Identities as Ecosystems

Hate it or love it: recent developments in AI are only strengthening the need for design systems, and not just standalone design elements.

The question we get asked at pretty much every event, every dinner, and every outing: "So…are you worried about AI?"

Our answer: "Some people prefer McDonalds; some people prefer steak."

We always aim to give clients a New York Strip, at the least.

What this means, for us, is that it's obvious that AI has impacted anyone working in a creative industry, but from our experience – it's only taken away design commodities.

For the clients who want to "just get a logo" and aren't thinking about branding strategy, their five year vision as a company, MRR and ARR, etc. – they may default to MidJourney, ChatGPT, Reve, and other AI tools for their branding. Hence, McDonalds.

For clients doing $5, 10, 20M+ in ARR, they would never trust ChatGPT or MidJourney or Higgsfield or any AI platform or software to develop their entire branding. Ever.

“Some people want McDonalds and some people prefer steak.”

This is because top performing tech, non-profits, bioscience, and other companies recognize that branding is an ecosystem.

In order to secure Series A or Series B funding as a startup, in order to get $10M from a VC to fund product and company development, or in order for any company of any worth to grow and succeed – they all recognize, early on, that their branding is an amalgam of the sentiments and experiences across all their touchpoints; advertisements, billboards, web, email,

Like any ecosystem, every brand has it's seasons. Ecosystems change and evolve, naturally, to meet the conditions needed for growth and harmony. Brand has been previously compared to an Operating System, which is a great analogy, but we'd like to take it a step further and consider brand and identity as ecosystems, taking into account their various touchpoints, seasons, and periods of change.

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