Lisa Smith killed the ‘blanding' trend. Now she has another plan to upend branding
Who knew a product like high-protein Greek yogurt could turn design off minimalism? But soon, a cohort of expressive, personality-driven, maximalist copycats emerged. Cooper Black was the new black. Smith had never been averse to stylistic shake-ups, if a brand mission calls for it. She'd rebranded the Met while at Wolff Olins; later at the design agency JKR, she satiatingly rebranded Burger King. Following six years as global executive creative director JKR, where she also rebranded Mozilla, Fanta, Impossible, and Walmart, Smith is moving to the smaller, multifunctional creative studio Uncommon as its first-ever global chief design officer, with another simple but groundbreaking idea: to expand what ' branding ' encompasses.
Here, Smith explains why holistic teams that include advertising and marketing creatives are the real way to push design forward, why handoff should happen after launch day, and how she plans to build a renegade team that goes 'beyond just delivering guidelines.' 'I've always been a little bit messy,' she says.
This conversation has been condensed and edited.
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