TED精选|设计界女王：符号与品牌是如何塑造文化的？

如今，有个很流行的概念叫打造个人品牌，那品牌究竟是什么？ 它存在的价值和意义又是什么？

被誉为“品牌女王”，全球品牌设计、品牌管理领域的教母级人物Debbie Millman认为，品牌是人类精神意志的深刻体现。

在这场精彩的历史漫游中，Millman带领我们一起追溯了品牌的进化史，探寻了符号意义的变迁，以及品牌是如何反映塑造文化的，一起看看吧~

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讲者简介

Debbie Millman

全球顶尖设计师，SVA Branding专业系主任，超高人气播客主，美国最大品牌顾问公司Sterling Brands创始人之一，带领团队曾为微软、谷歌、联合利华等众多世界闻名品牌，设计logo及整体视觉、包装。美国平面设计评价她为“至今最有影响力的设计师之一”

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Thirteen point eight billion years ago, the universe as we know it began with a big bang, and everything that we know and are and are made of was created.

138 亿年前，我们熟知的宇宙诞生于大爆炸，我们所知、所是、所构成的一切都由此诞生。

Fifty thousand years ago, our brains underwent a major genetic mutation, which resulted in the biological reorganization of the brain. Some scientists call this "The Big Brain Bang." Others call it "The Great Leap Forward," which I prefer. It's so much more poetic.

5 万年前，我们的大脑经历了一场重大的基因突变，从而发生了生物性重组。有一些科学家称之为“大脑大爆炸”，也有人称之为”大飞跃“。这是我更喜欢的叫法，因为它更富有诗意。

This is when Homo sapiens began to evolve into the modern species that we are today. The Great Leap Forward activated most of our modern abilities: abstract thought, planning, cooking, competitive labor, language, art, music and self-decoration.

正是从此刻起，智人开始进化成为我们今天这样的现代物种。大飞跃激活了我们大部分的现代能力：抽象思维、计划、烹饪、竞争性劳动、语言、艺术、音乐和自我装饰。

After the Great Leap Forward, there was an explosion of stone toolmaking, more sophisticated weaponry and, 32,000 years ago, the creation of our first sophisticated mark-making on the cave walls of Lascaux.

在大飞跃之后，石器的制作呈爆发式发展，诞生了更加复杂的武器， 32000 年前，我们在拉斯科的洞窟壁上创造了最初的复杂符号。

It's not a coincidence that we've gone from documenting our reality on the cave walls of Lascaux to the walls of Facebook. And, in a very meta experience, you can now a book a trip to see the walls of Lascaux on the walls of Facebook.

我们从把现实生活记录到拉斯科洞穴墙壁上，进化到发布在脸书的实时动态墙上并不是一个巧合。通过一次非常全面的体验，你现在可以在脸书的动态墙上预定一趟去参观拉斯科壁画的旅程。

Approximately 10,000 years ago, men and women began to array themselves with makeup. They started to self-decorate. But this wasn't for seductive purposes; this was for religious convictions.

在大约 1 万年前，男人和女人们开始用化妆品打扮自己。他们开始进行自我装饰。但这并非出于性吸引的目的，而是为了宗教信仰。

We wanted to be more beautiful, purer, cleaner in the eyes of something or someone that we believed had more power than we did. There is no culture in recorded human history that has not practiced some form of organized worship, which we now call "religion."

我们想要在我们认为比自己权力更高的人或事物眼中，显得更加美丽、纯洁、干净。在人类历史记载中的所有文明，都进行过某种形式的有组织的崇拜，现在我们称之为“宗教”。

Six thousand years ago, in an effort to unite people, our ancestors began to design telegraphic symbols to represent beliefs and to identify affiliations. These symbols connected like-minded people, and they are all extraordinary.

6000 年前，为了团结人民，我们的祖先开始设计图形符号以表达信仰，并识别隶属关系。这些符号将志同道合的人联系到一起，且它们都非常独特。

These affiliations allowed us to feel safer and more secure in groups, and the sharing created consensus around what the symbols represented. With these marks, you knew where you fit in, both for the people that were in the in crowd and those, as importantly, that were excluded.

