Design plays a critical role in the purchase journey of a product. It forms a crucial bridge between the consumer and the brand as they firm up their intent towards an eventual buying decision. A well-crafted design not only successfully captures the attention of those around, but also communicates the quality, functionality, and value of the product. It evokes a strong desire for ownership and differentiates a portfolio of offerings in a crowded market to eventually drive sales for a brand.
To nurture a successful brand in what is the world’s third largest automobile market, it is crucial for it to distinctly distinguish itself from its competitors. This can be achieved by offering a unique differentiator across its set of products, which not only stand apart from the clutter in the market, but also stays true to the brand’s core values and vision. Therefore, developing a design philosophy that reflects this DNA across the portfolio helps a brand go the extra mile in establishing recall of its offerings with the potential customer – instilling trust and association of the vehicle with the promise that the brand brings with itself. Time has proven how this exercise has helped brands foster trust, customer loyalty, and command market leadership.
The importance of design in creating a brand identity
In the automotive industry, the design process working in tandem with the brand identity ensures assigning a distinctive personality to the entire product portfolio, which instantly helps in associating each vehicle with a certain trait that resonates with customers. A family design, as it were, may look similar from afar, but it actually enables the offerings in a portfolio to be distinguished from each other through specific characteristics and features such as the exterior and interior colour scheme, front fascia design, lighting elements, and overall silhouettes. These elements give a specific identity to various vehicles under a single flagship brand and its mother design.
To make this come to life, designers need to continuously brainstorm and innovate new designs and models aligned with shifting market trends yet adhere to the principles and philosophies mandated in the brand’s design playbook. The goal of this strategy is to gain recognition and ensure that customers can easily recall the brand's name by just looking at the overall design of the vehicle, rather than second-guessing its maker’s identity solely from the badge that adorns the vehicle.
Streamlining production and Innovation
Utilising a common playbook when it comes to design has its advantages at the product line level as well. What it allows for is incorporation and integration of common innovations and technologies across the portfolio – going beyond the limitation of different body styles. This approach streamlines the production process, leading to reduced developmental time in the go to market planning for the products. Furthermore, by maintaining consistency at such levels, manufacturers can respond to market demands across their portfolio more effectively.
Moreover, adopting a common design philosophy helps reduce costs, while increasing operational efficiency. By standardising certain design elements, manufacturers can achieve economies of scale and implement across nameplates in the portfolio – ensuring manufacturing costs are controlled – which enables the development of high-quality offerings at a lower cost to the customer and leaving room for OEMs to continue to innovate.
Designers must, however, keep in mind that their designs strike a balance between the brand’s design philosophy and prevailing customer preferences so as to preserve the unique identity of their cars in the market while staying relevant to consumer trends. This can be achieved by introducing designs that share a common genealogy, reinforcing the brand identity through uniform design details, yet are unique enough to appeal to the diverse preferences of customers from varied demographics.
The author is the Vice President and Head of Global Design, Tata Motors and Executive Director of Tata Motors Tech Design Centre.
