The Immeasurable Brandverse

The days of AIGA as the American Institute of Graphic Arts are no longer with us. However, its core philosophy and value system are not only admirable, but were still in evidence at the DxB conference, especially its commitment to “advancing design as a professional craft, strategic advantage and vital cultural force.” The terra firma of the past is no longer the paradigm—as creatives, engaged in practice, pedagogy, and the study of design, we have adapted to the new landscape and adopted every aspect of our environment as an arena of engagement. We are practicing our craft in an intertopia that is simply an ever-expanding ethereal zone—for the moment let’s refer to it as the “Brandverse.”

To some degree, with some depth and scope, based on skill or interest, we are each in our own way making a contribution to the arena of design. Our existence, in its daily modality of consumption and production, is becoming more designed and branded by the moment—quite literally. As designers we are in a most privileged position—at the same time an insider and an outsider, mediating the process of input and output. I/O ad infinitum, and in a constant proactive and reflexive state of engagement, analysis, strategy, verbalization, visualization, and implementation. The public sphere—be it virtual, real, fictive, digital, or analogue—is our arena of play. Perhaps we are entering that moment of singularity that is the Brandverse. Stephen Hawking speaks of the singularity in our physical universe and Kevin Kelly spoke of it similarly where it concerns the World Wide Web. All is becoming one and one is becoming all. In this process we play a vital role in the creation of the Brandverse. Our entire existence seems to revolve around brands—local and global. A designed supercluster of brands not dissimilar to the recently discovered Laniakea: our home supercluster. 

Under the theme of “experimenting,” DxB exposed its attendees to a wide range of topics starting with communications design and ending with obstacle course design, interspersed with design for the public good, prototyping social movements, translating brands, interactive storytelling, immersive environments, design through play, and so much more. Yet, the Brandverse was inescapable as it formed an ethereal bubble enveloping all design that was, is, and will be. 

DxB itself was a highly successful case study in Brandverse. From the bold sans-serif typography of its logotype, to its highly refined T-shirt-attired staff, to the graphics reminiscent of Bauhaus constructs. DxB website, printed matter, and environmental graphics were well orchestrated and seamlessly espoused the same consistent visual vocabulary and grammar that makes a designer’s heart and mind race. Even the venue for DxB, District Hall, designed by Hacin + Associates, carries a tagline that announces the edifice as a “new home for innovation in Boston”: a dedicated civic space, a collaboratively funded public and private partnership, where the innovation community can gather and exchange ideas. The format of the conference included speakers, workshops, panels and networking, not to mention the power breakfast.

Offerings were diverse and plentiful: a keynote address by Eddie Opara of Pentagram focused on design for the public good, entrepreneurship, and the role of informed and intelligent design in commerce and culture. He shared definitive case studies that convincingly communicated the value of merging traditional graphic design with technologic tools. Johnny Falla, social entrepreneur in residence at Sub Rosa, communicated his experiences on other continents with 3D printing and prototyping, and in designing and engineering new societies and economies through modern design and manufacturing techniques. 

Theodore Watson of Design I/O mesmerized the audience with the studio’s interactive storytelling and playful immersive environmental projects. Ryan Fitzgibbon, the publisher and creative director of Hello Mr., traced his personal journey from a designer at IDEO to FABRICA to Australia and back to the US, where he created and launched his magazine. Lee Moreau of Continuum situated his address within the present reality of the workplace and dismissing Studs Terkel’s oral histories as out of place within the global terrain of the modern economy. 

DxB and other initiatives of its kind, organized and produced by AIGA or its affiliated chapters, invite us to engage with them; to enter their highly designed, mediated, and connected cosmos, offering us assembly space, workspace, classrooms, and flexible pods; to facilitate our design communion; encourage our individual and professional development. That is indeed grand—it’s just that it’s now happening in a Brave New World called the Brandverse. 

As the professional design community continues to engage with its representative bodies, I hope that more emphasis might be placed on how we navigate this new universe. Perhaps we can do so with “the passion of the scientist and the precision of the artist,” to borrow from Vladimir Nabokov—and may I add, with the skepticism of the philosopher. For in this Brandverse, commerce is culture and culture is commerce. We are indeed a “vital cultural force,” and we must exercise our agency with strategic alacrity while we celebrate the “impact of design” that is “currently shaping our culture.”  

While I was largely delighted and enlightened by what I heard and learned during DxB, my only regret is that there was precious little time allotted for a meaningful critical discourse between the speakers and the audience to discuss how AIGA’s constituency is navigating these new environs—it would have lent a more earthbound and realistic view on the proceedings.

But then again, no brand experience can be perfect.