This course tells the history of branding, how brands should be understood and how meaningful brands are built.

Branding theory and practice is often based on the notion that brands should somehow emulate human traits and behaviour, but unscientific metaphors such as “personality” or “DNA” detaches brand strategy from culture, history and ultimately reality. Building your brand on a foundation of unsubstantiated theory distorts the scope of creative possibilities and increases the risk of misguided strategic trajectories.

Brands are not coded with anthropomorphic DNA, but built from cultural materials, signifiers and themes. Brands are, in French semiologist Raphaël Lellouche’s words, “transmedia cultural entities”. Brand is a cultural category. Branding is, or should be, the strategic creation of culture.

Brands are evolved, like any other cultural entity, from an ideological belief system expressed creatively through an inspiring mythology, meaningful rituals, symbolic artifacts and distinct sites. Brands should therefore be conceptualized, designed and strategized as such.

Take the course and gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon brand and how to design meaningful and relevant brands.

The course is based on original theories developed by Karl Grøndal.

The term “iconic” is often misunderstood and misused in design discourse. Brands sometimes label a product as iconic even before it reaches the market—a claim that is premature and ultimately meaningless.

True icons do not emerge overnight. They are the result of a complex interplay between design strategies, marketing dynamics, and broader cultural developments. To better understand what it takes for a product to achieve iconic status, this course will explore the history of modern design icons and examine key concepts such as meaning density, cultural provenance, and references for you to gain a deeper understanding of icons and iconicity.

The course is based on original theories developed by Karl Grøndal.

Storefronts is based on a research project studying retail design across the globe.

Karl Grøndal has documented a plethora of styles and concepts. From high-end brand flagships to mom-and-pop stores. From affluent shopping areas to informal settlements. Escape your algorithmic taste profiles on TikTok and Instagram and become inspired by the diversity of the real world.

Storefronts feature images from:

New York, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Bogota, Paris, London, Rome, Milan, Brussels, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Cape Town and other places.

Public Design is based on a research project studying the design of urban environments across the globe.

“An aspect of public design I find particularly fascinating is the way we enshrine nature. The quintessential modern example lies in how the Manhattan skyline frames Central Park, juxtaposing the soft, green expanse of the park against the concrete structures of the city. If you start looking for it, you will realize we enshrine and idealize nature everywhere in the urban landscape. Integrated into buildings, trees framed by cast-iron grates along the streets or just a plant in a pot. I find this combined deification and subjugation of nature profoundly human.”

- Karl Grøndal