Design Intelligence Framework · Benjamin Cuenod

Your most valuable asset
is the one nobody measures.

We read it in brands that have one — and build it into brands that don't.

Get your free Brand Read →
No fee · No pitch · Three findings about your brand
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Signal
0.91
Coherence
Presence
Structure
Alignment
01 — Proof

The method in action

Sample case · PUMA · Built from public information only
PUMA. The animal: solitary, precise, an ambush predator. It does not hunt in packs. It does not perform for the herd.

The brand has been ignoring its own logo. Its biggest campaign ever — built from 10,000 consumer interviews — asks a solitary predator to perform for the crowd. The campaign worked as a campaign. The brand eroded as a brand: Q1 net income fell from €87M to €500,000.

The diagnostic found the uncontested space that is PUMA's by founding right — and the four words that claim it. No competitor can say them without lying.

Read the full portrait →
This is what the free Brand Read produces. Every finding from public evidence. PUMA has no involvement in this analysis.
02 — The problem

Why brands lose money they never see leaving

You measure everything except the thing underneath.
Market share. Marketing spend. How people feel about you. All measured. Under all three sits what the brand has actually become over the years — and nobody puts a number on it. Every big decision spends against it blind.
One thing you own cannot be copied.
Competitors can match your products, your prices, your campaigns. They cannot copy who you have become — that was earned slowly, and it cannot be bought. It is the only asset that gets stronger under pressure. Most companies never name it.
Unnamed, it burns off.
Everyone in the building feels what makes the company different. Ask ten people and you get ten answers. You cannot protect something nobody has put into words. The energy goes in ten directions and is lost.
Then you pay twice.
Once to build the thing right. Again to describe it wrong — marketing that points somewhere the product isn't. Both halves cost money. A bad decision here costs more to reverse than the read that would have caught it.
03 — How it works

One read. Then everything follows from it.

01 — Brand Read · Free
We read your brand from public evidence — communications, products, market signals. You receive three structural findings. Two to three weeks.
02 — Deep Dive
The read sharpened from inside: your data, your people, your customers. Findings become validated scores and precise intervention points — an argument a CFO can act on.
03 — Roadmap & Governance
The findings become sequenced moves, cheap proof first. Every new decision — product, market, campaign, hire — is tested against what the brand can carry, before the money is spent.
Every engagement starts with the read. Nothing is sold without it.
How to begin
Start with a Brand Read.
No fee. No pitch.
We produce a partial structural diagnostic from public evidence — three findings, no commercial proposal. You see the quality of the work before any engagement begins.
The same approach produced the diagnostic that led a premium manufacturing brand's product leadership to table the findings with their CEO. It is not a teaser. It is a complete structural read at reduced scope.
There is no fee for the Brand Read. If the findings are useful and you want the full structural picture, we discuss a full engagement. If they are not, you have a partial diagnostic you can use internally at no cost. The commercial intent is transparent — the value is not conditional on it.
01
We read your brand from public evidence
Communications, product positioning, market signals, competitive context. No internal data required. Produced in 2–3 weeks.
02
You receive three structural findings
Specific, named, and commercially grounded. Not a capability overview — an actual finding about your brand, produced before any commercial conversation begins.
03
If the findings are useful, we discuss what comes next
The full diagnostic, the voice work, the governance retainer — or nothing further. The Brand Read is a complete deliverable. If you find it useful and want the full structural picture, that conversation is straightforward. If you do not, the three findings are yours to use.
04 — About

The practitioner

Benjamin
Cuenod
Brand architect · 25+ years
NIO — Brand design & experience, Europe & UAE
Roland Berger — Brand narrative
Red Bull TV — Brand & content architecture
ARTE / 3sat — Rebrand & spatial identity
Film title design — Los Angeles
DE · EN · FR · IT

The work has always started in the same place: listening closely enough to an organisation to surface what is genuinely distinctive — before shaping it into something others can recognise and trust. The most useful position is the space before the brief exists.

On AI
Design Intelligence is AI-assisted, not AI-built. The framework, the scoring logic, and the judgement are human. AI accelerates research and production — it does not replace the reading. AI can generate anything. Coherence cannot be automated. That is why the practitioner exists.
Your most valuable asset is the one
nobody measures.
Find out what yours is — and what it's worth.
Get your free Brand Read →
Service Catalogue
Connect
— Service Catalogue

Engagements & pricing

Direct client engagements. Every engagement begins with a foundation — a diagnostic for existing brands, an origination for brands built from zero. Either produces a brand model: a structurally derived, durable asset the organisation can operate against for years. Execution, governance, and evolution work are downstream of that model. Pricing is structured by organisation size to reflect the scope each engagement requires. Catalogue 2026 · All prices excl. VAT.

