NI’s $8.2 Billion Sale and the 4 Essentials of our Winning Product VBL

NI (National Instruments) is an industry-leading technology brand with a proud history of innovation. Engineers around the globe use their test equipment and measurement software to produce many of the products in our daily life. NI turned to MNML to develop a Visual Brand Language (VBL) that harmonized their products with their new brand identity (designed by NYC design firm Gretel). The product design VBL is compelling, flexible, and timeless, and ultimately built a more powerful customer experience. In April of this year, two years following our creative efforts, Emerson's Automation Technologies & Solutions purchased NI for $8.2 Billion.

The other half of your brand strategy

Companies spend a lot of time and energy cultivating their brands. But like Marty Neumeier said, "Your brand isn’t what you say it is, it's what they say it is." When customers interact with your product, they are interacting with your brand, and the message they receive from the products must be in sync with the message from the marketing and advertising teams. In other words, your brand must speak with a single, clear voice.

When thinking about your brand, don’t forget that there are two halves to your brand strategy. Most people are familiar with the marketing half, which is your brand identity, personality, tone of voice, etc. But, not everyone is familiar with the second component of brand strategy—the Visual Brand Language (VBL). A VBL is a framework for product design used to create a cohesive and memorable product family. Here are 4 VBL essentials that led to our success.

1. Principles First

Nailing your VBL principles is the cornerstone of an effective and durable VBL. The whole point of a VBL is to support your brand identity by making your products recognizable over time. Customers should know the brand even before seeing your logo or wordmark. The advantage of starting with principles is that they don't change over time. Working from bedrock principles, we create a foundation for your VBL to age gracefully over many generations of products.

2. Signature Elements

We help partners define the signature elements that make their products recognizable. Often, these elements are a combination of form, color, materials, finishes, and sound. We work collaboratively with your team to choose elements that are core to your customer experience, align with your brand identity, and are rational extensions of your supply chain.

3. Pressure Testing

Developing a VBL that can only apply to a single product doesn't do any good. We pressure-test VBLs by applying the rules to multiple products. Through this process, we refine the VBL to make it flexible enough to work everywhere, yet rigid enough to be a standard.

4. Roll Out

Once you have a VBL, how do you roll the document out to your team and ensure everyone knows the guidelines? We develop digital platforms that allow your team to access the information they need quickly. When it's time to make updates, a digital VBL document ensures that everyone in your organization will be up to date at the same time.

Having shared our insights on VBL excellence, we're eager to hear what product design families inspire you most. And what companies do you believe could benefit from a dose of product VBL innovation? Share your thoughts.