‘Back to Uni’ for The Engine Room.
No stranger to practical workshops, Lesley delivered a guest lecture for the final year cohort, which focused specifically on brand purpose, principles, and personality. Encouraging students to consider how much these three Ps could underpin the strategic success of a business – whether designing a product or service – she also explored how to bring them to life in a killer brand presentation.
And here’s what everyone thought…
“It was interesting to learn about the importance of purpose and principles, and how they affect your brand. I enjoyed still being able to participate in interactive activities despite being online – particularly how to pitch a presentation in two minutes.”
Erin Miles
“I liked Lesley’s lecture because after each activity, we instinctively thought about how that affects us when we are designing. She then asked us to create a business for our product so that we can understand the challenges that come with making principles. This led onto making a PowerPoint extremely quickly and us having an efficient yet powerful product proposal.
We have previously designed for a brand but only considered their aesthetic and values, while Lesley spoke about all the principles and how designing for a business needs to consider more elements.”
Kieran Hitchman-Lloyd
“After university I am considering starting my own business and this lecture gave me insights into how to set up and develop a brand so it’s clear and understandable. The lecture also taught me about brands attributes and what makes a brand stand out.”
Daniel Meehan
“The lecture was a good opportunity to get feedback and build on the skill of presenting, from a professional with a branding background. My perception on purpose and principles has grown since the lecture as I wasn’t too sure how to approach it. However with the input she gave I was able to apply it to my own project successfully, to get everything across in a few short sentences so it was easy to understand.”
Cameron Haigh
“The session gave me a better insight in to how a company purpose can define the whole business, how a purpose can be more important or well-known than the company itself. It also taught me how well I can define and present my ideas and principles for my own project.”
Matthew Green
“It was a good opportunity to look at branding from a professional perspective in the industry and see how the image of a brand and what is associated with that image affects multiple factors in the business. Branding is more than just a logo and is woven throughout a business – … it helps a company stay true to what their mission is and why they are doing it.”
Molly Bowman
“What I found interesting about the lecture was how much of a transformation branding can make to smaller companies…they can establish themselves in the business world against larger companies.”
Elliott Casey
“Lesley broke down how important branding was, making me realise how important it is for a product designer. There’s more to a brand than just nice visuals.”
Kain Newton-Ingham