01 Portrait & Diagnostic
Step zero · Free
Brand Read — Free
Three structural findings about your brand, built from public evidence. No fee, no pitch, no commercial proposal. The pre-commercial step: you see the quality of the work before any engagement begins. The full diagnostic below is the complete portrait — every finding, full debrief, the foundation all further work builds on.
Free
2–3 weeks · Three findings
Free
2–3 weeks · Three findings
Free
2–3 weeks · Three findings
Free
2–3 weeks · Three findings
Core · Full read
Brand Coherence Diagnostic — External
The complete structural read from public evidence. Portrait, coherence gaps, configuration, and priority intervention points. The foundation every engagement builds on.
€4,500 – €8,000
2–3 weeks · Written report + debrief
€8,000 – €15,000
2–3 weeks · Written report + debrief
€18,000 – €32,000
3–4 weeks · Written report + debrief
€35,000 – €55,000
3–5 weeks · Written report + debrief
Core · Deep
Brand Coherence Diagnostic — Full
External diagnostic sharpened with internal data, interviews, and customer research. Validated scores and precise intervention points.
€9,000 – €16,000
4–6 weeks
€18,000 – €30,000
5–8 weeks
€40,000 – €70,000
6–10 weeks
€75,000 – €130,000
8–14 weeks
Intelligence
Concurrence Report
Structural analysis of 1–3 competitors. Maps positioning, drift, and space available.
On request
Scoped per situation
€4,000 – €7,000
Per competitor set
€8,000 – €15,000
Per competitor set
€15,000 – €28,000
Per competitor set
Stress Test
New Element Coherence Test
Brands that have completed recovery work accumulate sediment when new decisions are made without testing them against the established model. This engagement runs every proposed move — new product, market entry, audience segment, partnership, campaign, or leadership transition — through the recovered brand model before execution. Returns a coherence judgment with written reasoning. The instrument that holds the line.
On request
Scoped per situation
€4,000 – €8,000
Per element
€9,000 – €18,000
Per element
€18,000 – €35,000
Per element
Monthly
Presence Audit
Monthly drift check across live channels. Flags and correction brief. Requires completed diagnostic foundation.
On request
Scoped per situation
€1,500 / month
Monthly · Ongoing
€3,000 / month
Monthly · Ongoing
€5,500 / month
Monthly · Ongoing
Corporate
M&A Brand Compatibility
Pre-merger structural identity audit. Alignment distance, integration difficulty, brand dilution risk.
On request
Scoped per situation
€12,000 – €20,000
Scoped per situation
€22,000 – €40,000
Scoped per situation
€40,000 – €80,000
Scoped per situation
02 Brand Creation
Foundation · From zero
Full Brand Origination
All core elements defined from scratch: structural identity profile, brand world rules, character definition, identity foundation, persona architecture, voice and visual governance. For new ventures and organisations that have never had a structural identity.
€8,000 – €18,000
6–10 weeks · Complete foundation document
€20,000 – €40,000
6–10 weeks · Complete foundation document
€45,000 – €85,000
8–14 weeks · Complete foundation document
€90,000 – €130,000
10–16 weeks · Complete foundation document
Voice
Communications Register
Practical voice and tone guide derived from diagnostic. Register, vocabulary, sentence logic, and what to avoid.
On request
Scoped per situation
€4,000 – €7,000
Written guide
€8,000 – €14,000
Written guide
€18,000 – €28,000
Written guide
Narrative
Narrative Architecture
Complete story structure: founding logic, positioning, future direction. Written for pitches, press, and long-form communications.
On request
Scoped per situation
€4,500 – €8,000
Written document
€9,000 – €16,000
Written document
€20,000 – €32,000
Written document
Tool · Monthly
Voice Tool — Subscription
AI-powered text production tool built on your defined voice. Your team generates governed communications independently. Requires completed voice engagement.
On request
Scoped per situation
€600 / month
After voice engagement
€1,200 / month
After voice engagement
€2,200 / month
After voice engagement
03 Execution & Governance
Retainer · Monthly
Strategic Counsel
Regular access for live brand, positioning, and market decisions reviewed through the structural lens before they are made.
On request
Scoped per situation
€2,500 / month
Monthly retainer
€5,000 / month
Monthly retainer
€9,000 / month
Monthly retainer
Retainer · Full Governance
Brand Governance Partner
Full governance layer during active repositioning or significant transition. Agency briefings reviewed. Designer and partnership decisions evaluated against the structural brief. Product and market launches stress-tested before execution. Weekly access. For organisations where the brand decisions of the next 12 months define the next decade.
On request
Scoped per situation
€4,500 / month
Min. 12 months · Weekly access
€9,500 / month
Min. 12 months · Weekly access
€16,000 / month
Min. 12 months · Weekly access
Direction
Creative & Strategic Direction
Briefing and governing agencies on behalf of the brand. Translation of structural findings into executable creative direction.
On request
Scoped per situation
€3,500 – €7,000
Per brief
€7,000 – €15,000
Per brief
€14,000 – €28,000
Per brief
Evolution · Episodic
Product Discovery Engine
For brands whose recovery is in progress and whose character is operating correctly — the question becomes: what could this brand credibly build that does not yet exist? This engagement takes the recovered brand model as input and works systematically through the founder material, brand character, and cultural moment to surface candidate products, services, or ventures the brand could genuinely own. Delivered as a portfolio of named candidates with strategic rationale. Not available before a completed diagnostic. Not a strategy document — a structured discovery process that produces real options.
On request
12–16 weeks · Portfolio of candidates
€25,000 – €45,000
12–16 weeks · Portfolio of candidates
€55,000 – €90,000
12–16 weeks · Portfolio of candidates
€95,000 – €160,000
12–16 weeks · Portfolio of candidates
Coherence · Per launch
Campaign & Launch Coherence
Structural coherence work at the campaign or launch level — brief before creative begins, or fast-turnaround review before anything goes live.
On request
Scoped per situation
€1,800 – €3,500
Per launch
€4,000 – €8,000
Per launch
€8,000 – €16,000
Per launch
All engagements begin with a conversation — not a proposal. Prices are ranges; exact scope is confirmed before any engagement starts. A completed diagnostic or origination foundation is required before execution or governance work is commissioned.
02 — Partners

