In 2009, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality organized a Culture and Art Workshop and introduced a three-step vision with the contributions of professionals from different disciplines and people who love Izmir. It was envisaged that İzmir would be a city of design and innovation to create an attractive focus in the Mediterranean. In the last ten years, this vision has been adopted by officials in Izmir. This study aims to examine İzmir‘s city identity, design culture in İzmir and İzmir's World Design Capital candidacy, identify its deficiencies and the areas where it could be developed and its potential, and understand how it could win this title by making changes in its possible new application for another year as World Design Capital. A survey was prepared for the residents of İzmir and in-depth interviews were made with nine professionals who worked and/or be informed about Izmir‘s process of being a design city and Izmir‘s candidacy for World Design Capital 2020. Keywords: World Design Capital, City Branding, City Identity, City Identity Design, Branding, Brand Management, Ġzmir, Design.