A Visual Analysis Of Memes In Design-Driven Brands In Consumer Goods Industry

In the transformation from “Made in China” to “Created in China”,more and more designers can get involved in entrepreneurial strategic decision making,find opportunities in the highly competitive market with disruptive innovation,and create products and services with great customer experience.“Brands Driven by Design” refers to a brand that takes design as the driving force of innovation with design thinking frameworks.Given that most of China’s design-driven brands are transformed from traditional manufacturing or smart hardware industry,which are dominated by designers,and are aimed at young users;the visual style and strategy of these brands are somewhat similar.As a panorama of the emerging startups in the consumption upgrade,this study,from the perspective of memetics,focuses on 60 Chinese and American design-driven brands in the field of consumer goods.By methods of comparative case study,content analysis,and color analysis,the culture,philosophy,and vision of the design-driven brands are revealed through the identifiable and measurable brand representations such as logos,colors,and slogans.From the perspective of user scenario,expected service life and price positioning,this paper investigates the relationship between these brands and the commercial visual paradigm.The two evolution paths of brand visual representation are further summarized,and a case study of TOKIT is conducted to explore how memes can be recombined across different industries,which brings about distinctive brand identity.At last,this study presents the cultural factors for the similar brand visual styles,i.e.,the influence from designers’ entrepreneurial identity and young lifestyle in the New Consumption Era.It is found that there is meme effect in design-driven brands of consumer goods.In the internal ecosystem of brands,memes reproduce and evolve in multi directions.Memes can not only be further replicated and strengthened by other brands in the same field,but also can migrate across fields and recombine with other dominant memes into new ones.There are distinguishable visual similarities of these brand memes,which are derived from the designerturned-entrepreneurs’ identity and mission,slightly influenced by industry paradigms,meanwhile related to the digital consumption,sociocultural memory,and the need for rapid iterations.Besides,techno aesthetics,exquisite retro style,and sustainability emerged as the cultural impetus of brand memes.This paper examines the common characteristics of design-driven consumer goods brands,which is hoped to present a horizontal perspective that differs from the common single case studies,to summarize some replicable,universal,and promotional paradigms of brand visual identity,and to offer theoretical support and referential value for related research.