BRAND DESIGN AND DESIGNING FOR VALUE
10 MINUTE READ. PUBLISHED 2 FEB 2026.
CREATIVE COMMONS CC BY ELECTRO STRATEGY STUDIO. WRITTEN BY ADRIAN JARVIS.
TL;DR Brand design is value delivery, and value chains decide whether your promise survives contact with reality. As markets shift to partner ecosystems, brands becomes a working system across propositions and proof at the moments of truth. Here is a short field guide to that shift,
Image Credit: KONE
EXPLORING THE ROLE OF VALUE CHAINS IN BRAND DESIGN.
Brand design, at its heart, is the design of value delivery. How a company's products, services, people, partners connect in ways that customers decide to pay a premium for... and choose one company over another.
An illustration of a value chain might be... an elevator company that designs and builds mobility systems for high-rise buildings. It sources steel and electronics to manufacture and ship components for local installation, while keeping the systems running across the building lifecycle through planned service and modernisation.
Traditionally, value chains are the system behind turning inputs into profit; the end-to-end activities and relationships that create economic value. The focus has for decades been on optimising the processes within organisations and the points of handover between partners — optimising where value is created and lost in the chain.
What about brand values? Brand values matter because they set the rules for decisions across the value chain. Brand values manner when they inform day-to-day choices... who a brand works with, what standards partners must meet, and how teams act when something goes wrong... Brand values become practical guardrails for value creation.
Image Credit: The Woolmark Company
Value Proposition and THE Value CHAIN.
The heart of brand design is a value proposition that defines what to expect and the outcome of value delivery. In simple terms, customers form their choices based on moments directly shaped by the value chain; sourcing, quality, reliability, consistency, service, sustainability, partnerships.
An illustration of a value proposition might be... an ingredient brand such as Woolmark, where the certification signals a defined standard for the fibre quality and garment performance. The value proposition is the symbol of the value chain: it turns sourcing, grading, processing, manufacturing, and certification into a value cue on the finished product. Customers pay a premium for verified quality and view the mark as more than a marketing.
So the intersection between brand design and value chains should be seen as 'value by design', where choices such as materials, supply chain conditions and service delivery are balanced with strategic considerations such as positioning and competitiveness.
Brand design becomes strategic and symbiotic; both shaping and being shaped by the value chain. The aim is to ensure that customer value is built through the tangible delivery of the value proposition... while meeting commercial targets, such as liquidity and profitability.
Image Credit: Red Dot Design Awards / Shenzhen Homed Medical Device Co.
From Value Chains to Value Ecosystems.
While a value chain is generally seen as the end-to-end ‘work’ that turns inputs into something a customer uses, it is still mostly described as linear steps. As digital transformation accelerates, more proposition depend on value ‘ecosystems’. These are networks of networks; organisations that cooperate and compete to deliver joined-up outcomes.
An illustration a value ecosystem might be... a MedTech entrant designing to keep patients stable at home, while giving clinicians early warnings of changes to a specific condition.
To deliver their proposition, the brand has to fit into the ecosystem of clinics, general practitioners, payers, distributors, record platforms, regulators, manufacturers... So, for new technology to solve customer pain-points, delivery requires a complex system of healthcare providers, each with a role in value creation beyond the device.
CREATING A VALUE-BASED NARRATIVE.
Brand design defines the value proposition. Value chains and ecosystems decide whether that promise holds up in operational delivery. In markets shaped by technology, platforms, and partner networks, a value-based narrative stops being a copy-line and becomes a system you design, build, and manage. It provides the foundations brand experience and campaigns,
That means joining 3 things, that often sit across business functions:
The promise customers hear.
The mechanics teams follow.
The proof customers can see.
This “brand as a system” view shows up clearly in modern brand design. It links products, services, customer experiences, and the operating model into value delivery.
(A) DESIGN THE VALUE PROPOSITION.
Start by defining outcome to be delivered, with any trade-offs.
Use ideal and non-negotiable constraints to explicitly tie the proposition to the value chain. A useful working method is to write the value proposition, listing the minimum conditions required to make it operationally true. This forces clarity and stops a focus on edge cases.
Task: Define the value delivery in one sentence with ranked constraints.
Toolkits: Value Chain Analysis, Value Proposition Canvas
(B) DESIGN AT MOMENTS OF TRUTH.
Decide where trust is won or lost, designing the experience at those moments.
These are high-friction points where doubt rises and decisions get made. Build proof into the journey so customers can make informed choices. Make proof concrete and treat these as core product and service features, not just marketing content.
Task: Choose three moments of truth, then design the value signal for each one.
Toolkits: Customer Journey Mapping, Voice of the Customer
(C) DESIGN FOR CONSISTENT DELIVERY.
Turn the value proposition into operational playbooks for teams and partners.
Consistency comes from standards, handover rules, and escalation-paths. Design what happens at the connections in the value chain, then embed into services, toolsets, and partner agreements. Value delivery depends on consistent, cross-function application of operational frameworks.
Task: Blueprint key scenarios end-to-end, then turn it into playbooks.
Toolkits: Operating Model Design, Service Blueprints
GET IN TOUCH TO DISCUSS BRAND STRATEGY…
This article was written by Adrian Jarvis, who founded Electro, an independent strategy studio based in East London. Adrian has over 30 years' experience of working with enterprises of all sizes. The principles discussed here are highly scalable from start-ups to multinationals, across a range of categories. Find out more.