Cities we inhabit are always in beta

1.
Branding has evolved

Marty Neumeier is a designer and prolific writer on design and brand, he talks about the old model and new model of brand. The company used to create the brand through products and advertising, the brand attracts customers as a captive audience, and customers support the company through repeat purchases. In the new model, the company creates customers through products and social media, the customers then build the brand through purchases and advocacy, and the customer-built brand sustains the company through ‘tribal’ loyalty. This model acknowledges a brand is not owned by the company, but by the customers who draw meaning from it and in turn add meaning to it.

Today’s customers reject the authority a company once had, people nowadays  want some control over the products they love. People used to buy brands but now they join brands. They want a say in what gets produced and how it gets delivered and in many cases they are willing to help out. People will happily promote a brand to their friends, contribute content, volunteer ideas, and even selling products or services on behalf of the brand. 

Modern brands are becoming more and more purpose-driven. People are increasingly favoring brands that take an active role on important issues—beyond just selling products or services. A clearly defined purpose has become a valuable asset that informs what the brand makes, how they make it, and how they engage in the world at large. Think about Nike, Patagonia etc. the brand is everything they are, and everything they are perceived as being.

‘Corporations are out—people are in. Consumers are increasingly rejecting faceless products and services in favour of brands that they can form a genuine human connection with’—Max Ottignon 2017

Brand and identity often get mixed up. Brand describes what people feel about a product, service or place, and is the strategic framework from which an organization shares its purpose. Identity refers to visual elements that help connect people to that feeling. Often those elements include a logotype, fonts, colours, illustrations, and photography. Brand does not exist in isolation—logotypes are not the complete story. Powerful logotypes achieve what they do because of the image they create through strong brand experiences. 

If brand is the perceived image of the services an organisation offers then branding is the strategy to create that image. The objective for a brand and its strategy is to attract and retain loyal support by delivering products and services aligned with what the brand promises. 

The best brands are vivid, create powerful feelings and clear images in the hearts and minds of customers. Touchpoints are the places where customers experience this and each touchpoint needs to be the brand in miniature—the same message, the same feeling, the same differentiated market position as the overall brand.           
People are now acting like brands, and brands are acting like people.Experiences in the city, documented on social media are becoming the things that people use like shoes, watches and cars to say who they are.

Today as soon as your work is out in the world, you immediately hand your brand narrative over to the public. People are increasingly expecting brands to act as people. That's why authenticity and empathy is increasingly seen as insurance against the old model of constructed fantasy. If a brand talks too loudly about itself it appears to be bragging, or the reality of the experience people have does not meet the hype, there will be negative reactions.

Eventbrite’s nationwide research of millennials (defined as people born between 1980–1996) conducted by Harris, reveals this generation not only highly values experiences, but they are increasingly spending time and money on them: from concerts and social events to athletic pursuits, to cultural experiences and events of all kinds. For this group, happiness isn’t as focused on possessions or career status. Living a meaningful, happy life is about creating, sharing and capturing memories earned through experiences that span the spectrum of life’s opportunities. With millennials now accounting for over one fourth of the total U.S. population, their high focus on experiencing life supports the growth of an economy driven by the consumption of experiences. The combination of this generation’s interest in events, and their increasing ability to spend, is driving the growth of the experience economy.

‘Participation is the key to our shared future. It gives us all a sense that the future is ours to make, not just the product of forces far beyond our control, and in so doing it provides the sense of hope and optimism for which people are searching all over the world.’ —Marc Stears, Director Sydney Policy Lab, Sydney University

Design is not only the objects or artefacts that are produced, but the process of taking a human centered approach that analyses and defines what products, services, or experiences need to be. Design Thinking though understanding the user ensures that the human is at the centre of the problem solving process. Participation in how the city evolves is one way that the barrier between authorities and citizens can be softened. 

Every One Every Day is a project launched in 2017 in London by Participatory City that builds on the imaginative ‘hands on’ projects that people have been creating over the last few years in their own neighbourhoods. These practical projects make everyday life better for everyone, and the initiative has been designed so we can build a very large network of this activity. 

