What’s the difference between strategic design and brand strategy, and how can you apply them to your business?
Have you heard the terms design, strategic design, and brand strategy, but don’t know the exact difference between them? Or, worse, do you still believe that design work is simple, fast, and only about “making things pretty”? And will your idea of something beautiful also be attractive to your customer?
When seeking a design service, especially brand design, questions like these start to arise. That’s why, in this article, we will explain what each of these concepts truly means and why every company that wants to grow needs to consider investing in design (but always strategically).
What is strategic design?
“We use strategic design to modernize your brand”; “We work with strategy to create design projects”; “We create design with strategy”… Have you seen any of these phrases around? Arguments like these are actually quite common and are even used by us at Motora.
What companies that use this type of statement are trying to say is: we are design specialists and we follow a project methodology that is based on research and not just aesthetics or personal taste.
Strategic design is a process that unites form and function. That is: it unites aesthetics with business objectives. Here, design ceases to be merely a visual aspect and becomes a problem-solving tool.
Anyone with a degree in design learned that design is a project that requires a structured methodology and a series of researches to be effective.
With this in mind, talking about “strategic design” might seem redundant, but it remains important, especially given that much of the market still sees design as a simple task focused only on “making things prettier and more attractive” using a computer program, which is not the case.
When does design stop being strategic?
When the focus is purely aesthetic and when decisions are made out of “personal taste” or trends.
In these situations, design loses its strategic force and may even work for a while, but it has a short shelf life because it has not deeply analyzed the scenario in which it is inserted. In other words, it might be visually pleasing, but it doesn’t necessarily solve a problem or bring the brand closer to its long-term objectives.
Sometimes, it is common for the client to arrive with the ready idea and seek someone only to execute it. And that’s fine. But this is not strategic design and, consequently, should not cost the same as a strategic project.
Is strategic design applied to brand creation the same thing as brand strategy?
Here is a common mistake. The answer to this question is NO.
The fact that a professional or company works with strategic design does not mean that they are prepared to create a brand strategy. These are different concepts.
Brand strategy goes beyond a specific design project. It goes beyond the creation or redesign of a logo or visual identity. It will, yes, apply the same research used in a strategic design project, but this will be just one stage of a much larger investigation.
In Motora's proprietary methodology, our Positioning Petal is 100% dedicated to building brand strategies.
To build a brand strategy, we need to dive into the business’s DNA. We look at the market, analyze the company’s current communication, talk to leaders, analyze customer behavior, research trends… with all these inputs, we help our clients answer important questions like:
- Who is this brand in the world?
- What is its narrative and how can we communicate it to the public?
- How does it want to be perceived?
- What words, images, and ideas should be repeated to build this positioning?
- What kind of connections, partnerships, and campaigns make sense?
Brand strategy is about establishing a clear positioning plan that supports all communication efforts, helping the business grow in value over time.
This plan will guide all future brand decisions, whether in visual identity, marketing actions, internal culture, or customer experiences.
Strategic design and brand strategy: one does not replace the other.
While strategic design is a way of applying intention to visual projects, brand strategy is the foundation that supports all the company’s communication.
One does not replace the other. One strengthens the other.
Projects without a well-defined brand strategy may be aesthetically coherent, but over time, they often appear inconsistent or superficial. They might solve a problem, but they tend to approach it in a limited and isolated way.
Visual projects developed without a strategic foundation are, in contrast, a shot in the dark based on trial and error. Without validating each decision, they often lead to costly rework that must be repeated several times before delivering any real return.
How to know if your brand needs one or the other?
- If your communication feels unclear, your brand is easily forgotten, or it isn’t connecting with your audience, it’s time to focus on brand strategy.
- If you already have a clear differentiator, strong content, and a well-positioned brand, but the visual aspect isn’t effectively conveying your strengths, then you need strategic design.
Strategic design is the path to creating visual solutions with impact. But it is brand strategy that guarantees that these solutions are aligned with your business’s purpose and positioning and remain highly profitable in the long run.
If you want to build a relevant, remembered, and desired brand, don’t skip any of these stages. Working with specialists may seem more expensive at first, but it saves time, energy, and a lot of rework down the road.
Do you want to understand which stage makes more sense for your brand right now?
Talk to the Motora team or learn more about the Pétala methodology.
