Building Brands, Empowering Lives: AOS Studio's Journey to Empowerment
We live in a world where people consume more products, information, content, and media than ever. Markets are oversaturated; consumers' attention spans are waning; and products are having greater effects our well-being — and on the environment.
We [consumers] use products to help us navigate from our current state of living to a better, more ideal one: finding a new job, buying our first home, making new friends, or learning a new skill. We may be lured, intrigued, moved by the products, but what we’re truly in the market for is change, and the organizations that empower us to achieve the change we seek will be the ones we connect with — and support.
In this blog, I outline the experiences and key notions that led me to create AOS Studio™, and touch on the key ways I intend to utilize my expertise in design and strategy to empower brands to become a catalyst for change.
{1} I’ve always asked, “Why?”
Sometimes out of curiosity, but mostly out of necessity. I'm the kind of person who needs to know why something is, was, or will be done. I am, in essence, purpose-driven.
It mystifies me how so many organizations don't know the answer the essential question of, ‘Why?’ And it bothers me how many things are done without a reason — just ‘cause. I don’t think enough of us are asking, ‘Why?’
Asking ‘Why?’ has enabled me to become an intentional designer and strategical thinker. You will (hopefully) never find me — or this Studio — doing anything without a clear motive or reason. A clear Why yields purpose, purpose yields intention, intention feeds strategy, strategy informs design, and design solves a problem.
The biggest problem brands face today is helping people find meaning.
{2} Empowerment
Once the novelty of new products fades, we end up feeling empty and craving something deeper. What we really crave is meaning. We find meaning in the little things: walking our pets, reading a novel, hanging out with friends, spending time with family, taking a trip. Our greatest source of meaning, though, stems from our ability to contribute to a bigger purpose or vision — anything bigger than us.
The problem is most of use are raised to think one person’s efforts are inconsequential in the grand scheme of life — and the ‘system’. This is why empowerment is so important today; when we feel empowered, we gain the confidence and support required to change ourselves. Feeling empowered enables us to change ourselves, change others, and the world around us.
If you believe this idea to be true, then you’ll also agree that the brands empowering us today are helping to change the world we’ll live in tomorrow.
{3} We need leaders
In recent years, organizations have a new responsibility: to lead Tribes towards the change they seek. These same organizations are looking to designers for help. Those designers, studios, or agencies who step up to the plate will be the ones who help breed a new generation of better brands.
I understand not every business has the desire, or stomach, to lead. Leading is one of those things that is available to anyone [you!], but it’s not for everyone.
I created AOS Studio™ for the brands who choose to lead. My mission is simple: to help brands empower their Tribe by leveraging my expertise in design and strategy, and my ability to empathize and understand tribes.
Empowerment is contagious. It spreads from one customer to their Tribe, then to other Tribes, and, eventually, to the rest of the world. AOS Studio™ wants to spread empowerment across the world.
I believe empowerment is the future.
“The primary good that a company can offer its customers is empowerment. The best brand builders see greatness in their customers, and figure out ways to enable it.”
