Millennial Branding – Why Change? - Known Design Co

Millennial Branding – Why Change?

November 25, 2016

Wait – ‘millennial’ – you’ve heard this word before. If you’re unsure, let’s clarify. A millennial refers to a person reaching their young adulthood stages of life in around the year 2000. The new millennium. Now let’s jump right in – Why are companies rebranding with millennials in mind, and why should you? They may not be your target market for example. Maybe your company has built its reputation on consistency throughout its years of operation, or maybe you’re a startup and don’t want to risk jumping identities just yet.

But here’s why you should board the hype train to rebranding for the future generations… And it boils down to more than just the classic “they will soon be the future client/target market”, because there is a plethora of factors influencing our younger generations and how they shop, do business, interact with companies and even contribute to the way marketing and business work. But for now, let’s focus on brand interaction/appearance.

1. Mobility

Statistics show that if you’re between the ages of 18 and 35, there is an 80% chance you’re reading this on your phone. Well, lets be honest, more likely 95% chance. The fact is, having a vast expanse of knowledge, info and solutions at your fingertips is useful. And with technology constantly becoming more advanced, this is only becoming more natural and accessible. So before you even consider the ‘rebrand’ you have to consider how accessible your service/company/information is to the mobile user. You’re more likely to make positive connections if your end user is able to self-service, access information or enquire straight from their mobile phone.

2. Simplicity

We want simple back. Gone are the days of intricate design elements and excessive decorative borders. Millennials are easily distracted (REALLY easily distracted). The less cluttered and busy your branding is, the more likely a younger consumer will be visually attracted to the brand. This provides an opportunity for your brand to speak through the chaos and noise of today’s busy world, and when done right, a chance for the design to communicate simply what your brands message is. Another aspect to simplicity is UI (User Interface) friendly typography. Make double sure that your typography and communication is legible across all media platforms, to ensure usability in the future.

3. Negative Space

Okay, okay. We’ve spoken about this before, but negative space is important. To FOCUS and reduce the possibility of distracting the potential user from your message. Is that background video really necessary? Maybe not. Do you absolutely need that texture on every single element of your website? Doubt it. Keep it simple. Keep it fresh. Negative space creates a subtle balance and communicates a no-nonsense approach to clientele.

4. Line-Art & Corners

Shapes have a powerful influence on the way our brains work and can imply subliminal messages to the viewer, be it uniformity, strength, or even conformity and structure in this crazy world we live in.

A huge trend spawned during 2015 was line-art. Whether its iconography in your brands visual identity, or even your logo, line-art gives us the sense of nostalgia from our childhood drawings, evoke a sense of motion and playfulness. Obviously not every brand will need this message to come across in their public communication, but those who do will need to take care about the scalability of aforementioned icons, so as not to impact visible detailing.

5. Linking/Looping Logos

A logo which is silky smooth, flowing and connected gives us the sense of being connected and well rounded, possibly even interactive. And that’s the nail on the head in terms of connecting with the millennials. We want to be a part of your brand, we want to interact and be well informed of your message.

Now that we’ve clarified what the millennial user is after, you have the power to secure their interest and potential business. Remember, mobile is the number one source of our information and interaction, so designing/rebranding to target this is the first step in revolutionising your business to accommodate for the future. Knowing the way younger generations shop, read and research on the web using mobile phones is a valuable (and FREE) tool to expanding and making the consumer pleased with what they see.

Happy rebranding!

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