When purpose meets design with JiaJia Smith

​"Most purpose-driven brands make the same mistakes. They lead with themselves. It's what they believe, what they want to see, and what they stand for. It feels internal or inward facing. And they forgot this one thing that changes everything, which is 'what does the audience feel?'."

Our recent You're MarketingKind gathering with Jiajia Smith​, brand design expert and founding member of MarketingKind​, was an incredibly interactive discussion about what happens when purpose meets good design.

JiaJia kicked off the conversation by exploring the definition of design and saying:

Purpose fails when it just stays internal.

We need a process for how your purpose can connect hard with your audience.

Purpose gives us direction.

Then design translates that purpose into something the people can actually experience. Something they can see, touch, smell, move through.

When people experience something well crafted, they feel it.

That feeling, whatever it is whether it is connection, trust, inspiration, belonging, is what shifts behaviour.

And that is how brands use good design to create change.

JiaJia then shared visual design examples from:

• ​Black Lives Matter

• ​This Girl Can

• ​Extinction Rebellion

• And the Fearless Girl, a bronze sculpture by Kristen Visbal facing the iconic Charging Bull in Manhattan’s Financial District.

We also discussed design elements from the websites of:

• ​Greenpeace

• ​Charity Water

• ​WWF

• ​And Patagonia​.
  

And we explored how design helps brands build trust, clarity, emotional resonance and memorability.

The full discussion was for live participants only, but you can watch JiaJia’s introduction to this session below or listen to a longer edit on our podcast here.