how and why the brands are important to costumers also for the reader to get a better comprehension about all the aspects of branding and looking at the history of it. Olins explains different brands which have been successful or not during this time, its referencing to  the most famous brands which they are well known now such as Mercedes, Louis Vuitton, Even Shell, Gap, Nike etc. "Branding has moved so far beyond its commercial origins that its impact is virtually immeasurable in social and cultural terms" I have found this quote from this book which shows how branding has become the most important thing in our lives in the whole world. Moreover this shows how branding has a massive impact on costumers. Going to the shops costumers doesn't focus on the product it self what it contains etc, but mainly on the logo, design or image. "The brand is controlled by us - the costumers, make it successful or not". Here is the other quote from this book which tells that the costumers which are 'us', have the biggest impact on making the brand successful or not by choosing products designed by companies. Ollins explain that all the companies has changed their focus in the last decades from making and selling to 'being', in a world of all competitive brands 'the rational choice has become almost impossible, brands represent clarity, reassurance, consistency, status, membership.'

Lecture 3 Chronologies 1: Type - Production & Distribution

Last week lecture was about the importance of 'Chronologies'.

Understanding where things come from and why things mean certain things.

Type is a form of illustration and is based on understanding the language. Type is far more than just a subject, it informs a lot of our decisions. It exists as it does because of historical context.

Typography- is the craft of endowing human language with a durable visual form.

First alphabet was Greek alphabet (pictures of sounds). Latin was the development of Greek Alphabet. There isn't specific time when the type was made, cavemen had images and mark makings to communicate but as people were spreading out into the world so language and type changed and developed till now. 

IMAGES - DIAGRAMS - SYMBOLS 

               past                                      now

- In 1450 Johannes Gutenberg - introduced printing to Europe. He has designed a type by working on the printing press began in approximately. In 1436 first thing which he created was 'Bible'. 

 A TYPOGRAPHIC TIMELINE OF CLASSIFICATION 

                                                                 

- 1540 to 1996 - developing the type. 

- William Foster - 1870-  has the biggest influence of developing the type. He sent the framework for schooling of all children between the ages of 5 and 12 in England and Wales. 

- Walter Gropious - 1900 to 1919 - founder of the Bauhaus school (1919-1933), the birthplace of modern design education.

- Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffman, creators of Helvetica.

- Microsoft practically ripped off Helvetica in 1982 with Arial

- Steve Jobs - 1990 - Introduced first Macintosh on October 15 and it was sold for less that US $1000

- 'By making itself evident, typography can illuminate the construction and identity of a page, screen, place or product'- Ellen Lupton

- 'Typography fostered the modern idea of individuality but it destroyed the medieval sense of community and integration' - Neil Postman

- Vincent Connare - 1994 - Designer of Comic Sans MS. He worked for Microsoft.

- 'We realize now that long documents do not work on the web. We should need have though otherwise but all those short documents we're reading instead are poisoning our ability to read long documents'. -  John Clark

- 'Since typography is a communication method that utilizes a gathering of related subjects and methodologies that include sociology, linguistics, psychology, aesthetics and so much more… there is no single approach within typography that applies to everything'. - Shelley Gruendler

What is the relationship between branding and The consumer self

Today's sessions we had to identify the tone of voice within a text relating to our selected essay question. The question which I have chosen to explore is 'The relationship between branding and the consumer self'. I have chosen this question as the branding always interested me. I want gain more knowledge about what effect branding has on consumers. 

The source which I used for this question was: 

'Olins, W (2003) Wally Olins: On Brand London: Thames and Hudsons'.

Tone of Voice: 

I believe that in Wally Olins the tone of voice in the extract is quite informed and colloquial. The beginning of his book starts with the words 'Once upon a time...' showing his personality whilst exploring why brands are important to customers. The text is delivered via personally written short paragraphs in first person. The book is about to inform the readers how and why the brands are important to costumers also for the reader to get a better comprehension about all the aspects of branding and looking at the history of it.

5 Key points the text is trying to deliver: 

-  On the beginning of the book Olins introducing how branding developed affecting our lives.   'Branding has moved so far beyond its commercial origins that its impact is virtually immeasurable in social and cultural terms".

- The brands have become something that represents each individualistic of each person. 'We mostly take a product's functional characteristics for granted and while brands are still all about image, it is no longer just their own image - it is also our image'.

- different brands which have been successful or not during this time and their examples. 

- Branding has become the most important thing in our lives in the whole world. Costumers have the biggest impact on making the brand successful 'The brand is controlled by us - the customers, make it successful or not'. 

- The way brands get stopped and noticeable. 'Mechanism of branding was designed for and defined by modern communication techiques' as well as 'To sell products by creating and projecting colourful but simple ideas clearly'.