Wellington calls itself the Capital of Culture it is therefore important to understand what culture really means to people today. A 2017 report by LaPlaca Cohen, a strategy, design and marketing company for the cultural world from NYC provides some useful insights. 

Through a research programme called Culture Track data was collected from 4,035 cultural consumers mirroring U.S. demographics. The findings show how the definition of culture (within the US) has evolved, possibly to the point of extinction. Audiences no longer care if an activity is ‘culture’ or not. In fact culture can be anything from Caravaggio to Coachella, Tannhäuser to taco trucks. To understand this further they looked into the hearts and minds of cultural consumers and found the single greatest motivator was having fun. In addition audiences seek out culture as a critical element of their personal development and exposure to new ideas. The desire for self-improvement is consistent across all generations with audiences of all ages choosing culture as a major form of releasing stress.

The definition and role of ‘culture’, the touchpoints where customers experience it, and understanding the reasons that prevent participation will be an important challenge for the organization.

2.
Cities are brands

People who have never been to Barcelona will happily tell you how lucky you are to live there because Barcelona—like many cities—operates as a brand. In 2011 the name Barcelona was registered as a trademark by the city council who carefully manage how the city image is positioned by exerting a powerful influence over everything from redevelopment projects to events and festivals. While this approach is successful externally it can often leave residents disenfranchised and actually raise important questions about the interests served by public urban space.

City branding is not restricted to logos and slogans and the importance given to the Barcelona brand goes far beyond this. The city council takes the brand of the city very seriously and frequently references it in council publications, press releases and parliamentary debates. They realise the city products and companies, its sporting institutions and even its health care provision and education influence the city’s brand. 

Oslo has a dedicated city brand that is separate from the council brand. This brand does not have a logo, or a slogan, but rather a shared vision, a clear goal and a set of values. All stakeholders in the Oslo region can participate on their own terms, and by knowing and using the Oslo Brand Filter they strengthen the overall city brand. A website tool helps everyone check if they are ‘on brand’.

In 2004 Amsterdam launched a shared brand, ‘I Amsterdam,’ with a logo developed for city promotion, institutional bodies and partners. The purpose was to create a shared identity of the city’s 741,000 inhabitants and an attractive perception for the millions of tourists who visit every year.

Developed by Edenspiekermann and Thonik they began their process by finding the spiritual core of the city and its inhabitants, which they translated it into a clear promise. Throughout they aimed to keep it simple and provide something that could be easily added it to all Amsterdams ‘pearls’. They defined clear roles and responsibilities and arranged to organise and manage it centrally. They made sure it remained that way.

Around 2013 Amsterdam was undergoing a major reorganization that would see the city districts and about 20 services and companies disappear in their current form. As a result the city had to align and unify its identity system and adopted a single logo for everyone. Edenspiekermann and Thonik again worked together on developing the identity system. To make it simple: they created a completely renewed visual identity with new applications, tools, icons, grids and guidelines, but they left the logo virtually unchanged. Only adding a new line break to make it easier to apply in the various situations it is required in, it appeared to many that nothing had changed with the logo. All city departments now use identical letterheads and envelopes and there is just one fleet design which enables them to use their vehicles wherever they’re needed in the city. 

In many cities Public Notice signs are often found taped to signposts or pasted on the sides of buildings. These text-heavy signs convey important information about planning or zoning, to announce when a tree will be removed, or a public hearing will take place. Cities tend to do it without a lot of style. Creative director at Matchstic, Blake Howard says they’re like the spam mail of city wayfinding—most people just glaze over them. 

The Department of Planning in Atlanta was not known for being customer-oriented, Matchstic helped change this by rethinking how the department communicates with its audience. A series of sharply designed Public Notice signs using clean typography, colour, and fresher seal. This visual identity helps re-assert the department’s priorities. They summed up the approach with a phrase that drove all of the visual messaging: ‘To be clear is to be kind’ To be kind to the public they serve, they need to be clear in their communication.

