Design Bridge and Partners | Provocations about AI and brand building

<n>Escape</n>, a 2021 artwork by artist <n>Karan Singh</n>.

Work With Brian Collins

Visual identity for <n>Bloom Web Agency</n>, 2024.

Color palette from the 2021 <n>Upwork</n> brand identity designed by <n>PORTO ROCHA</n>.

Color palette from the branding design for <n>Dappi</n>, a rooftop pub in Berlin.

UI/UX design for the <n>Carrot</n> mobile app by design studio <n>Heydays</n>.

WIRED By Design: Designing a Brand That Even Non-Designers Can Work With

The Brand Galaxy diagram from <n>OFF Brand by Koto</n>, a newsletter by branding studio <n>Koto</n>.

One for all seasons: Displaay’s new typeface is a boundary-shifting sans to serif collection

3 Minutes Of Pure Branding Gold By Brian Collins

Color palette from the rebranding of <n>French House Bordeaux</n> by <n>Athom Studio</n>.

The <n>AK Monument</n> typeface, designed by <n>Dinamo Typefaces</n> for musician <n>Alicia Keys</n>.

Color palette for the <n>University of Lille Brand Design</n> by <n>Jasmine Richards</n>.

UI/UX design for a <n>Fitness and Activity Tracker</n> mobile application.

The <n>Crisp & Melt Color Palette</n> by <n>design by wei</n>, featured by <n>Daily Branding</n>.

Data isn’t just about facts and figures. It’s also the building blocks for a new wave of creativity that's being used by brands to do everything from influencing behaviour to changing perceptions. It's an opportunity to discover and share narratives – becoming a fresh new form of storytelling.

We spoke with three people for whom turning data into compelling stories is at the core of their work: Founder of non profit Shift Design Tori Flower, Spotify's Global Executive Creative Director Alex Bodman and Founder of design studio maddthing Maral Pourkazemi.

Here, we’ve summarised their key advice into these takeaways.

**1.** Data can be presented to get people to compete with others – look at how [O Power](https://opower.com/) compares how much energy you are using to others in similar homes, and [Strava](https://www.strava.com/) shows how well you compare to others who are also running and cycling in your area.

**2.** Large data sets can inspire others to act. [Historypin](https://www.historypin.org/en/) uses big data sets of old photos from archives and museums as stimulus for story-sharing sessions, encouraging conversation and debate.

**3.** Think how it can be integrated with maps, like [Ushashidi](https://www.ushahidi.com/), or [Shift's work mapping fast food outlets](http://shiftdesign.org.uk/products/healthy-fast-food//). How can this tell a story and show change over time?

**4.** Data visualisation is about showing correlations and relationships. It is not about just presenting figures.

**5**. Make your visualisation relevant to your target audience.

**6.** Treat the numbers with empathy and respect. Most of the time they are about people.

**7.** The key is curiosity. Data storytelling starts with a question. Or many questions.

**8.** Data will never form a narrative for you, but it can fuel it.

**9.** Look for the unexpected, surprising or difficult to believe – data storytelling is dull when it confirms what you'd expect.

**10.** Prepare for the answers to disappoint. Then ask more questions.

A color palette from the video game <n>Mirror's Edge</n>.

Style guide for the <n>Brisbane Festival</n>, featuring <n>FK Display</n>, <n>Work Sans</n>, and <n>Space Grotesk</n> typefaces.

<n>Daily Wellness Tracker App UI</n> by designer <n>Randy Bell</n>.

What Branding Consists Of | The Branding Wheel

A spread from the book <n>Branding: In Five and a Half Steps</n> by <n>Michael Johnson</n> of <n>johnson banks</n>.

Color palette design by <n>Second Eight</n>.