How symbols and brands shape our humanity | Debbie Millman

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4.1 • 11.9K Ratings

🗓️ 14 February 2020

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

"Branding is the profound manifestation of the human spirit," says designer and podcaster Debbie Millman. In a historical odyssey that she illustrated herself, Millman traces the evolution of branding, from cave paintings to flags to beer labels and beyond. She explores the power of symbols to unite people, beginning with prehistoric communities who used them to represent beliefs and identify affiliations to modern companies that adopt logos and trademarks to market their products -- and explains how branding reflects the state of humanity.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This TED Talk features designer, author, and educator Debbie Millman, recorded live at TED Women 2019.
0:09.1	Debbie also hosts a podcast called Design Matters, where she interviews incredibly creative people about how they design the arc of their lives.
0:17.7	Find it wherever you get your podcasts.
0:21.3	13.8 billion years ago, the universe as we know it began with a big bang and everything that we
0:30.9	know and are and are made of was created. 50,000 years ago, our brains underwent a major genetic mutation, which resulted in the
0:44.5	biological reorganization of the brain. Some scientists call this the big brain bang.
0:53.3	Others call it the Great Leap Forward,
0:56.8	which I prefer.
0:57.8	It's so much more poetic.
1:00.0	This is when Homo sapiens began to evolve
1:02.8	into the modern species that we are today.
1:07.3	The Great Leap Forward activated most of our modern abilities, abstract thought, planning, cooking, competitive labor, language, art, music, and self-decoration.
1:23.3	After the Great Leap Forward, there was an explosion of stone toolmaking,
1:29.3	more sophisticated weaponry, and 32,000 years ago,
1:34.3	the creation of our first sophisticated mark-making on the cave walls of Leskow.
1:42.3	It's not a coincidence that we've gone from documenting our reality on the cave
1:48.0	walls of Leskow to the walls of Facebook. And in a very meta experience, you could now book a trip
1:57.8	to see the walls of Lesko on the walls of Facebook.
2:03.7	Approximately 10,000 years ago, men and women began to array themselves with makeup.
2:11.9	They started to self-decorate.
2:13.9	But this wasn't for seductive purposes.
2:17.0	This was for religious convictions.
	...

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