Back in the summer, Design and Packaging Magazine interviewed our founder Louis about story-telling in design and how much packaging design really worth in China and globally. Below is the original report:
Design and packaging has no value in itself if it is not supported by a story – very often – an even better story. In the last three years, French-chaired Creative Capital has assisted European and Chinese brands, such as Lancome, Andros, MCM and Momentum Bike, to develop a series of powerful brand concepts, logos, packaging and MORE. From a brand concept think-tank, to date CC has developed into a 360° creative hub, ranging from early development such as trend researching, naming, to graphic design, retail space design and even fashion show. No doubt, this young team had gone through a lot (and achieved a great deal). But what truly makes them different is their cultural awareness. As an international team, CC provides creative solutions with cultural insight at the background.
Below, P&D talks to Louis Houdart, CC’s founder and global director, about 「two cultures」 and how these two cultures the best soil and fuel for any brand and business.
The philosophy
「In CC we try to help our clients to tell THEIR stories. Not only unique – actually we never feel this word alone describe us well enough, but the fact is that we take CULTURE into account. As we always say, we use (societal) culture to create (brand) culture… This means that every story that we tell is supported by the culture in the air, the history... What is good about this is that it gives our stories extra weight. If it makes sense to the society, if it breaks cultural codes, of course, then, our stories (and our clients』 brands) will be more convincing and easier to be memorized. We are talking about substance here – spirit of a brand, brand cultures… We craft design but we also tell (brand) cultures and good stories. I think that is actually what sets us apart from other agencies.」
The process
「As a company, we do not believe in rushing into design straightaway or start to work based on one or two spontaneous ideas. Instead, we start with a Brand Platform and a Creative Platform, two of our exclusive and most precious tools. We are intuitive – of course we are. Many of us are designers and artists. But when we work, we prefer to start with analysing the market, competitors and culture; filter out useful information; and then move on to build brand culture. For example, what represents our clients as a brand, both spiritual and material speaking? Once these are set, we could start our Creative Platform which points out the art direction – colours, icons, design elements and so on. We like to use our ideas and express them strategically, not randomly. We like to express them with fine design and fine words… We try to use our eyes and ears like Anthropologists. That’s why I always tell my team: We are not just a 「design agency」, we are a "Branding Agency」.」
感謝今年夏天雙語設計雜誌《Design and Packaging》對我們公司的報導，他們的編輯和我們的創辦人路易談到了用包裝「說故事」和今時今日包裝設計究竟值多少錢的問題，以下是報導的原文：
設計和包裝是沒意義的，如果它沒有一個故事在背後支持。過去三年，由法國人創辦的Creative Capital協助過如蘭蔻、安德魯、MCM和莫曼頓等歐洲和中國的品牌創作了一系列具影響力的概念、標誌和包裝等；從一個品牌概念的智囊團，今天已經發展成一間360°的創意公司，服務從潮流研究、命名，到平面設計、零售空間設計甚至時裝秀舞臺設計。毫無疑問，這個年青的團隊走過不少路(到目前為止也有不少成功)，不過最令他們與別不同的看來是他們對文化的關注。作為一個國際化的團隊，CC為商業機構提供了有文化內涵的創意解決方案。
以下，我們和CC的創辦人兼總監Louis Houdart談「兩個文化」，以及這兩個文化為何是每個品牌不可以錯失的商機。
哲學
「在CC，我們做的是替客人說他們的『故事』，不但要獨特，還必須把文化納入考慮之列，甚至說最前列。像我們常常說的，我們用(社會)文化創造(品牌)文化…這意味著我們的每個故事都有這個社會和歷史做基礎…於是我們的故事也必然更有份量了；如果這是對社會有意義的，如果這能破解我們人與人之間相處的一些密碼，那當然，我們的故事(和我們客人的品牌)便更有說服力了。我們現在聊的是內涵—品牌精神、品牌文化這些東西。我們CC做設計，但我們更講求文化和故事，我想這是我們和許多顧問公司不同的地方。」
過程
「我們從來不相信貿貿然因為一、兩個即興意念便馬上倉促設計，我們反而喜歡用「品牌平臺」和「創意平臺」這兩個我們公司獨有也最珍貴的媒介。當然，我們用直覺，畢竟我們當中有很多人是設計師和藝術家，但當我們工作，我們更希望先好好分析市場、對手、文化，加以消化後，逐步構建品牌文化，例如，精神上、物質上，有什麼最能代表我們客人？這些一旦都確定好後，才進入創意平臺，創意平臺讓我們推敲和奠定品牌的藝術方向，如色彩、標記和其他輔助設計元素等。我們喜歡有策略地用意念而不是隨便用，我們希望用最優質的設計和文字來表達… 像人類學家般用我們的眼和耳，這是為什麼我常常提醒同事：我們不只是設計代辦，而是品牌的創意顧問。」