«Product Design: In Quest for Product Identity»

In the West, Design, Branding and Strategy of the company have been partners for a long time. These are pivotal points for the company’s existence in the today’s world.

Nevertheless, not until recently, a mutual interest between Design and Branding in Russia was, rather, superficial and limited. Only now Branding in Russia is gradually changing its attitude towards Design and begins to see in it not only a business partner, but also a resource of companies’ strategic development.

A request of a popular Identity magazine specializing on the issues of branding and graphic design to one of the leaders of the Russian market of product design SmirnovDesign to write a special article is one of such signs of positive changes in relationships between Branding and Design in Russia.

“Product Design: In Quest for Product Identity” written by Head of Business Development Division of SmirnovDesign Ekaterina Khramkova and published in the 4th issue of the magazine is dedicated to the analysis of the role of design in the world economy. The article is full of examples from portfolios of such world leaders in the sphere of product development as IDEO, Design Continuum, ZIBA Design, Smart Design etc. A considerable part of the article is devoted to the analysis of a contemporary situation with product design in Russia. There is an expert evaluation of the perspectives of common development of Design and Branding in Russia given by Sergei Smirnov - founder of one of the first Russian product design companies