Lecture: Reflection on the OLI ROYCE' s lecture

In relation to OLI ROYCE' s lecture, I would like to discuss here how brands can establish a balance between commerciality and brand identity.

In my opinion, on the one hand, brands need to be clear about their long-term plans and short-term goals.

The long-term plan for the brand focuses on developing and building brand value, and in the short term sales margins must be reduced, when the company's plan should be to build the design department above the sales department. The short term goal is to market the brand, increase its appeal and generate attention.

The design department represents the creativity of the brand, while the buying and purchasing department corresponds to the cost control and is the commercial part of the brand. When design overrides the rest, the brand is looking for a breakthrough in its value. When the value builds up to a certain stage, the brand starts to recover its costs will be led by sales. These two aspects of control are played out at each stage of the brand's development. But what remains constant is the long-term development of the brand in the short term, whether it is profit or design-led.

On the other hand, the development of the right branding strategy.

Brand operations seek a strategy that is appropriate for the long-term existence of the brand, and in accordance with the establishment of long-term and short-term goals mentioned in the first section, each department has its own role to play while working in concert with each other.

An important way of balancing creativity and commerce is precisely through the 'contradictions' between departments. Designers are good at creativity, and the pattern makers, buyers and sales people are the partners who help bring the designers' ideas from heaven to earth. So most of the conflicts that arise in the work of colleagues are not essential conflicts, but rather a way of balancing them so that the products are ultimately easier to sell.

Whether it is more commercial or more creative is actually a question that designers always need to reflect on and balance again and again. There needs to be a creative part in business, and vice versa. Because we are doing design not art, design needs to react through friction with the wearer, just like falling in love, because friction creates arguments, discovering problems and then solving them. So both creativity and business are two priorities that must be considered. A balance of layers from macro to micro, inside and out.

How to enable talented young designers to sell more of their work is of course an important thing. But for emerging designers, designers first have to listen to their own soul, especially at the very beginning, you have to express yourself, you have to let people know who you are, and only then do you finally go on to make compromises with business. Designers need to have a vision. In the beginning you have to show 100% of yourself to the public, build your own aesthetic and tell the market what you can bring to the table, what is the meaning of your work? What do you stand for? Then it takes the designer a long time to wait for the market to test it. Never sell for the sake of selling, because these things don't necessarily represent yourself, or the brand, and it's hard to make a brand last in that case. Do the right thing at the right time, but doing this requires clear planning and execution from the brand again from the start.