Software Design Language System
As my employer Intel became more interested in developing consumer-facing software and services, we realized that the existing brand ID guidlines had really been created for advertising, packaging, and display, and lacked key elements like iconography and UI behaviors which we would need to create a cohesive, branded experience. When I approached the Director of Brand with this problem, he asked me to create co-lead a team with representatives from Brand Management and Corporate ID to develop a set of recommendations. This was our process.
01 Goal Setting
Intel, being a manufacture of semiconductors, had little need for a design language system for most of its history. So, the first step was to create consensus with the Brand and Corporate ID teams what a DLS was, how it relates to the brand, and thus what our goals would be in collaborating together.
Next I facilitated a couple of face to face workshops, where we briefed the Brand and ID team on future product plans requiring a DLS, and we reviewed the corporate brand strategy and supporting marketing research including brand perceptions and laddering. I then facilitated a brainstorm and affinity mapping exercise where we tried to connect the corporate brand pillars of Performance, Innovation, and Trust to the qualities which we wanted our DLS to communicate. Finally, we reviewed the recently developed brand personality guidelines for corporate ID assets and determined they were consistent with the direction we wanted to take with the DLS design.
02 Evaluation of Existing Assets
Next I commissioned design agency RG/A to run a workshop with our team to evaluate the existing brand assets. This was a sensitive process internally, and using an outside agency who knew us well to facilitate a critique was an effective way to diagnose the shortcomings of our existing assets. I also worked with R/GA on a summary of contemporary design trends which we presented. To the right is an example of the results of that critique session and recommended next steps.
By this point we had achieved consensus within the team not only on the gaps we had to achieve a viable DLS, but that we needed to find a design direction that addressed th eoverall trend at the time for a more flat/Modernist-inspired visual design. With this consensus, the team then worked with RG/A to develop a couple of design directions to explore which we presented to the Director of Brandin for direction.
03 Prototyping
With direction from management, my collegue and I wrote an updated brief and worked with two firms to develop design proposals in a “bake-off”. We were already working with both firms on interface design executions for two products that were in the pipeline, so the work was informed by the context of solving design challenges on live projects. The scope of recommendations included:
Typography and Iconography
UI Behaviors
Visual style
Photography guidelines
Exceptions on brand guidlines for brand ID presentation
04 Handoff
Once we had the DLS concepts back from both firms, the Director of Branding chose one execution and the Brand ID team was asked to work with them on executing the final guideline materials.
The project also had impacts on Intel’s brand execution outside of the DLS. Based on our analysis and recommendations, the Director of Brand approved a $1M+ budget to work with a type foundary on a new proprietary corporate typeface, which would be more appropriate for digital applications and did not have the liscencing issues of Neo Sans Intel. Brand ID also changed the way they worked with individual product teams in developing assets like icons and photography to make them product-specific but with a consistent look and feel.
I continued to support the Brand And ID team with both research and design studies on focused topics, and co-wrote with Brand Management guidelines on topics like Designing for Trust and Gradual Onboaring.
05 My Learnings
Critiques in a Corporate Environment - Honest critiques are important in the design process, but in corporate environments you often have to lay the groundwork for their success. Given the ad-hoc nature of our team, it was valuable to have a trusted third party provide a second opinion as we evaluated our internal assets and identified gaps.