Brand experience design

Abstract

Since the introduction of the experience economy, brand experience has gained significant interest from both research scholars and practitioners, and it is recognised as the new era of marketing in many industries. However, past research has primarily focused on the conceptualisation and consequences of it from a brand management and consumer perspective, but not on the design of brand experience. This research investigates the design of the visual appearance of touchpoints that form consumers’ brand experiences. It builds on theories from different fields, including product design and innovation, service design, design research, brand management and integrated marketing communication. The results reveal specific tension fields, desired outcomes for different complexity levels of brand experience design, and a set of creation and coordination practices. Furthermore, the results show that inspiration examples can lead to touchpoint concepts with higher qualities. This research provides a broader understanding of how brand experience can be purposefully designed and effectively managed in line with an organisation’s brand management. More specifically, the results can enhance the communication of a brand identity to a design team, facilitate the design of various types of touchpoints, and support brand renewal. Moreover, the criteria for assessing the quality of touchpoint concepts and for generating inspiration examples can support the creative design process. Lastly, this research offers different routes of how designers and managers can apply the findings in practice.