这些隶属关系让我们在群体中感到更加安全和放心，而分享的行为则创造了对于符号所表达意义的共识。有了这些符号，你就会知道自己的归属，这既适用于那些群体中的人，同样重要的是，这也适用于那些被排除在外的人。

These symbols were created in what I consider to be a very bottom-up manner: they were made by people for people and then shared for free among people to honor the higher power that they ascribed to. What's ironic is that the higher power actually had nothing to do with this.

我认为这些符号是由自下而上的方式创造的：它们由人民创造、服务于人民，然后在人民中免费传播和分享，以此对他们拥护的更高权力表示敬意。讽刺的是，这些更高权力事实上与这一切并无关系。

These early affiliations, they often shared identical characteristics, which is rather baffling given how scattered we were all over the planet. We constructed similar rituals, practices and behaviors no matter where we were anywhere on the globe.

这些早期的隶属关系通常都有相同的特点，考虑到我们在地球上的分散程度，这其实挺令人费解的。无论我们置身地球上的何处，都构建了相似的仪式、习俗和行为。

We constructed rituals to create symbolic logos. We built environments for worship. We developed strict rules on how to engage with each other with food, with hair, with birth, with death, with marriage and procreation.

我们创建了仪式去创造象征性的符号。我们建造了用来朝拜的环境。我们设立了关于食物、发型、出生、死亡、婚姻与繁衍等一系列严格的规则，以规范与彼此相处的方式。

Some of the symbols have eerie commonalities. The hand of God shows up over and over and over again. It shows up as the hamsa hand in Mesopotamia. It shows us as the hand of Fatima in Islam. It shows up as the hand of Miriam in Judaism.

有些符号之间有着诡异的共同点。神之手反反复复地出现。在美索不达米亚，它是哈姆萨之手。（常见于爱神伊南娜的护身符）在伊斯兰教中，它是法蒂玛之手。（法蒂玛：先知穆罕默德之女）在犹太教中，它是米利暗之手。（米利暗：先知摩西之姐）

Now, when we didn't agree on what our beliefs and behaviors were in regards to others, if we felt that somebody else's were incorrect, we began to fight, and many of our first wars were religious.

当我们的信仰或行为和他人无法达成共识时，如果我们觉得别人是不对的，我们便开始争斗，最初的很多战争都是由宗教问题引起的。

Our flags were used on the battlefield to signify which side of the battlefield we belonged to, because that was the only way to be able to tell friend from foe. We all looked alike. And now our flags are on mass-manufactured uniforms that we are making.

在战场上，我们用旗帜表明自己属于战场中的哪一方，因为那是唯一区别敌我的方式。毕竟我们长得都差不多。如今，我们的旗帜则出现在大量生产的制服上。

Logos on products to identify a maker came next, and brands were given legal recognition on January 1, 1876, with the advent of the Trademarks Registration Act.

随后诞生的是产品上的标志，用于分辨生产厂家，而随着商标注册法案的问世，品牌在 1876 年 1 月 1 日开始被法律认可。

The first trademarked brand was Bass Ale, and I kind of wonder what that says about our humanity that first trademarked brand was an alcoholic beverage.

第一个商标品牌是 Bass Ale, 我很好奇第一个商标品牌是酒精饮品这件事阐述了我们人文文化的什么特点。

Now, here is what I consider to be the first case of branded product placement. There are bottles of Bass Ale behind me with the logo accurately presented here in this very famous painting in 1882 by douard Manet.

我认为，下面我要展示的应该是第一个品牌植入的营销案例。在我身后的是爱德华·马奈于 1882 年创作的知名画作，其中的数瓶巴斯艾尔酒上准确地画出了商标。

One of the most widely recognized logos in the world today is the Nike swoosh, which was introduced in 1971. Carolyn Davidson, a graphic design student, originally created the logo for 35 dollars.

当今世上最具辨识度的商标之一就是耐克的对勾，它于 1971 年问世。这是当时的一位平面设计学生卡罗琳·戴维森的原创作品，卖了 35 美元。

Upon seeing it, Nike CEO Phil Knight stated, "I don't love it but maybe it will grow on me." Maybe it will grow on me. But why is the swoosh so popular? Why is the swoosh so popular? Is it the mark? Or is the marketing?

