It's the summer of 2021—one year since the&nbsp;. And if you’re wondering what that has to do with the season-four wrap-up of a podcast about branding, let me tell you: in early 2020 I had a plan for season four of How Brands Are Built. But in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and protests around the world, my plan changed a bit. 2020 was already a pretty awful year for most people, and it just seemed to be getting worse and worse. So I started thinking about whether there was a way I could use this little platform of mine to do some good—or at least talk about something positive. That led me to reach out to my most diverse set of guests yet, starting with&nbsp;, who talked about the origins of racist brand names and what to do about them. I talked to female agency founders like&nbsp;&nbsp;of Noise 13,&nbsp;&nbsp;of Motto, and&nbsp;&nbsp;of Red Antler about how they got started and the role of diversity in their agency cultures. The season ended with a two-part episode featuring&nbsp;&nbsp;and his agency's design apprentice,&nbsp;, who told me about one way to create opportunities for talented, but less privileged, designers and strategists. And along the way, I talked to&nbsp;&nbsp;of&nbsp;,&nbsp;, author of&nbsp;,&nbsp;and&nbsp;&nbsp;of Sid Lee. While I talked to guests about their agencies, books they’d written, or other topics specific to their areas of expertise, I also asked nearly all of them about what brands and branding professionals could be doing to improve the state of the world—in light of&nbsp;, in light of racial injustice, and just in general. Are brands a force for good? Can they be? Should they&nbsp;try&nbsp;to be? At the end of this episode, which features clips from every interview this season, I boil everything I heard and learned down into five ways brands—and branding professionals like you and me—can&nbsp;make the world a better place&nbsp;(sorry):  Be selective (and stick to your values) Walk the talk Wield your influence Proactively pursue diversity Don’t underestimate the power of your work  In the episode, I break down each of these ideas in detail.

Season four wrap-up: How brands (and branding professionals) can do good

Today’s guest is Alina Wheeler, best known as the author of  now in its fifth edition. One of my favorite memories of this book is seeing it on a desk when I arrived to my first day on the job at , where I worked in Shanghai. I already knew the book, but seeing it in use, so far from home—that's when I really understood how influential of a book it is. In fact, it's been&nbsp;translated into Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, French, and other languages—and it's used by brand, marketing, and design teams, undergraduate and graduate students, and brand and business consultancies all over the world. I wanted to get an idea of why Alina wrote the book and what she was doing beforehand (around 2003). Along with being an author, she's a designer with over 40 years of experience working with teams in the public and private sector. She’s led the development of integrated brand identity programs, sales and marketing strategies, and design and communications systems. I was excited to have the opportunity to talk to Alina about her career, the book she’s created, and what the future holds for Designing Brand Identity.&nbsp;During the conversation, I learned that there will be a sixth edition but she won't be the author (!!!), how she gets case studies and quotes for the book, and the true identity of the mysterious Blake Deutsch. (It's hilarious—listen to find out.) Toward the end of the conversation, I asked Alina whether there's anything she'd like to support and ask that others check out, and she talked about , a brand identity designer and anthologist on indigenous African design systems and African Symbology. Simon's work includes the  book, a compendium of 1,000 unique symbols inspired by indigenous African design systems, symbols, and culture. And off the air, Alina also mentioned , something else she’s passionate about and recommends everyone checks out. I found the conversation both enlightening and inspiring, and I hope you do too.&nbsp;To learn more about Alina and Designing Brand Identity, visit . Of course, the book is available on  and wherever books are sold. Alina’s also active on  and .

Alina Wheeler has a doppelgänger named Blake Deutsch

Diego Segura is a design apprentice at&nbsp;, an independent strategy and brand experience design company with offices in New York City and San Francisco. In this episode, Diego describes how he discovered graphic design, his decision to drop out of high school, and what it's like being an apprentice at a prestigious branding and design company. This is the second part of a two-part series; the episode begins with a continuation of . Brian shares his side of Diego's story—how Diego first got in touch, how he became a full-time employee, and why, on one of their early days together, Brian took him out to run errands throughout New York City. After a short intro from Brian, the interview with Diego begins. I was eager to get Diego's backstory—it's fascinating (and inspiring) to hear how he got from a small town outside Austin, Texas to Collins in New York City. Along the way, he emailed with Michael Beirut, did multiple remote internships, and wrote &nbsp;(a chronicle of [my] crazy junior year). We also talked about the importance of agencies and design studios looking outside the traditional design schools, like  and —schools Diego wasn't even aware of when he was in high school—for new talent.  I'm telling you now: If I was out to start a studio today, I would practically build it solely on young ambitious people led by a really great creative director, head of design. Because the level of talent who reaches out to me personally, because they see I'm the design apprentice on the [Collins] website—the level of talent is insane. They are so, so, so good. ... There's no doubt they can add value. It's just, they didn't come from the same places that all the other designers came from, and we've gotta be okay with that." – Diego Segura  To learn more about Collins visit their . You can learn more about Diego (and see some of his work) at  and you can . If you're interested in checking out Diego's book, , it's available on Amazon, as is his second book,&nbsp;.

Diego Segura goes through the doors that open

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