Creative Boom introduced Koto’s report on electric-car brands on 3 November. Its central question is distinctiveness: how do you find a character of your own when an entire category is so enthusiastically performing the future? This is the studio’s perspective, rather than a new independent consumer survey.
For designers, the interesting part is the test itself. Remove the name: does the message still have an identifiable author? Recognition can live in photography, the rhythm of copy, interface behaviour, even what a brand chooses to leave out. An unusual symbol alongside a familiar set of promises is unlikely to carry the whole job.
Try it outside the car industry too. Put three category websites side by side and cover their logos. You may discover that the companies share an art director, although their accounts departments have never heard about it. Then there’s a concrete task: find a decision of your own that survives meeting the neighbours.