耐克的首席执行官菲尔·奈特在看到标志的第一眼时说，“我没那么中意它，但我可能会渐渐喜欢上它吧。”也许我会渐渐喜欢上它。但是这个对勾为什么如此流行？那么这个对勾为什么如此流行? 是因为符号本身吗？还是因为它的营销手段？

And what can we make of the fact that the Nike swoosh seems to be the Newport logo upside down or the Capital One logo on its side? That is not the only logo with a shared identity.

我们又应如何看待，耐克的商标看上去像是倒过来的新港香烟的商标，或者是左右翻转之后的美国第一资本金融公司的商标？这还不是唯一有相似之处的标识。

This next logo is a logo that has a shared identity with wholly different meanings. As a Jewish person, I believe that this logo, this swastika, is the most heinous logo of all time. But it actually has a rather surprising trajectory.

下一个标志则和其相似物有着截然不同的含义。作为一名犹太人，我相信这个标志，这个纳粹的“卐”，是历史上最令人发指的标志。但它的历史轨迹其实挺令人惊奇的。

The word "swastika" originally comes from the ancient Sanskrit word "svastika," which actually means "good fortune," "luck" and "well-being." In the early 1900s, before it was appropriated by Hitler, it was used by Coca-Cola on a good luck bottle opener.

“Swastika”（西方语言的“卐”字）来源于古梵语的“svástika”一词，本意为“好运”、“幸运”和 “吉祥”。1900 年代初，在该标志被希特勒挪用之前，可口可乐曾经将它用于一款好运开瓶器上。

The American Biscuit Company prominently registered the mark and put it on boxes of cookies. The US Playing Card Company registered the mark in 1921 for Fortune Playing Cards.

美国饼干公司高调地注册了该标志，并把它用在曲奇盒子上。美国纸牌公司也在 1921 年为其好运扑克牌注册了该标志。

The Boy Scouts used the mark on shoes in 1910, and the symbol was also featured on cigar labels, boxtops, road signs and even poker chips.

美国童军在 1910 年把这个标志用在了鞋子上。这个标志也曾出现在雪茄牌子、商品印花、路牌，甚至是扑克筹码上。

Even the Jain made use of the logo along with a hand of God many millennia ago. These marks were identical, but with use as a Nazi symbol, the impact became very, very different.

甚至连耆那教也在数千年前把这个标志和神之手一起使用。这些标志是完全相同的，但被作为纳粹象征使用后，其影响就变得非常、非常不同了。

The hand of God, the Nike swoosh and the swastika: they all demonstrate how we've been manufacturing meaning with visual language over millennia. It's a behavior that's almost as old as we are.

神之手，耐克对勾，和 “卐”字：它们都显示了数千年以来，我们如何使用视觉语言创造意义。这个行为几乎是人类与生俱来的。

Today, in the United States, there are over 116,000 malls, and they all look pretty much the same. There are more than 40,000 supermarkets, and they each have over 40,000 items.

如今，在美国有超过 11 万 6 千个商场，它们看上去都大同小异。在美国有 4 万多家超市，每家超市里有超过 4 万件商品。

If you went shopping for bottled water, you'd have over 80 options to choose from. Since their launch in 1912, you could choose from over 100 flavors and variants of Oreo cookies.

如果你去买瓶装水，你将面对超过 80 种选择。自从 1912 年面世以来，奥利奥有超过 100 种口味和变化供人挑选。

Now, is this a good thing or is it a bad thing? Is a plethora of choice necessary in a free market? I believe it is both a good and bad thing, as humans are both good and bad, and we're the ones creating and using and buying these brands.

这到底是好事还是坏事呢？琳琅满目的选择在自由市场内真的有必要吗？我认为这既是好事也是坏事，就如人类也有好有坏，而我们是创造、使用和购买这些品牌的人。

However, I think that the question of whether this behavior is good or bad is actually secondary to understanding why -- why we behave this way in the first place.

但是，我认为比起明白这其中的原因——为什么我们最开始会有这样的行为——这种行为是好是坏其实是次要问题。

Here's the thing: every one of our mass-marketed products are what I consider to be top-down brands. They're still created by people, but they are owned, operated, manufactured, advertised, designed, promoted and distributed by the corporation and pushed down and sold to the consumer for financial gain.

