Bridging
Strategy
& Design
Go beyond aesthetics, jargon, and everyday frameworks to uncover the theory & practice of brand strategy.
Why take this course?
Build brands with unassailable conviction.
This course outlines a story of conviction: how can brands know themselves with such clarity that they can easily articulate their reason for being, who they serve, and their values as an organization?
Learn the ‘language of business’ to gain influence with client stakeholders.
Designers and strategists can build alignment and enjoy influence with client stakeholders when they can speak to the methodologies and processes associated with narrative strategy.
Improve your strategic contribution in-house or as part of an agency team.
When aligned, strategists and designers can operate more efficiently, support each other as team members, and generate more effective creative ideas.
Help your team to balance internal perception with cultural reality.
A ‘gut feeling’ isn’t sufficient data upon which to build a brand platform. It’s key for internal teams to check their biases, empathize with target audiences, and gain an understanding of the contextual environment.
What are you
going to learn
in this course?
Introduction to Brand Strategy
We’ll start with an introduction to the idea of branding: what ‘branding’ encompasses and where it originated; how brands’ constant presence influences our decisions; the opportunity for storytelling that brand strategy presents; and why branding or rebranding would be warranted or necessary.
Decoding Culture
Often design is inspired, but not necessarily informed. Decoding the cultural environment is the only route to finding a path forward that’s both informed and inspired. Where is the right place to start, and how should we design methods for cultural research? Often expensive and often deprioritized, research can give us many commercial advantages, including a robust understanding of our target audience.
Recoding Culture
A discussion on creating new brand meanings, expressions and behaviors. This is the work of brand strategy: to help creative teams align on the narrative and world the brand should live within. Often agencies and in-house teams have unique perspectives on how to structure this work (there’s not a ‘right way’), so we’ll discuss different frameworks.
A Strategy-Design Mindmeld
A rich narrative strategy can be the catalyst for strategic and beautiful work. How do we bridge the gap between strategy and design? Moreover, early explorations as a design team can inspire copy, and vice versa. How do you create an environment that helps both teams to influence the other?
Developing a Brand POV
Counterintuitively, we’ll return to the beginning of the branding process. When a brand draws on audience interests or community ideals to define the role it might play in culture, it’s expressing a point of view—driving both brand and buyer towards a shared belief. How can a brand’s POV on culture give it credibility?
Defending a Brand POV
Finally, we’ll spend time exploring and critiquing various POVs (including my own). By analyzing examples, we’ll understand how brand theory is applied in real-world scenarios. We’ll also understand the power that an initial POV (and eventual positioning) can have on both a brand’s foundations and future. Responding to an earlier assignment, each student will also present their POV for a struggling brand.
World-class professionals ready to teach you.
Alex Anderson
Senior Director of Brand Strategy at TRIPTK
The most effective strategists and designers help brands meaningfully contribute to the communities around them. Those who understand their distinct role in the system will simply outperform those that don’t.
Testimonials
Words of students who attended Bridging Strategy & Design.
Dominik Pearce
Graphic Designer at Maven Creative
Wonderful class taught masterfully by Alex. Very inspiring and informative and having us apply what we've learnt so far in to a small presentation was a perfect way to apply the learnings. Once again a huge shoutout to Alex for being such an incredible strategist, presenter and teacher!
Tina Scaccio
Brand Strategist
I loved this course! It helped demystify the concepts and practices involved in the work of Brand Strategy and its importance. Class topics were insightful, engaging, and clearly presented.
Kaylee Reynolds
Freelancer Designer
This was an incredibly informative class—I came away from it with such a good grasp of how impactful brand strategy can be. As a designer, it was helpful to step into the mind of a strategist, to better understand how the two can work in tandem with each other. I appreciated that each class took us step-by-step through a very thorough strategic process, from research (The Decode Process) to developing a Brand POV.
Enroll today for our next class
Tuition
US$ 750
10% discount for former students. If you have completed at least one course with us in the past, you are eligible to receive the discount immediately.
We offer scholarships.
If you are a member of an underrepresented or marginalized community, have an annual income of less than $30,000.00, are unemployed, or work for an organization making a social impact, you could be eligible for a scholarship immediately. Enroll now.
Course Duration
3-week course.
5 classes — Wednesdays and Saturday.
10 hours of workload.
All classes take place live via Zoom. The links are automatically sent to your email and WhatsApp (optional). The sessions are recorded and will be available to students.
Check the
upcoming dates
Class Jan 22 – Feb 08
Instructors: Alex Anderson
Wednesdays and Saturdays
Wed, 01/22 – 7:00 PM EST Wed, 01/22 – 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM EST
Sat, 01/25 – 9:00 AM EST Sat, 01/25 – 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM EST
Wed, 01/29 – 7:00 PM EST Wed, 01/29 – 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM EST
Sat, 02/01 – 9:00 AM EST Sat, 02/01 – 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM EST
Sat, 02/08 – 9:00 AM EST Sat, 02/08 – 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM EST
Modality
Remote class, live on Zoom.
Class May 14 – May 31
Instructors: Alex Anderson
Wednesdays and Saturdays
Wed, 05/14 – 7:00 PM EST Wed, 05/14 – 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM EST
Sat, 05/17 – 9:00 AM EST Sat, 05/17 – 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM EST
Wed, 05/21 – 7:00 PM EST Wed, 05/21 – 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM EST
Sat, 05/24 – 9:00 AM EST Sat, 05/24 – 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM EST
Sat, 05/31 – 9:00 AM EST Sat, 05/31 – 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM EST
Modality
Remote class, live on Zoom.
What you can expect attending Bridging Strategy & Design
Remote classes.
Our classes are always remote and live via Zoom so you can get the most out of it and have real connections with your peers and the instructor.
Stay close.
Learn more.
You have direct access to the instructor and your peers with an exclusive channel on Slack, allowing you to exchange experiences and learn from world-class professionals and students worldwide.
A platform
tailored for you.
From the moment you enroll in a class to the moment you get the certificate, we designed a platform that gives you the best experience. Alune is our proprietary platform where you can watch back the Zoom sessions and keep up with your progress anytime, forever.
Learn from
real-life examples.
You can also be eligible for our Talent Program, which puts you in front of top-tier companies ready to hire. After completing the course, you’ll receive a certificate to celebrate the achievement and brag about it on social media.
FAQs
Who is this course for?
Designers who’d like to further their understanding of brand strategy as a discipline. Early- & mid-career strategists who work in an agency setting but haven’t been given a ‘formal’ crash course on the fundamentals of brand strategy. Senior strategists who have always been curious about the processes and methodologies used in different agency or in-house contexts. Senior strategists who work at an advertising agency but are curious about the role of strategy in brand design & innovation.
How can I communicate with the instructors and peers?
Upon application, you will be added to a private Slack group with instructors and other students. It is a place for questions, exchange of ideas, and inspiration, in addition to official communication and announcements.