that we do as humans.

It's a way of signaling to others non-verbally

who we are, what we believe in, what is important to us.

(upbeat music)

There was a time when a different form, a different flavor,

a different bottle shape,

those things really did excite consumers, people.

But people have so much more power

than they've ever had before.

They want to understand and know that the things

that they're buying are coming from companies

they feel are worthy of contributing to.

And that's something that we have really never seen before.

And that has created a real democratization of design

and branding.

Hi, I'm Debbie Millman and I am a brand designer.

I am an educator and I am the chair of

the masters and branding program

here at the School of Visual Arts in New York city.

My most recent book is called "Why Design Matters"

which is based on my long running podcast

Design Matters with Debbie Millman.

(calm music)

Design and branding are some of our

earliest behaviors as humans.

As far back as 10,000 years ago

we started to construct symbols to communicate our beliefs.

And we began to do this all over the planet.

I consider those early constructions very bottom up.

We created these symbols for each other,

by each other for free.

It's really only in the last 250 or so years

that the model of bottom up branding was tipped and turned

when the corporation began to appropriate that behavior

to create widespread recognition for branded products.

Whether it's a religion, political platform,

sugar free beverage, all of these constructions use branding

in exactly the same way

to create more recognizable consensus.

But it's really only in the last 10 years

that we have begun to see that top down model

begin to flip back to bottom up again.

And that is really the thing that excites me

almost more than anything today.

Branding is no longer just a tool of capitalism.

Branding has become a profound manifestation

of the human spirit.

People aren't as interested in different anymore.

They're looking much more critically

to see what organizations stand for.

A really good example of an organization

that is taking some risks with communicating

what they believe is what Nike has done

with Colin Kaepernick.

When Nike first introduced the idea

that they were supporting Colin Kaepernick,

quite a lot of people were up in arms.

But that initial wave of displeasure was fleeting

and what we saw long term was a majority of people

were actually very supportive of Nike

communicating their beliefs

through the behavior of the brand.

And then we also began designing our movements

in this bottom up way.

And one of the most powerful, and one of the most successful

has been Black Lives Matter.

It has all the tenants of branding.

It has a name. It has a hashtag.

It has a website. It has a logo.

It has passionate, passionate belief.

But it's much more than a brand.

What this movement has done is question,

challenge, and provoke behavior of change.

We've also seen that happen with the pink Pussyhat.

We've seen that happen with Me Too.

Certain embedded behavior is no longer being tolerated

and we've seen behavior transformed.

We really do have the power to change the future

of this planet, just with the sheer decisions

that we're making about what we buy

and what we choose to contribute to.

The markers of success or failure in branding

are really evident.

It's in how many people believe you.

Anybody that is thinking about creating a brand,

the first question has to be why.

Why do we need this thing, idea, belief, product? Why?

The second question has to be what is the benefit?

(inspiring music)

People are going to be giving you money for this product

or people are going to be giving you a piece of their soul

if it is a movement.

What is the benefit for humanity?

And if you have sound strategic answers

to both of those questions,

then you have something that you can begin to build on,

to create something that has meaning both for the planet

and for humanity.

- [Narrator] Get smarter faster

with videos from the world's biggest thinkers.

To learn even more from the world's biggest thinkers

get Big Think + for your business.