Branded America
Research
Speculative Design
Image Creation
Branded America is a speculative design project that asks the questions, "What if brands entered the political realm and held political power?" and "What power do brands have over the decisions people make?" Our deliverable is a call for rebels disguised as a travel guide for the Divided States of Brand, the evolved dystopian land of the former United States. In this travel guide, you will follow along through newly named factions: The Tiered Faction, The Branded Belt, The Machine, and The Homestead.
Rebel Symbol by Sa-Shai Daniels (DAAP Fashion)
Images by Meesh Strauss (DAAP CODE)
Design Process
Our design process began with a week or so of research into which brands currently "reign" which areas of the United States. We quickly came to understand that the East Coast was home to many high fashion brands and banks, the West coast was home to tech companies, the Midwest was home to farmland, and the South was home to the working population. Read our Travel Guide text written and edited by Alexa Ream here!
Rebel Symbol by Sa-Shai Daniels (DAAP Fashion) Images & Map by Lynsey Ficker
Layout by Meesh Strauss (DAAP CODE Copy by Alexa Ream (DAAP Fashion)
We broke up the work and started brainstorming names for our factions and imagining what they'd be like in this dystopian branded universe. I was responsible for the
overview for the Tiered Faction, formerly the East Coast. The Tiered Faction is obsessed with brands. There are three levels of citizen within this tiered faction: Tier 3 is wealthy executives & their families, Tier 2 is full of those individuals that have sold themselves to brands–the highest form of brand loyalty, and Tier 1 is formed of seemingly "poor" individuals who are in reality running their own black market. You can read more about The Tiered Faction in this document!
In addition to brainstorming for The Tiered Factions story, I was also responsible for creating the map of the Divided States of Brand as well as the creation of the images used in the travel guide. Check out our final book here!