重点在于：我认为每一件大量营销的产品都是自上而下的品牌。它们仍然是被人为创造出来的，但是它们是由企业拥有、运营、生产、宣传、设计、推销和经销的，并且被向下推行及销售给消费者，以赚取金钱利益。

These corporations have a responsibility to a P and L with an expectation of an ROI and have names like P and G and AT and T and J and J. And that's pretty much the way it's been for the last couple of hundred years: a top-down model controlled by the corporation.

这些企业需要对利润表负责，对投资回报率有所期望，并冠有宝洁、美国电话电报公司、强生之类的名字。在过去几百年间差不多一直如此：一个由企业控制的自上而下模式。

Until 2011. That's when we began to see evidence of real, significant, far-reaching change. The Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street proved how the internet could amplify messages and connect like-minded people with powerful beliefs to inspire change. We witnessed a cultural shift via social media with hashtags like #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter.

直到 2011 年，我们开始看到证据，证明真正的、可观的、深远的变化正在发生。阿拉伯之春和占领华尔街证明了网络能如何放大信息，并且连接起志同道合的、拥有激起变化的强大信念的人们。我们见证了通过社交媒体上的 #MeToo 和 #BlackLivesMatter 等话题标签发起的文化变革。

In its wake, the discipline of branding has transformed more in the last 10 years than it has in the last 10,000, and for the first time in modern history, the most popular, influential brands are not brands being pushed down by the corporation.

在这之后，品牌之道在过去十年内的转变超过了过去 1 万年内的变化，并且在现代史上第一次，最流行、最有影响力的品牌不再是由企业向下推行的品牌。

They are brands being pushed up by the people, for the people, for the sole purpose of changing the world and making it a better place.

而是源自人民，以及为了人民而向上推动的品牌，它们的唯一目的就是改变和改善这个世界。

Our greatest innovations aren't brands providing a different form or a different flavor of our favorite snack. Our greatest innovations are the creation of brands that can make a difference in our lives and reflect the kind of world that we want to live in.

我们最伟大的发明不是给我们喜爱的零食提供不同形状或口味的品牌。我们最伟大的发明是创造了能够对我们的生活产生影响、反映出我们想要居住的世界的品牌。

In November of 2016, Krista Suh, Jayna Zweiman and Kat Coyle created a hat to be worn at the Women's March in Washington, DC.

在 2016 年 11 月，克里斯塔·徐、杰娜·茨威曼和凯特·考尔制作了一顶在华盛顿特区女性大游行中佩戴的帽子。

This was the day after the presidential inauguration. Two months later, on January 21, 2017, millions of people all over the world wore handmade pink pussyhats in support of the Women's March all over the world.

这件事发生在总统就职后的第二天。在两个月之后的 2017 年 1 月 21 日，世界各地数百万人都戴着自制的粉红色猫咪帽（PussyHat），以支持世界各地的女性大游行。

The hat was not created for any financial benefit. Like our religious symbols created thousands of years ago, the hat was created by the people, for the people to serve what I believe is the highest benefit of branding: to unite people in the communication of shared ideals.

这顶帽子并不是为了牟利而诞生的。就像我们在数千年前创造的宗教符号一样，这顶帽子是由人民、为人民创造的，旨在达成我心目中品牌所承载的最大福祉：通过沟通共同理想将民众联合起来。

The pink pussyhat became a mark for a movement. In a very short time, two months, it became universally recognizable. It connected an audience in an unprecedented way. It is a brand, but it is more than that.

粉红色猫咪帽成为了一场运动的标志。在短短的两个月里，它在全世界变得备受瞩目，以前所未有的方式连接起了一个个受众。它是一个品牌，但又远不止如此。

Today, the pink pussyhat is proof positive that branding is not just a tool of capitalism. Branding is the profound manifestation of the human spirit. The condition of branding has always reflected the condition of our culture.

今天，粉红色猫咪帽积极地证明了品牌不只是资本主义的工具。品牌是人类精神意志的深刻体现。品牌总是能反映我们的文化。

It is our responsibility to continue to leverage the democratic power branding provides, and it is our responsibility to design a culture that reflects and honors the kind of world we want to live in.

而我们的职责是继续借助品牌提供的民主力量，肩负起责任，设计出一个能够反映，并且对我们想居住的世界表达敬意的文化。

喜欢今天的分享，就点个在看吧