Every designer knows about the importance of branding. We see branding in action every day at our desks, at lunch, in the car, and often when we don’t even realize it. Many branding messages are extremely subtle, meant to give the consumer a subconscious feeling about the company, and to provide a consistent consumer experience. Good designers know how to seek these messages out and understand their meaning, as well as apply what they’ve learned to their own branding projects.

Want to hone your brand-seeking skills? Let’s go on a field trip! Here are the rules:

1) Go to a chain restaurant for a meal, preferably a sit-down chain so you have some lots of opportunities to see branding in action.

2) Bring a notepad and a camera (assuming you’re not shy about taking a bunch of photos during your meal).

3) Ask yourself the questions listed below throughout your visit.

Restaurants are chock full of branding experiences, inside and out.

Use these questions below to analyze what you see and experience on your field trip. Take pictures if possible, so you can get home and continue your analysis – by taking photos, you may even notice some things you didn’t see in person. (Ask permission before including any people in the shots.)

1) Before you go into the restaurant, what branding elements are used to tell you where you are? Most likely, there will be a gigantic logo on the building façade, but what else? How many times do you see the logo on the outside of the building, or elements of the company’s signature color scheme (look at awnings, door mats, even parking signs). For example, many restaurants have a variation of their logo molded onto the door handles.

2) Upon entering the restaurant, how are you greeted and what is the host/hostess wearing that communicates the brand? Are logos and signature colors used here? Are the clothes casual or formal? What about the waiter/waitress uniforms? How does all this affect your expectations of your consumer experience here? Remember, most consumers don’t notice all these things consciously, but it’s your job to do just that!

This exercise reminds me of an experience at a national chain restaurant awhile back. I noticed that all of the waiters and waitresses were wearing Red Sox t-shirts instead of the restaurant-branded shirts, which at first might seem to waste a prime brand opportunity. But then I realized that the Red Sox colors meshed well with the restaurant’s color scheme, and it gave patrons a sense that the restaurant had a more local, “root for the home team” sort of attitude, than a national, corporate one.

3) Time to look at the menu, not just to pick your meal, but to seek out tons of valuable branding info. How many times can you spot the logo or a variation of it in the menu? For example, spicy items on the menu at Chili’s might be marked with a chili pepper icon that comes directly from the logo design. How many different fonts are used and how do they relate to the logo? Are there any special graphic treatments applied to all of the food photos?

When you order, what is the tone of the waiter or waitress like? How casual or formal? I once had a waiter actually sit down at the table to take my order, which for some restaurants may enhance the casual, homestyle feel… unfortunately, this was at a fancier restaurant and it made everyone at the table uncomfortable and less likely to go back.

4) While you’re waiting for your food to arrive, how many other branding elements can you find? Your table is a great place to start, as it’s often home to lots of what marketers call “physical evidence” – little hints or clues that support the brand. Check out the pattern on the tablecloth, the fabric of the seat cushions, the style of music played, even the color of the little paper piece wrapped around your utensils. Rarely are these things chosen haphazardly: Everything serves a purpose, subconscious as its effect may be. For instance, you may not remember the specific vintage signs that Applebee’s had on the wall, but you may remember that you felt like you were in a comfortable, nostalgic environment.

Continue along with your meal, asking questions like this as you go and seeking out the use of the logo, fonts, colors, photos, and physical evidence. Don’t forget to keep paying attention even as you pay the check and leave the restaurant. Are there any branded elements welcoming you back soon? For example, there may be brochures near the door for take-out service, or a few words from the host or hostess as you walk out the door.

5) This last set of questions should be asked once you get home and again a few days later to see how much you remember. Aside from the logo itself, if you saw any of the restaurant’s branding elements in a completely different environment, would you know whom they belonged to? For example, would you recognize the tablecloth as distinctly belonging to that company, or the signature colors and fonts, or the graphic treatment of the menu photos? What elements did you see as consciously memorable? What elements were more likely to be subconsciously memorable? What feeling or reaction would you have upon seeing these elements again, or if someone asked you to go to this restaurant again?

Designers at any level, as well as marketers and advertisers, can get a lot out of this exercise. It should help you to think differently about the uses of branding, branding opportunities, consistency, and how consumers’ perceptions of a company are shaped. Any time you’re feeling a little out of touch with branding and marketing, repeat this field trip at a new location, like a clothing store. You’ll soon find that you’re thinking more carefully about branding all the time, and becoming more in tune with what works.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 1st, 2007 at 8:08 am and is filed under Design Careers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.