The network

Every partner in this network was selected through the same method Design Intelligence applies to clients. They are not aggregated — they are chosen because they operate in the same spectrum. Hover to read further.

Individual · Automotive
Kerstin Dahnert
Brand experience & automotive marketing
Resonance
0.91
Kerstin Dahnert
Marketing Manager at Porsche. Deep expertise in brand experience, experiential marketing, and how premium automotive brands create physical presence. Panel speaker at the International Festival of Brand Experience. Operates at the intersection of brand strategy and live activation.
LinkedIn →
Brand experience Automotive Live activation
Individual · Creative
Dona Abuaf
Retail brand experience & spatial identity
Resonance
0.93
Dona Abuaf
Senior Design Director, EMEA Brand Creative Retail at Nike. Over two decades translating brand identity into physical retail environments across flagship stores in Rome, Milan, Paris, and London. Rare capability: making a brand coherent in space, not just on screen. Based in Amsterdam.
LinkedIn →
Retail identity Spatial design Art direction
Individual · Academic
Inga Skowranek
Intercultural brand culture & digital branding
Resonance
0.84
Inga Skowranek
Professor for Intercultural Brand-Culture and Innovation at Brand University Hamburg. Teaches across brand design, digital branding, UX strategy, and system design. Brings academic rigour to questions of how brands travel across cultures — and where they lose coherence in translation.
LinkedIn →
Brand culture Digital branding UX strategy
Individual · Comms
Eleonora Tuveri
Communications & institutional relations
Resonance
0.80
Eleonora Tuveri
Communications and stakeholder relations professional based in Switzerland. Background spanning Nestlé and the institutional sector. Brings rigour, multilingual range, and access to European institutional networks that are otherwise difficult to navigate independently.
LinkedIn →
Institutional Multilingual Switzerland · EU
Individual · Strategy
Roman Fernandez
Capital strategy & business development
Resonance
0.82
Roman Fernandez
Founder of EVOLVIA, Berlin. Helps complex businesses raise capital and achieve exits at their target valuations. Roland Berger network connections. Operates at the intersection of brand positioning and investment narrative — where the story a company tells becomes the story investors believe.
LinkedIn →
Capital strategy M&A Investor narrative
LK
Agency · Branding
loyalkaspar
Brand identity & creative production
Resonance
0.89
loyalkaspar
New York branding agency founded 2003. Thinks like an agency, designs like a studio, produces like a production company. Clients include Disney+, ESPN, Marvel, the Smithsonian, and the White House. Rare in the industry for operating fluently across strategy, identity, and motion without losing coherence between them.
loyalkaspar.com →
Brand identity Motion & production New York
M
Studio · CGI & Visualisation
Machenschaft
High-end CGI & automotive visualisation
Resonance
0.87
Machenschaft
Munich-based CGI and visualisation studio, founded 2012. Premium visual quality for automotive, product, and industrial content. Recently merged with Rapid Images to accelerate AI-assisted production workflows. The partner of choice when a brand's visual world needs to exist before the product does.
machenschaft.com →
CGI Automotive Munich
lomi
Agency · Strategic Design
Lomi Agency
Strategy & design for complex organisations
Resonance
0.86
Lomi Agency
Oslo-based strategic design consultancy. Applies design to shape strategy — not decorate it. Clients include Audi, BMW, NIO, Mercedes, and Volkswagen Financial Services. Built by founders from Tandberg, where design was used to build a premium brand and become the market leader in videoconferencing. That is a specific credential.
lomi.agency →
Strategic design Automotive Oslo
Open · By selection
Network grows through resonance
05 — Lab

POCs & tools

Working experiments, proof-of-concepts, and built tools — each a live instance of a system principle. Select any to open the artifact.

Tool 04 — Coming soon
Tool 05 — Coming soon
Tool 06 — Coming soon
Section · Partners
The network
Curated partners selected through the Design Intelligence method — individuals and firms operating in the same frequency. Access requires a key.
Restricted →
— More coming