09-23-2026IMPACT COUNCIL

It doesn’t matter if your brand’s visual identity looks good

The advantage now goes to brands that mean something and give people a reason to care.

[Photo: Getty Images]

The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of top leaders and experts who pay dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership, and more.

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 disappeared. Almost anyone with an internet connection can quickly create a polished logo, website, campaign, and visual identity, often without any formal design training.

DEMOCRATIZATION OF CREATIVITY

Beautiful output is now a commodity. I recently chatted about this with Damien Correll, VP of design, brand, and creative at Figma.

Damien shared with me that accessible, creative tools are closing the gap between having an idea and being able to show it to the world. You no longer need mastery of a particular craft to experiment at a decent level. Creativity can simply be the ability to connect disparate ideas and make something new. “It allows people who are approaching things with a creative mindset to not be boxed in by the skills they have,” he said.

That democratization is exciting.

If everyone can do it, though, there is pressure to be extraordinary. And an extraordinary visual identity can absolutely make a brand stand out. But as creative........

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