What Interior Design Can Learn From Great Branding

* Part 4 in an 8-part series based on the social media campaign, "Beyond the Closet - 12 Questions with Jennifer"

I've watched Mad Men more than once.

Okay, considerably more than once.

Every time I return to it, I notice something different about branding, storytelling, human behavior and the complicated business of understanding what people want.

Beneath all the advertising pitches is a remarkably enduring idea:

People don't simply buy products. They buy how those products make them feel.

The same is true of design.

Great Brands Have a Point of View

Think about a truly memorable brand.

You recognize it before you see the logo.

There's consistency in the colors, language, materials, packaging and experience.

Great interiors work similarly.

A well-designed home has an identity.

That doesn't mean every room matches. In fact, I hope it doesn't.

But there should be a thread connecting them - a sense that the same person lives throughout the house.

Start With the Person, Not the Product

Great marketing begins with understanding the customer.

Great design begins with understanding the client.

Before I design a closet, I need to know more than the room's dimensions.

Who uses it? What do they own? How do they get dressed? What frustrates them? What do they want to see? What do they want hidden?

Those questions are essentially consumer research on a very personal scale.

That's why I often say good design is a form of listening.

Your Home Communicates Something

We all tell stories through our homes whether we're conscious of it or not.

Books communicate curiosity.

Art reveals interests.

Inherited objects reveal history.

An enormous dining table says gathering matters here.

A beautiful, hardworking kitchen says people cook here.

Our possessions and spaces become a kind of personal branding - not in a superficial sense, but as an expression of values.

Design the Feeling

At The Tailored Closet, we manufacture cabinetry.

But cabinetry isn't really what we're selling.

We're creating the feeling of opening a closet and immediately seeing what you need.

The relief of walking into an organized pantry.

The confidence of opening a garage without embarrassment.

The pleasure of a beautifully illuminated dressing room.

Those feelings are the product.

That's one of the great lessons branding offers design.

Don't begin by asking:  What should this look like?

Begin with:  How should someone feel when they're here?

Once you know that, the colors, materials, storage and details become tools for telling the story.

Great brands do more than sell.

Great homes do more than shelter.

Both create experiences we remember.