Introduction
The process of decoding the brand language represents a fundamental step in metadesign practice, in particular in the field of fashion in which the symbolic and cultural value of products is highly relevant. In fact, as Gérald Mazzalovo states, the brand management function operates at a level of defining brand values, i.e. on the “brand ethics” dimension, while often it has no mean to understand the nature, complexity and implications of the "brand aesthetics".[1]
At the same time, the design function may tend to operate exclusively relying on its own "aesthetic" vision, sometimes neglecting the "immanent" stylistic codes embedded in the brand itself.[2] But when a brand is well established and represented in the collective imagination[3], its language’s codes have a fundamental relevance in customers’ mechanisms of brand perception and sensemaking.[4]
In order to correctly direct the design process towards a synthesis between the designer's aesthetic language and that of the brand, it is therefore useful to understand the process of translating brand values into tangible expressions, i.e. aesthetic codes.
Therefore, the lesson that follows explores the process of codifying "stylistic codes" as a key component of the metadesign practice that orients the design of fashion product-systems.
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