Building a Brand That Lasts

Sample editorial. This essay was written to show the insights layout. It should be replaced with JMC’s own perspective.

A brand that lasts is usually a brand that was not asked to do too much in its first season. The durable parts are few: a name spoken the same way, a typographic habit, a way of photographing people, a colour used with restraint. Everything else can move.

Systems, not souvenirs

Campaigns are souvenirs of a moment. An identity system is the thing you still have when the moment is over. Teams change, printers change, and a social template made in a hurry becomes the public face of the organisation. The brands that hold up are the ones a new designer can extend without guessing.

If the guidelines only work for the people who wrote them, they are a diary, not a system.

Longevity also means knowing what not to refresh. Organisations sometimes mistake familiarity for fatigue. Audiences are slower to tire of a clear mark than the team living beside it. Change is worth making when the current system cannot say something true. It is expensive when it only says that a new team has arrived.