In the past, the logo was often the focus of every brand strategy. The CI manual then just added colors, fonts, and icons. Lid on, done. But in recent years, new strategies and approaches have emerged, particularly in the avant-garde design scene, which are slowly trickling into the mainstream. Instead of focusing only on the logo, it is now crucial to pursue a more holistic branding strategy. Shifting the focus from the logo to where the brand experiences happen. This means that we must not only concentrate on the visual appearance but also on the emotional value, the brand message, the values, and the overall brand experience. A logo alone cannot fully capture or communicate a brand's identity.

Marketing itself is also undergoing a transformation. The times of a linear customer journey are becoming less frequent: terms like "USP" and the "AIDA model" (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) no longer work as well as they used to. Today, the journey of customers is less linear, especially among younger and upcoming generations and other new target groups from multifaceted milieus. Customers jump between different touchpoints and channels before fully identifying and making a purchase decision. Consistency in touchpoints and a well-planned experience across all channels have thus become a key factor for a brand's success.

An essential step in the branding process is developing a brand strategy, which is often worked out in workshops together with clients to discover new perspectives and authentic values of the brand. From this strategy, new ideas and perspectives arise that can then be abstracted and implemented as overarching design rules. For example, a brand's value proposition, such as the pursuit of distinctiveness, may lead to changing the orientation of a font. Or in corporate design, certain proportions for ads, posters, and the web interface and even the layout of a store can be defined, repeating themselves and thus strengthening the brand's recognizability and consistency. By integrating these design rules, not only is the logo adapted, but the entire

media design receives more attention and helps present the brand's identity more clearly. In approaches focusing only on the logo, the rules for the CI are often somewhat neglected, and the balance between the elements is perceived as less valuable.

Traditional approaches in branding and corporate design usually follow the safe route, where everything must be immediately recognizable and understandable. In more modern design approaches, some statements, whether visual or content-based, can be deliberately left open and imply rather than make a complete statement. This way, target groups have the opportunity to go on a discovery journey themselves and enter into a deeper dialogue with the brand. Disruptive strategies can act metaphorically like a small pothole in the road. While normative designs tend to distribute the audience's attention evenly across the entire design, a disruptive approach ensures that the viewer suddenly becomes alert and asks: "What was that?". It breaks with the viewers' expectations and offers a new experience where the brain itself has to work out part of the statement.

An example of a disruptive strategy in branding is the design of the beverage brand "Jus(t)". Here, a restrained design was deliberately used for the logo. The actual corporate design tells the story of the "recurrent cycle," depicted circularly on the label around the bottle. This not only illustrates the beverage's production but also tells a story about the drink's main ingredient, verjuice, which was used by different cultures in antiquity. This story is told through geometric shapes from the Fibonacci sequence. Viewing the design takes people on a poetic discovery journey to explore the story behind the Fibonacci sequence. It becomes clear that things in the world can come together in a mystical way. The enthusiasm among buyers was so high after the beverage's launch that we were even asked a few times if parts of the design could be released as a tattoo template.

A crucial component of branding is the experience a brand offers. Imagine your brand as a theater play on a stage, and the aforementioned grid, the main design rule, is the stage itself. Like a theater play, a successful brand consists of various elements that work harmoniously together to create a memorable experience.

To delve deeper into this analogy, let's consider this play in more detail: the plot represents the brand message and values the brand wants to convey. Each element of the play—the dialogue, the costumes, the stage design—contributes to supporting the plot and captivating the audience. Similarly, the various elements of a brand—the logo, the color palette, the typography, the imagery—should work together to create a consistent and compelling brand experience

to create. Just like a stage, the grid can also be complemented by video, sound, material, and other effects to enhance and deepen the brand experience.

Finally, I would like to address the practical side of logo design. We often see clients who want an overly complex logo that covers every facet of their brand. However, such logos can be challenging to implement in practice and may even dilute brand communication. Instead, it is advisable to choose a simpler and more versatile logo that is easy to reproduce and can be effectively used across all touchpoints. In novel strategies, the logo is often only defined at the end of the design process to fit systematically into the holistic concept.

Focusing on the logo alone does not automatically make the brand successful. To pursue goals, you need a more holistic and strategic approach to branding. By focusing on creating a consistent brand experience across all touchpoints and not neglecting employer branding, you can build long-term connections with your target audiences and create a strong and memorable brand identity.