Experience Innovation: Component Layer

This piece was written in association with industrial designer and friend, Roc H Biel. 



As we shift into an era where brands and artists navigate across both physical and digital mediums, the need for consistent and cohesive multi-format brand experiences has become greater than it has ever been. In a landscape that is incredibly competitive, any hint of inconsistency or confusion can result in breaking the promise of a brand, and that breach of trust has major impacts in the mind of interested parties and most importantly, customers.


The core reason that this is the case within many companies at present, is that there currently are significant silos between the departments that each have a role in the creation and communication of a product or service. Take for example a hardware company’s physical product design, digital experience and marketing teams. Often, within a traditional structure they will operate in isolation, which leads to a fragmented brand identity and dilutes the impact and authenticity of the experience.


This is because the typical set up of a company looks like follows:


You have design and engineering which make up product, and marketing and sales which make up content. Both of those teams report into management, which gives a stamp of approval before a product or communication goes out. The benefit of this is that you can have a lot of activity going on at the same time, and you can easily highlight inefficiencies within the individual teams. The downside of this however, is that you often get a lack of dialogue and collaboration between the product makers and the product marketers; and this is where you create a gap, (a crevasse if you will) within which projects that don’t hit the mark with the market end up inevitably falling.


The result is often a sense of brand identity and brand communication that works in one medium, say for example a quality website, but fails to scale beyond that. For example from a website to an app, from an app to live experience. From a live experience to a physical product, and the combination of 2D and 3D assets used along the way.


To offer a solution to this, we use a design practice internally that ensures a consistency of promise across our assets. We call it, the Component Layer.


The Component Layer sits at the base of our organisation’s files and asset structure. As such, it sits across the different departments and is a resource that is readily available to each of the departments. The layer serves both as a repository and a set of guidelines that expand beyond the localised projects and workflows and is designed instead to be versatile and adaptable across a range of media. Through creating a centralised pool of assets, brands are therefore able to ensure a consistent and cohesive identity - whether that manifests in a physical product, digital interface or marketing campaign. 


The core deliverables within our Component Layer are as follows:


  • Colour Schemes: The foundational element of any brand's visual identity, colours convey emotions and values at a glance. A unified colour palette ensures brand recognition and emotional resonance across all touch points.


  • Visual Assets: High-quality imagery, icons, and motifs that are tailored for flexibility across mediums. These assets become the visual language of the brand, speaking consistently whether on a product packaging or a digital ad.


  • World Building Elements: Beyond simply logos and colours, creating a sense of world building involves narrative elements, thematic consistency, and a unique brand universe. This immersive approach ensures that every interaction with the brand feels like a continuation of a larger story.


The key here, is to establish a modular series of motifs and assets that can be easily translated from digital to physical, web to mobile, and still maintain a sense of consistency with the wider message of the brand. In this way, it becomes much simpler to establish a tone of voice and perspective on new platforms as they inevitably rise. It becomes much faster to create an authentic approach towards new technologies as they are getting adopted, and as a result such a layer enables a brand or company to remain much more like a startup and much more nimble in today’s modern and dynamic environment.


The result is a seamless brand experience that resonates with consumers wherever your brand meets them. It increases brand loyalty, and offers a competitive edge in the market.


To roll out this Component Layer within your companies, it helps to do some of the following:


  • Cross-functional Experience Teams: Encourage collaboration by forming teams that include members from design, digital, marketing, and other relevant departments. These experience focused teams will oversee the development and application of the component layer.


  • Guidelines and Workshops: Develop comprehensive guidelines for using the assets and conduct workshops to make sure that everyone in your teams understands how to apply them across different mediums.


  • Regular Reviews and Updates: This component layer should evolve over time as the brand does. Regularly review and update assets to keep them fresh and up to date with the consumer and most effective latest communication practices.


We are inspired by a future in which brands move beyond the traditional boundaries of linear  and one dimensional communication and present a unified and compelling sense of world building and storytelling. Embracing the concept of a component layer acts as simply one step in reaching that vision, but it is a great step to take indeed.


Until next time.

Satellite