Brand Tourism & Attention to Details

As a hobby, one thing I love to do when I travel is visit commercial establishments (be it coffee shops, stores, services, etc) that have excellent brand consistency. I call this ‘brand tourism’.

What I mean by brand consistency is where you get a feeling, as a customer, that every detail is thought through to reflect the values and vision of the founders. The more attention to detail, the more I enjoy the brand tourism experience.

This attention to detail typically includes how products are created/selected, how customer service is, and how people experience your product or service (packaging or locale).

To give you two visual examples of places in San Fran that I really enjoy for their visual attention to detail and store brand consistency, check out these two photo stories I made –

Taylor Stitch – A clothing store that has a very San Fran Hipster feel to it. – http://stories.iconografi.co/taylor-stitch

Four Barrel Coffee – Although these days the experience is perhaps slipping according to a few due to the popularity it has, its decor and how they hire staff has been very good. – http://stories.iconografi.co/four-barrel-coffee

I’ve chosen to share physical locations as examples (vs. apps) because they can set a good example upon which to base software products. Around San Fran there are several other really good example.. The Mission Workshop bags store and Triple Aught Design store to name a few others.

So, as you think about building out your website, imagery, icons, etc, ask yourself, am I making my brand consistent across all aspects and details of what I do?

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