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.

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.

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 output becomes easier to produce, lasting differentiation increasingly depends on the positioning and strategy behind it.

We have entered what I call “ the age of meaningless shiny things ,” where it’s tempting to skip the work before execution: the research, conversations, cultural understanding, curation, and the debate.

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