Whenever I meet someone, the second question is always what is it that we do in Werklig? The answer – a design agency – usually raises more questions. And rightfully so.
Design as a concept is so overwhelmingly undefined, yet so crucial to identify what we actually do. Everything can be designed but not everything is design.
Design is, as we see it, a solution to a complex set of problems. Let’s look at corporate identities for example. CI is a complex problem, not merely a challenge. If we leave the two other elements of corporate identity mix aside, these being communication (advertising, PR, sponsorship etc) and behaviour towards customers and stakeholders, we are left with corporate visual identity. Visual identity can be solved but not without thorough knowledge of the organization in question.
Why it’s a must to understand your client and their business? In order to visualize corporation’s identity we are creating something that visually embodies the core existence of the whole organisation and fulfills the most prominent presumption of marketing: differentiation. To put it more simply: great visual identities fulfill two things; they fit and they differentiate.
Being or looking different, without any fit is not that hard. Achieving a fitting visual identity is not that cumbersome either. However, creating a great, fitting and differentiating visual identity is complex. Design is the answer to this complexity.
For that purpose we must get to know the organisation in order to create something that can be rightfully labelled as design. Without thorough knowledge of for what, who and why we would be simply creating something hollow, something meaningless, unfitting or the same as everybody else. It's labeling instead of design. We are not in labeling business, we must not be. Labeling happens when something is just done instead of questions being asked why it should be done.
Werklig is a design agency. We ask questions. We want to know our clients. We need to know why. Luckily our clients understand this.