Real World Brand Experience

I once counted how many brands and retailers we have done consulting work for, and the number was over two-hundred. We design products, and retail experiences and one of the best aspects of the work is the variety of projects we get to work on. Our process is pretty straightforward, and not dissimilar from what many consultancies do. We go through a process of insights, strategy, and design to arrive at well thought out, meaningful design solutions.

We visit stores, and sometimes purchase products for evaluation, specific to the project. Beyond that though, we use many of the products from the brands we work with in our real day to day lives. We use these products because they enhance our lives, gaining a deeper understanding as consumers totally unrelated to specific project work.

For example we create a lot displays and fixtures for the DIY channel (i.e. Lowes and The Home Depot). It’s not uncommon for a creative kickoff meeting to get derailed a bit with stories of installing door knobs, or replacing outlets and light fixtures. Consumer electronics are some of the most complicated product segments on the market. We, like most people, have welcomed high tech appliances, tv’s, and connected devices into our personal lives. This deeper, real world understanding of the products we design experiences for, really helps us be better designers. We can have really deep, interesting conversations about the products and how they work, and this influences how we educate shoppers, and market the best features and benefits.

We don’t design in a vacuum (though we do use vacuums and design vacuum displays). Our team at Neon Carrot is naturally curious and we use our real world experiences, as consumers ourselves, to help us create for our clients.