Barcelona, Spain

Design Thinking Meets Brands

when 21 July 2014 - 25 July 2014
duration 1 week
fee EUR 500

Design thinking, a philosophy that refers to applying design principles to business, encourages business leaders to explore solutions by imagining what could be, rather than what they know. The key tenet of design thinking is that all design starts with, and is built around solving a problem. Whether it is a business or social problem, a problem is still a problem. In the context of brand strategy, the customer’s problem is also most definitely at the centre of the brand, and solving it is the only reason for a brand and business to exist.

In the past two decades, the role of the brands evolved from being a product identifier to
becoming companies’ strategic platforms for interacting with their customers, and in turn
brands became a “portfolio of meanings”. Design can play an important role in creating consistency within the portfolio of meanings for a meaningful brand experience.

Course leader

Gursel Ilipinar
He has a PhD in Design Management at ESADE Business School. Most of his 20-year
professional career has been in international business field, namely, Export-Import bank of
Turkey (Eximbank), State of Georgia, AT&T and IED.

Course aim

This course provides knowledge to bring branding and design together to connect business
and design thinking. As students begin to fully explore and understand the nature of problems through the eyes of customer (the person that has a problem) they begin to see fresh
opportunities for solving them.

Course Contents:

- Where do I start? Customer value creation and customer acquisition and retention
processes.
- Essentials of branding – how to build brands and manage their development and
launch? What does balancing Push and Pull strategies mean?
- Role of design in brand development and go-to-market strategies – introduction to
design thinking and user experience.
- Brand design concept and brand positioning – role of graphics.
- Design and customer experience – consistency of brand positioning across geographies and products.
- Value creation and role of design in creation.
- Extracting Value from Design– pricing.
- Design thinking, brands and business models – how to align design and business
strategies.
- Value of brands – iconic roles of product configurations.
- Managing the design process – aligning design with communications and distribution
channels.

Fee info

EUR 500: 3 modules at GBS Barcelona – 1250 euro (416 euros per module)
2 modules at GBS Barcelona – 900 euro (400 euros per module)
1 module at GBS Barcelona – 500 euro