Where design and brand reputation collide.

The current economic crisis serves to remind us how the graphic design of a brand can only ever go so far in conveying trust and authority, and how ultimately, it is relatively unimportant, if that trust or loyalty is broken. In recent months, we have had many of the major banks shaken by the admission of poor decisions which have led to nationalisation of some, and at the very least, severe damage to the reputation of others. On the high street, we have lost Woolworths completely, and many others have had to call in the administrators, or are changing hands. So from a branding point of view, we see the brand equity of many well known companies, and the association we all have with them, changing on a daily basis as the bad news goes round. In the light of these problems, there is no quick fix from a branding point of view. As with the Icesave brand, it's a case of nice logo, but a terminally ill association, as soon as it froze its accounts leaving so many customers stranded. This serves as a reminder to all of us involved in branding, that what we do for our clients visually, whilst very important, is only the icing on the cake (no pun intended), which can turn stale very quickly if customers are let down and the company's reputation goes pear shaped.