>Industry comment
>Developments in design practice/education
>Visual layout within application dialogue boxes

>The value of design
>Differentiation
>Honesty
>Truth
>Consistency
>Immersive experience
>Sound and branding

The definition or the valuation of design lies in what it does rather than what it is. The designer is in a better position than most, or should be, to put the varying elements of the business into perspective, to make a solid contribution to establishing the hierarchy. The responsibility of the designer in business is heavy. In order to carry out the task, the wider business skills of designers must be honed.

George Kiely, Enterprise Ireland Design Unit (excerpt from Sunday Business Post)

Branding is the expression that makes a product different and better - the very best examples tend to possess a single-minded idea that engages the consumer. So how do you know if you have an ownable piece of branding? A good way to test is to see if your brand can be explained in two or three words. Good brands are about depth or concentration and not breadth - really meaning something to a specific target rather than meaning little to the masses. The idea of concentration has to start with the creative brief. The greatest risk is to avoid risk because then you avoid being noticed.

Richard Murray, Williams Murray Hamm (excerpt from Sunday Business Post)

When companies come for corporate branding, they have to be honest with their designers about what the company is and where it's going. Building up a company's identity depends on various factors: the size of the company, its budget, the size of its market, it's expansion plans, and it's competition.

Declan Fahy (excerpt from Sunday Business Post)

Brand analysis is the first step in brand translation - what is it the company really does? It's important you know exactly what you're trying to deliver. … People don't buy soap powder anymore - they buy clean clothes.

Mike Dicks (excerpt from Business 2.0)

Integration does not mean "sameness", but rather a focus on a common goal: a strong single brand experience. … there is general agreement that a consistent brand experience and integrated communications are necessary to achieve maximum impact on the customer.

(excerpt from Design Management Institute Bulletin)

"The view of the brand as an immersive internet environment incorporating visuals, sound, entertainment, and interaction is the model that will ultimately propel brands to successful heights. But this will take time. It is a path of discovery - I can use audio. I can use audio to get attention. I can use audio to create brand recognition. I can use audio to create environment. I can use audio to shape user experience".

Brenda Laurel - Author, "Computer as Theatre" - Addison Wesley.

Brands have personalities, they have attitudes and communicate expectations. As part of this, of course they project associated attributes - fun, exciting, great tasting, intense. The sounds associated with certain brands can carry these same attributes.

Rather than using audio to hammer attention - getting information on a captive audience, audio can be used to create environment, a sense of place.

We have to look at how sound adds meaning to a brand. Sound is not something that is strategically analysed in the same way as words and semiotics. It's looked at intuitively and is often left to the end. Ironically, when a piece is completed, sound is usually deemed to be one of its most critical parts. What is not so important is sound, words, pictures, smell, or taste individually, but the relationships of these things. People react to brands holistically. Working out the relationship between sound and brand is key.

David Masten / Flora Skivington (excerpt from Business 2.0)