The reflection of cultural differences on developing a brand image in terms of graphic design perception (Examples from Turkey and Sweden)

Graphic design facilitates the task of visualizing corporate identity which is one of the most effective tools for developing a brand image. Oftentimes, corporate identity visuals of world-renowned brands embody figures from their country of origin. Some brands reflect knowingly the culture of their country of origin in their corporate identity visuals whereas some of the reflections follow naturally from the culture itself as a collection of acquired behaviors. In either case, cultural features appear in the graphic design language used in a brand's visual presentation. In this thesis, we focus on cultural reflections observed in graphic design, which is an important tool for creating a brand image. Our goal is to show that the interactions between graphic design and cultural concepts as well as the way in which these interactions are analyzed play an important role in developing a brand image. We analyzed four different brands from two countries to compare and contrast the cultural differences in their graphic design approaches. One of these countries is Turkey, which has a very rich and diverse culture thanks to its lands being home of several civilizations throughout human history. The other one is Sweden, a small Scandinavian country, which is one of the wealthiest, most modern and developed countries in the World, also known for cherishing plain and minimalist style in their graphic designs. Due to observed differences in their graphic design approaches, these two countries highlight the findings of our study clearly. In the beginning of the study, we present background information about these two countries including their cultural and organizational structures, graphic design processes, popular brands, and country images. In our findings section, we analyze graphic designs of four popular brands that operate in similar industries and have strong corporate identities in these countries. In particular, we study Koçtaş (Turkey) – IKEA (Sweden) brands in the home improvement and furniture retail industry, and Yeni Rakı (Turkey) – Absolut (Sweden) brands in the spirit industry. We first choose a set of corporate identity visuals for each one of these brands, and then, examine the chosen visuals to identify cultural reflections using two different evaluation criteria. We employ the 'fundamental graphic design principles', which are well-established in the design domain, as one of these criteria. Nevertheless, we introduce a new evaluation criterion based on 'distinctive cultural features in graphic design' where we inspect elements in a graphic design that can reveal cultural reflections. These elements include visuals, typography, simplicity, color, slogan, wit, and message. We investigate the graphic design language used in the corporate identity visuals of the aforementioned brands according to these criteria, provide a detailed discussion on our evaluations in text, and present a summary of our findings in tabular form. Our analysis results indicate that the corporate identity designs of the studied brands reflect features from their country of origin. In addition, level of social tolerance and legal regulations impact the visual choices of the brands in their design processes. Limitations in the visual communication language force graphic designers to come up with alternative, creative, and risk-free solutions. Our most prominent finding in terms of graphic design is that the corporate identity visuals of IKEA and Absolut are persistent and consistent in their use of typography. On the other hand, Koçtaş and Yeni Rakı employ various typographic approaches in their corporate identity visuals. Nevertheless, our study shows that the stronger the meaning and significance of a brand's product or value are in a country's culture, the more evident the cultural reflections become in the brand's visual identity. Finally, our analysis of development dynamics of these brands suggests that working with talented and successful designers since the very beginning of a design-oriented marketing and branding process is one of the most critical factors that determines the existence of a brand.