If your brand doesn’t change, it’s dead.
Brands lose their value when the world stops seeing them as new. Isn't the role of design to help them stay alive?
If you lived in the 80s and 90s, you probably remember what technology was like at that time and how it changed every decade. And now everything is changing even faster. To catch the train, you need to do everything much faster than before.
This time we will talk about your brand. If you have had it for a long time and never thought that it was time to change, such thoughts will not help you stay competitive and be more viable.
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Now things are different. Dynamic logos have gone from being a source of reverence to being something I can’t see them anymore. Google alone creates hundreds of logo variations a year. And I’ve lost count of how many brands have tried to create flexible systems.
After all, capitalism is a copying system, where everything that works gets copied, and everything that gets copied eventually becomes obsolete. Yes, new things are exciting, they expand our senses, but I don’t think anyone thinks smartphones, chatbots, or even flying are special anymore.
Every day, when I create articles, I see how various things change before my eyes. Every day, we can count several re-brands that have a completely different look than before. From chips to airline companies. Everyone changes logos and brand identity just to adapt to the changing reality.
Websites that were in the 2000s are already completely outdated and no one is interested in them anymore. I myself have already created several websites on the topic of design and technology, because they forced me to change too, without any exceptions.
Have you ever wondered why your business is stagnating? Maybe it’s been waiting for a long time to be replaced by something more modern, more intuitive, adapted to the changing public opinion.
That’s why every few years businesses rebrand, launch something new, or completely change direction. Not because things weren’t working, but for the most part, because everyone is constantly chasing that spark of excitement that people get from seeing something new. Your business must be immediately interesting, otherwise it’s dead.
It makes me wonder if that’s what our role as designers should be. To help brands change, not to imprison them with restrictions and rules. Because change is not the enemy of good design. It helps brands stay vibrant. And maybe it allows them to become new again.
In this regard, we should praise (not criticize) brands that are at least trying. Cracker Barrel for trying. Grammarly for becoming Superhuman (after its acquisition). Nokia for pivoting to B2B. Jaguar for the cutting-edge weirdness of electric cars. Adobe for fully embracing generative tools instead of being defensive.
And yes, there are foldable phones, Zune, Ray-Bans, and Pins that big tech companies are constantly experimenting with. I don’t always agree with or like the directions they take, but if brands don’t stop moving forward and exploring innovation, they probably won’t be around forever.
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