For rather more than a century, designers have – me included – recited the mantra ‘form follows function’ a term first coined by the American architect, Louis Sullivan, considered ‘the father of the skyscraper’. Yet the most enduring designs followsomething more complete: form, function, and reason. Form and function solve problems. Reason unlocks meaning. And meaning is what allows brands to endure beyond the moment that created them. With meaning, design can define culture, differentiate from competitors and stand the test of time.
The distinction matters more than ever in a culture of short attention spans that rewards novelty over meaning.
STYLING FOLLOWS FASHION. DESIGN FOLLOWS PURPOSE
Much of what passes for design today is, in reality, styling. Styling responds to themoment. It borrows from prevailing tastes, emerging trends and shifting cultural signals. Its purpose is usually immediate relevance. Design, by contrast, needs to seek something more difficult: lasting meaning.
This distinction is obvious across all design specialisms and particularly evident in brand identity design.
The strongest brand identities are not built around fashionable visual devices or contemporary aesthetics. They are built around a clear idea of the brand’s purpose. Every element serves the brand purpose, from typography and proportion to narrative and symbolism. The value lies not in looking current, but in expressing something true, which is why brands with real heritage are challenging to rebrand. Go too far and the baby leaves with the bathwater.
DESIGN AS STEWARDSHIP
Faced with updating KitKat after 40 years of little change under Rountree ownership, we took the redesign responsibility seriously, evolving the iconic KK logo with subtle changes of angle, typography and colour while integrating the new owner Nestlé’s endorsement. 30 years’ on from then, the brand has evolved but is still instantlyrecognisable and remains one of the world’s most popular confectionary products, proving the value of stewardship rather than reinvention.
DESIGNING WITH INTENT
When a design is created with clarity of intent, it tends to age gracefully. It can evolve without losing its meaning because its foundation is strategic rather than stylistic. The visual expression may evolve, but the underlying reason remains intact.
Identifying the reason is the first part of the branding process: defining a brand purpose you can articulate with conviction that differentiates you from alternatives.
The consequences of losing sight of underlying reason have been particularly visiblein luxury branding.
Luxury brands once understood the value of reason instinctively.
Historically, luxury was defined as much by restraint as by visibility. The world's most admired luxury houses cultivated desire through scarcity, selectivity and mystique. Their value was reinforced by what they chose not to reveal. Access was limited. Discovery was part of the experience. Hermès is a good example of continuous brand stewardship in luxury, with uncompromising attention paid to its rich heritage and craftsmanship.
The digital era – and the need for ever higher profits – has challenged this model, but not for Hermès. For others, visibility has become the commercial imperative.
Brands are expected to produce an endless stream of content to satisfy platforms designed around continuous engagement. In the pursuit of relevance, many have lost the essence of their stories, sacrificed rarity and punctured their own myths.
It's pure speculation on my part, but perhaps allowing fashion designers – whose reputations are built on styling collections – total control of their houses’ brands has contributed to the dilution of many fashion house identities.
DIGITAL EXPOSURE DILUTES MYSTIQUE
When everything is visible, nothing feels special. When every campaign, product, collaboration and creative decision is immediately distributed, analysed and replicated, intrigue gives way to familiarity. Luxury becomes accessible, but often less desirable.
At the same time, algorithms have become some of the most influential design critics in the world. Their criteria are simple: reward what people already recognise. Familiarity drives engagement, engagement drives reach, and reach drives visibility.
The result is a culture that increasingly favours sameness.
Consider luxury hotel websites, especially the big groups. Cover the logos and it’s difficult to tell one brand from another these days. Are these all super-optimised designs or is there safety in sameness? This certainly wasn’t true of our work for Aman from 2006-2018 when the Aman website stood out as unique amongst its peers. Today, Aman’s site is still beautiful, but much copied and far less differentiated from its many imitators than before.
Brands converge toward similar visual languages. Identities become optimised for performance rather than distinction. Design decisions are shaped by what works within a platform rather than what endures beyond it. As a consequence – and probably justifying it as ‘more digitally-friendly’ – many luxury brands swapped their distinctive logos for sans serifs in a ‘blanding’ of luxury brand identities, epitomised by Jaguar’s controversial 2024 rebranding. However, Saint Laurent (who arguably invented blanding in 2012 when they dropped ‘Yves’ and the iconic YSL ‘Cassandre’ monogram) and Burberry, another of the many brands to follow that trend, are now both reversing their brand strategies and ‘bringing back the serifs’, which is a metaphor for quirkier, more distinctive identities grounded in heritage.
In product design, the Ferrari Luce could also be seen as a case study in blanding. Here, Jony Ive and Marc Newson certainly let form follow function with masterful attention to detail, but where’s the reason for a Ferrari devoid of mechanical, visual or visceral drama?
LONGEVITY MAY BE THE ULTIMATE LUXURY
Timeless design does not belong to those who chase novelty, nor does it belong to those focussed on maximum optimisation. It will belong to those who understand why their brands exist and express that purpose with discipline and humanity.
Identifying purpose is rarely accidental. The most enduring brands invest time in understanding what is fundamental to their identity before designers move a single pixel. Our own 5-step brand strategy methodology ensures the same applies to all our projects.
The brands that endure are rarely the ones that chase visibility most aggressively. They are the ones that know who they are, what they stand for and why they exist.
In a culture increasingly shaped by algorithms that reward familiarity and platforms that demand constant exposure, distinctiveness has become harder to achieve and easier to lose.
Which is why timeless design remains such a rare commodity. It requires the confidence to prioritise meaning over novelty, character over conformity and long-term relevance over short-term attention.
In an age when trends attract attention, meaning earns brands longevity.
Peter Matthews
Nucleus founder & CEO
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