The title may sound like a nice encounter, but it doesn’t mean something like that. This is about a story that emerged in my mind when I worked on a project to support corporate branding through designing. My focus is on how this work contributes to people and society.

To put it simply, branding can be defined as follows: Communicating the thoughts of producers to their customers through products and services they provide and build a system that prompts the customers to feel empathy for and become fans of the producers.” In other words, branding is an attempt to uncover the hidden dreams and thoughts of producers, enhance their values to make them more appealing, and devise ways to communicate them.

Designers work up words and images that can leave lasting impressions in customers’ minds along with creating designs for tangible objects. But we can’t strike a chord with customers if we fail to make a match between the products and the customers’ hidden expectations. For this promising encounter to take place, we start by understanding what our target customers have in mind.

Meanwhile, it’s not easy for us to be fully aware of attractive features that products can provide to make them more appealing to the consumers. Design can be of great help when it comes to finding such attractions.

I’m feeling happy to take part in a project that connects the senders and receivers of brand values so it can bring joy to all people involved. I hope to keep myself involved in such projects, making proposals that surpass expectations from both sides.

Hiroshi Sakagame

Product Design Dept.

Design Director