Yet we do have these modern mythmakers— brand shamans—who connect us to a parallel universe of soul aspirations. They pick a constellation from the cosmos of archetypes and invoke it to be associated with a particular brand. Some brand creators and business leaders do this very well, and the brand succeeds. When it doesn’t, it’s as though the

kids who come out of school, don’t want to go to work for just anybody—they don’t want to just get “a job.” They want to work for an organization they respect and that has the same values they

“Design gives people the ability to be one with the consumer culture—to be anthropologists and sociologists and deeply understand the myriad of cultures around them. It has a set of tools and methods that can guide us towards a much better way of doing things.”

We care about an ongoing narrative of design in objects, in ideas, and in experiences because they provide opportunities for us to participate in a new understanding of an incredibly turbulent world.

Millennials love the idea of authenticity. Authenticity, roots, and honesty are fundamentally key to them. They expect brands to tell the truth and to have “honest” ingredients.

What I really, hugely, and antagonistically dislike is the attempt to quantify the unquantifiable. And if you are a branding consultant, you have to accept that there are a lot of things you just cannot quantify.

we say, “If you can make a compelling argument, and win enough minds, and if you can transform various parts of our world sufficiently, then the moment belongs to you.”

Being a part of Nike or Starbucks is like being part of a religion. You learn all the tenets of the religion. Our job, as brand evangelists, is to gain converts to the religion.

User-centered design is about creating systems that are intuitive, inevitable, and quite natural.