It’s an exceedingly simple approach, but a brilliant example of how design can cut through bureaucratic systems to convey information clearly to the public. Communicating laws, rights, and services to citizens is a vital duty of the government, and design can help with that. 

New York city parking signs were densely packed with information that was wordy and hard to follow; typography was centered and set in all caps in various fonts and sizes, making it difficult for the eye to scan. This resulted in a poor user experience and frustration towards one of the city's key services.  

Working with the New York City department of Transportation, Pentagram’s Michael Bierut and his team created a new, simplified design for the city’s street parking signage that is more easily understood by drivers and residents.

They introduced a consistent, simplified layout that cuts back on the number of words and colors, signs are divided into two sections, one for commercial vehicles (still in red), the other for passenger vehicles (in green)—with the number of parking hours allowed is prominently placed in a reversed-out box at the top left of the sign.

The Legible Cities movement seeks to improve people’s experience of places through the integration of urban design, wayfinding, identity and integrated transportation projects. Pioneered by City ID in Bristol in the UK, this concept is now extending to a number of cities across the globe.

The movement states that because we now live in a global economy, cities have to rethink how they present themselves to existing residents, businesses and visitors, and the outside world. They need to understand how they can trade off their differences.

Andrew Kelly from Bristol City Council says that ‘successful cities will be those that connect people, movement and places efficiently. They will be engaging, welcoming, accessible and easily understood.’ Signage clearly plays a large part in that. 

3.
What does this mean for Wellington?

Depending on the audience Wellington City Council will be seen in context of Brand New Zealand and the Wellington Regional brand. By combining the brand values from the 3 brands we begin to see how they connect and enhance each other Brand New Zealand + Regional Brand + Council Brand

Since 2014 Creative and Brand have been applying a human centred approach to city council branding. The city council brand is built on the multiple bespoke experiences that make up the entire scope of what the city and council collectively offer. It is less about everything being the same and more about everything being the best it can be for the audience while connecting it together to form a whole that is Absolutely Positively Wellington. To continue the evolution of this we need to acknowledge and strengthen the relationship between visual identity, city design, and council services in generating the brand experience. 

Major touchpoints include:

1. Parks
2. Libraries
3. Pools and Recreation Centers
4. Local Hosts
5. Parking Services
6. Service Points
7. City Signage and Maps

How we operate on the inside needs to be closely linked with how we want to be perceived on the outside. We need to identify the distinct cultural elements that enable us to achieve the desired brand identity, and then deliberately cultivate them. When the brand and culture are aligned and integrated, we will increase operational efficiency, accuracy, and quality. This will improve our ability to compete for talent and citizen loyalty through unique intangibles we will be moving closer to our vision.

Brand is the perceived image of the services the city council offers. Branding is the strategy to create that image. The objective for a city council brand and its strategy is to attract and retain loyal support by delivering services that are always aligned with what the brand promises. The visual identity provides a reminder that the service reflects the brand promise.

People focussed, always improving, collaborating and caring for our places

The current Council vision promises that we will work together for Wellingtons future. Through the 10 Year Plan the City Vision promises to provide a place that talent wants to live in. We do this through our values of being people focussed, always improving, collaborating and caring for our places. We need to understand this within the regional and national context. In addition to being a dynamic, people centered, connected, eco city, we identify that our concentrated awesomeness is surrounded by active nature. The collaborative culture enables wild ideas to happen.

Wellington City Council is a socially conscious service brand differentiated by the experiences it offers as much as the services it provides. It routinely delivers high quality customer care and service and is on a mission to make positive social and environmental impact that can enhance people's quality of life.

Consumers increasingly reject faceless products and services in favour of experiences that they can form a genuine human connection with. The touchpoints where citizens experience the city council become the moments —often through social media— that define who they are. Products are being replaced by experiences and the consumption of culture.

We need to ensure the city name is working hard for us, we are out of the age of slogans and need to focus on vision and values informing the brand. People are searching for bespoke experiences, and customers expect fast, relevant and seamless services. We can highlight the gems that exist, improve the customer experience, and express the unique Wellington personality through city wayfinding, parking and public notices.