Crafting Brand Identity Through Creative Design

Unlock the secrets of turning interior spaces into powerful brand stories with Robin, an expert in the art of design and brand ambassadorship. Ever wondered how a room can speak to the core values of a business? Robin guides us through the creative journey of storytelling through design, revealing how colors, patterns, and textures can embody a company's mission and values. Together, we demystify the process of translating abstract brand narratives into tangible design elements that convey integrity, success, and trust.

Step into the world of large-scale projects like multi-unit housing developments and see why interior design is more than just decoration—it's a strategic investment. With Robin's insights, we explore the transformative impact of a cohesive brand narrative on every facet of a space, down to the smallest details. Discover the joy and creativity in working with talented branding agents who bring these visions to life, enhancing communication with clients and stakeholders. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a designer, or simply curious about the intersection of branding and design, this episode promises to enrich your understanding and appreciation of how thoughtful design can elevate a brand's identity.

We welcome your questions! If you would like to learn more about us or connect for a conversation, please visit www.pasleycommercialinteriors.com.

Episode Transcript

Randi Lynn (00:00):
Robin, one of the things I've heard you mention
before is that you often helpyour clients by being almost a
brand ambassador.
If they don't have a brand, youhelp them discover what it is
and then go from there, set themup with graphic designers and
all of that.
Why is that something soimportant?

(00:23):
Why is that something you putemphasis on in those initial
discovery meetings with clients?

Robin (00:29):
Well, I think it goes to the root of how we approach
design, which is from aperspective of a storyteller.
Instead of just taking a trendand applying it to a project, or
taking a color palette andapplying it to a project, or
taking a palette a color paletteand applying it to a project,

(00:50):
we are imagining that everybusiness is unique and there's
something great about them, andthat's part of our discovery
process.
When we sit down with a client,you know we've talked before
about how interior design is aninvestment and we talked a lot
in that podcast about using ourskills of discovery to get to

(01:12):
the heart of how their businessis going to grow Well, in that
same discovery session, we findout all about the owner, the
business or the organization.
Sometimes this is a biggerorganization, but there's always
a story.
There's always something uniqueabout them and we're trying to
suss that out so that we can.

(01:34):
I'll ask a company if they havea brand.
Brand collateral is the phraseI'll often use.
Do you have any brandcollateral you could share with
us?
And they'll go oh yes, we havea logo and I'm like, oh great,
Do you have anything else?
Because a logo is a piece of thebrand, but the brand itself is
really the narrative of thecompany, and so, yeah, you said.

Randi Lynn (01:57):
I think you've heard you say the who you are, what
you do, why you do it.

Robin (02:02):
Yes, right that whole story, absolutely, and so all of
that comes into the brand.
So if they have some good brandcollateral, it's not going to
just be a logo, of course that'sgoing to be in there, but
there'll be sometimes anarrative, what they're trying
to convey to their market.
What are we trying to tell ourmarket about ourselves?
What do they want to buy intoand believe?

(02:24):
What are we trying to tell ourmarket about ourselves?
What do they want to buy intoand believe?
What do we want them to knowthat they can believe about us?
To me, that is part of whatbranding is, and so when we have
a better understanding of theirbrand, then we're going to do a
better job of telling thatstory in the space.
We're going to do a better jobof telling that story in the
space.
So then we can go into thatcollateral and draw off of it

(02:48):
what we want to infuse the spacewith.
So will the logo be in there?
Of course it will be in theresomewhere, but sometimes we get
to engage more of that brandpalette and sometimes there's
imagery or line art oriconography that we pull off of
that we can engage into thespace and create some repetition

(03:12):
or some patterns or sometextures with it that play into
it, and that goes a long way toreally round out the space.
I mean anybody can take theirlogo and smack it on the back of
a wall behind a reception desk.
I mean that's we do it all thetime.
It's just done to death.
So we just try to take a littlemore creative bent on it and

(03:35):
figure out how to pull the brandinto the space beyond that.
Not that we would not do thator we even treat that like it's
not important.
Of course you know having thatvisibility is great.

Randi Lynn (03:48):
And you do this with colors.
I've seen, yes, where you'lltake.
You know their logo colors andit may not be the exact color,
but you'll help fit that in alittle, or do you do ?
Oh, we do sometimes, Especially, you know, because you know a
great branding agent is usingthe psychology of color in what

(04:09):
they do to convey.
You can listen about the psychology of color in one
of our other podcasts if you'rereally interested.

Robin (04:17):
But they engage that same mentality of what do colors
mean, what do they convey andhow are we going to tell this
story through color as well.
So colors, patterns, shapes, Imean all of those pieces come
into a brand and then we usethose same things to communicate
inside of the space.
When we're learning about acompany and we're doing our

(04:41):
design discovery session withthem, they brand the company's
mission statement, their vision,their values is something we're
always drawing on because webelieve those are part of their
aesthetics as well.
So we'll draw off of that tothen build their palette, so to

(05:05):
speak, their materials, theircolor palettes, their textures,
Whatever we want to say in thespace.
We're drawing off of thosethings to tell that story.

Randi Lynn (05:19):
So the materials that we use are very much linked
back to their brand.
Displaying mission statementsor company milestones is that in
good taste Like?
Is that something that'shelpful?

Robin (05:31):
or absolutely yes, and I think that's we play into that a
lot.
Um, I would say it this way yes, there is a very tasteful and
artistic way to do that.
Um, often it is just put on awall and poorly framed.
We've seen, you know cause,I've seen companies that have
been around for, you know, 20,30 years and, like you know,

(05:54):
they got them framed this wayfor three years and they framed
them that way for the next fourand then, you know so, over time
it starts to look like thiskind of hodgepodge mess.
Um, so there is a way to do itthat is is going to be more
aligned with an overallaesthetic, and I I suggest those
kinds of things, especially ifit's milestones, awards, things
like that.
There's ways to frame that upand there's always a good place

(06:17):
to have that, because you wantyour clientele or your customers
to see that you've beensuccessful.
And there is definitely a placefor that.
Yeah, builds trust Absolutely.
And then conveying who you areand what your values are is
really great.
Especially, I find this to begreat when there's when you're
trying to build team culture,you know, among your employees

(06:39):
and your workforce, um, to makesure that they understand what
they're, why they do what theydo every day, absolutely.
So we, we inf, infused some ofthat into design as well.

Randi Lynn (06:51):
It's really cool.
Is there anything else?
I mean furniture, Can furniture?
A hundred percent.
We worked with a really greatproject that had an amazing
branding agent on it and she wasso good at dialing in the
storyline that we got to wearwhen we were doing all of our

(07:13):
FFNE our furniture, fixtures andequipment for the project.
We would go back to the brandpalette and read the narrative
again and make sure that thefurniture we chose reflected
that narrative to a T.
I mean we had it down to thethrow, pillows and everything.
It was a lounge for thismulti-unit housing project and

(07:35):
it was so fun to work withsomeone who had already captured
the heart of this developmentso well that we just got to play
off of it.
So having that great brandingagent is huge and it's true we
have two or three that are ourfavorites and we recommend to
our our clients because they'reso good at what they do.
Yeah, that's so fascinating to me, just how

(07:59):
everything can be brought inLike, the more I learn about
interior design andunderstanding it as an
investment and not a cost, andhow even the smallest thing
communicates so much toemployees, clients, everybody it
does.
It's fascinating, it makes ahuge impact, and so I love that

(08:21):
that is your firm's tagline,designed to help your business
grow, because it's not justabout making it pretty, it's
about making it profitable.