Sterling Brands

Whilst in New York, each pathway had organized visits to attend, the first of our visits was to a Brand agency called Sterling brands, which was situated in the Empire State building. The agency has been going for 10 years and highly revolves around its Global Clients and Global brands. The company prides itself on understanding the needs and requirements of its client and creates long lasting brand design which is relevant to the consumer. The agency is split between two departments: the design team and the strategy team. It was really interesting to learn how each department is run and how they communicate with each other on certain briefs. I felt familiar with the connection between strategy and design as during my time at STEEL i was involved in the same sort of environment with many different departments in continual communication. They showed us many examples of work they had completed and products they had rebranded and redesigned. What was really beneficial was they showed us their starting point and how they arrived at the final idea. Giving us a real flavor of the design process. They also spoke about bringing in freelance illustrators and photographers and the importance of finding the 'right person for the job'

They also gave us some really useful tips, one was echoing advise from STEEL with the use of mood boards and beneficial they are to visually explore different outcomes. Another was to draw from memory a brand or what you understand a product to be, as it allows you to realize what equity your brain recognizes apposed to just your eye. And finally the importance of speaking with confidence about your product or pitch to a client. The notion that if you're not confident, then the client will not feel confident in you're idea, and produce reason and research for idea's to show your thought process and understand.