
RESEARCH
In professional design, research is the responsibility that differentiates success and failure. The entire concept of research in professional design is founded on the need to highlight the problems experienced in the existing designs and to generate a way of better meeting the users' needs. In most cases, the client is the key to the survival of designers. Without the problems of a client, a designer has no purpose. In professional design, the client is synonymous with design trial. To be clear, the client is not necessarily the problem or challenge; instead, clients present conflicts to designers in search of solutions. Through this action, research becomes essential in developing new or novel products/ideas better suited to solve existing problems and meet user expectations (Bayazit, 2004). Bayazit discusses the importance of understanding the target audience and developing a solid brand identity. Bayazit's writings aided in justifying and understanding the demographics, interests, and needs of fans in Las Vegas, along with the justifiable cause of researching the branding of local competitors.
Determining Needs
Argo (2023) stated, "To understand the benefit, one must understand the need." According to Felton (2013), some needs determine why consumers buy. Most are familiar with Maslow's "hierarchy of needs" in humans that start with low-level physiological needs like hunger that must be met before ascending to higher-level psychological needs like love. However, many are unfamiliar with the "shopping list of needs." This list, known as the "Shopping List of Needs," contains fifteen reasons buyers are attracted to certain brands. Two needs were unearthed for the Las Vegas Enforcers— a need for the organization and its target audience.
Creating the Las Vegas Enforcers brand entailed numerous hours of research, which began by defining the client's needs. Presented with a SWOT analysis of the Las Vegas Enforcers, the initial investigation started by uncovering the organization's problem. Historically, the organization's low attendance figures, the Las Vegas Enforcers, required affiliation. However, its target audience needed diversion or to be amused or break the routine.
Only-Ness Statement
"Las Vegas Enforcers is the only mid-level professional ice hockey team out of Las Vegas, Nevada that provides a platform to build belonging, excitement, and novelty to lively fans and adventurous tourists through events that promote a positive influence on the Las Vegas community."
Features are specific aspects of a service or product. The term benefits are the values of a product or service elements that give the consumer a tangible or intangible gain. Horberry (2014) urges writers or creators to understand the benefit of a feature by using empathy—the ability to feel what the reader feels, to identify with them. With this knowledge, research focused on tapping into the minds and behaviors of the targeted demographic, also known as psychographics. In comparison, Shewan (2022) urges copywriters to use a feature-benefit matrix to find multiple benefits of one feature. Feature-benefit matrices help marketers ensure that messaging is consistent, relevant, and accessible to end users. A feature-benefit matrix was then devised to distill the differentiation of the Las Vegas Enforcers.

Selecting a Theme
To create a theme for the team Las Vegas Enforcers, one must understand why the organization chose "enforcers" as its name. On an ice hockey team, an "enforcer" is an ice guardian whose valued and heroic job is to respond aggressively - menacing and checking dirty or violent play by the opposition. The Enforcers are working-class superheroes—discreet types with alter egos willing to do the sport's most dangerous work to protect others. Las Vegas Enforcers is a brand with a history of hardship and has reinvented itself to operate in a post-Covid world, giving the brand a unique story.
The Las Vegas Enforcers hockey team's story is similar to Joseph Campbell's hero's journey. Campbell's hero's journey is a common story structure in which a character leaves their ordinary world and ventures into the unknown to retrieve something they need (Wimmer, 2023). Along the way, they face conflict and hardships, but they ultimately return home triumphant and transformed. The Enforcers are working-class superheroes like the heroes in Campbell's stories. They are willing to do the sport's most dangerous work to protect others. Formerly known as the Las Vegas Wranglers, the team has reinvented itself, just like the heroes in Campbell's stories, to "return the ice to the desert."

The keywords "guardian" and "working-class superheroes," derived from the SWOT analysis, played a pivotal role in shaping the Las Vegas Enforcers' personality and brand theme. According to Busche (2017), a brand's core theme should possess momentum and overarching points that will be utilized. Inspired by iconic comic book super-teams like the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and the Justice League, the theme of "Comic Book Superheroes" was born during the brainstorming process. Drawing from the Golden Age of Comics, a time of peak comic book sales and the emergence of superheroes in American culture, the Enforcers' theme reflects teamwork and heroism, aligning perfectly with the brand's vision and values.
Branding for Human Connection
The design field is a service-based industry; when professional designers create brands, those brands service the consumer. The ideal brand creates a unique experience for the customer. In short, branding for human connection creates a sense of belonging for the consumer. The theme for the Las Vegas Enforcers connects to the communities of Las Vegas by promoting positivity, allowing all fans to see themselves through the brand as the heroes of their community. Weber (2019) stresses that a brand should project a persona that enables customers to create a connection with your company as they would with another person. This concept is made aware in Millman's (2015) lecture, as she describes how brands become connectors and use the human need to be part of a group, pack, or family to influence consumers.
Similarly, Walter (2020) examples Harley- Davidson brand as a brand connector. Harley-Davidson has a devout following of bold rule-breakers that see and express themselves in the brand loudly. This "tribe" has created a loyal customer base for the company. The expectation of Las Vegas Enforcers does not make a person feel better about themself. Instead, the brand facilitates a sense of belonging that results in a person's increased self-esteem. The Las Vegas Enforcers help foster a community that helps bring individuals to other like-minded individuals, locally or globally.

Final Thoughts
Overall, research played an important role in the development of the Las Vegas Enforcers hockey team brand rollout. Research aided in understanding the target audience and what that audience would be looking for in a hockey team. This research was the key the first component that helped ensure that the Las Vegas Enforcers' brand was consistent and resonated with their target audience.
Reference
Argo, B. (2023, February). MDM615 Lecture Series. Full Sail Online Login. https://online.fullsail.edu/class_sections/165962/modules/570258/activities/3326760
Bayazit, N. (2004). Investigating design: A review of forty years of design research. Design issues, 20(1), 16-29.
Busche, L. (2017). Powering Content. Chapter 5. O'Reilly Media. Retrieved from https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/powering-content/9781491963739/ch05.html#documenting_your_voice_and_tone_guidelines
Felton, G. (2013). Advertising Concept and Copy (3 ed.). W. W. Norton & Company. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books/about/Advertising_Concept_and_Copy_3rd_Edition.html?id=WRouAAAAQBAJ
Horberry, R., & Lyster, S. (2014). Read Me. Chapter 7. Laurence King Publishing Ltd. Retrieved from https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/read-me/9781780676807/13_chapter-title-7.html
Millman, D. (2015, June 22). Why We Brand? Retrieved from https://youtu.be/vQ0ht_9QxQs
Shewan, D. (2022, April 6). Features vs. Benefits: Here’s the Difference & Why It Matters. Retrieved from https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/02/21/features-vs-benefits
Walter, A. (2020). Personality. Designing for Emotion (2 ed.). A Book Apart. Retrieved from https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/designing-for-emotion/9781098125608/05_DFE2e_draft-4-7.xhtml
Weber, L. (2019). Humanizing Your Brand. Authentic Marketing. Wiley. Retrieved from https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/authentic-marketing/9781119513759/c06.xhtml#usec0006
Wimmer, J. (2023). The Hero’s Journey: Campbell’s Archetype. Study.com. https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-heros-journey-campbells-archetype.html