{
  "id": 9340346,
  "title": "It doesn’t matter if your brand’s visual identity looks good",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/23/it-doesnt-matter-if-your-brands-visual-identity-looks-good",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-23T12:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Fast Company",
    "slug": "fast-company",
    "url": "https://www.fastcompany.com/91609811/it-doesnt-matter-if-your-brands-visual-identity-looks-good"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Decades ago, the origins of what we now recognize as corporate identities stemmed from artists and craftspeople who devoted years to studying and perfecting the applied arts and their environment. Developing a visually appealing identity began with cultivating craft, taste, and a unique perspective. Nowadays, producing an aesthetically pleasing visual identity is far more accessible. With an internet connection, almost anyone can swiftly create a polished logo, website, campaign, and visual identity, often without any formal design education. The democratization of creativity has made beautiful output a common commodity.\n\nDamien Correll, VP of design, brand, and creative at Figma, noted that accessible creative tools have narrowed the gap between having an idea and being able to showcase it to the world. Experimenting at a decent level no longer requires mastery of a specific craft. Instead, creativity is about connecting disparate ideas and generating something new. This democratization of creative output is exciting, yet it also creates pressure to stand out with an extraordinary visual identity. However, as creative production becomes easier, lasting differentiation relies more on the positioning and strategy behind the identity.\n\nToday, we are in an era where it's easy to produce visually appealing things, but it's easy to lose sight of the \"why\" in brand building. Brands often adopt similar typefaces, color systems, photography, motion, and language, resulting in a visually interchangeable landscape. The \"why\" in brand building—brand positioning, strategy, and the foundation for great design—has been neglected, leading design teams to draw from the same references and algorithms.\n\nAs generative AI makes it easier to create quickly, the risk of brands drawing from the same references, trends, and visual patterns increases, leading to an interchangeable look and sound. Strategy can break this cycle and create true impact through design. Good brand strategy begins with understanding people and the culture around them before designing for them. A brand's true differentiation goes beyond its appearance. Meaning and understanding are what earn brands a place in people's lives, leading to sustainable business impact.\n\nThe most impactful brands create deep meaning for a smaller group first. These individuals recognize the references, share the belief, or feel that the brand was built with them. When this connection and conversation is genuine, the community organically carries the meaning outward. This changes the role of brand-building in the new marketing era, emphasizing the importance of giving people something they can recognize themselves in, fostering a sense of belonging.\n\nCultural relevance is crucial. Staying relevant means consistently reinterpreting a brand's DNA for new audiences without losing what initially made it meaningful. It requires innovation, strategic thinking, and human thinking. Cultural relevance cannot be a temporary campaign feature; it must be lived and breathed by the organization throughout its decisions, from products and partnerships to storytelling and community support. While technology can accelerate decision-making, leaders must resist cutting the human element short. Forming a genuine connection with the people a brand serves and collaborating with the right partners is essential. When people start adopting a brand's language and ideas, it signifies the brand has successfully integrated into culture. Ten years from now, leaders should ask themselves if their brand has created something meaningful that people genuinely care about and hold a special place in their hearts.",
  "summary": "A century ago, some of the earliest examples of what we would now recognize as corporate identities were created by artists and craftspeople who spent years studying and practicing the applied arts and their environment. Constructing a good-looking visual identity came from developing craft, taste, and a point of view. Today, the barrier to making something decent-looking has more or less…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}