At its core, branding is all about communicating your business’s identity and values. Our creative branding agency takes a look at four interesting trends that are showing up repeatedly across business branding worldwide as organisations attempt to communicate their purpose more clearly.

Words Aren’t Enough

Fancy lettering alone is no longer enough to convey a brand’s message or personality. Brands are pushing the boundaries by personalising existing fonts, custom designing fonts that include icons or images, and incorporating entire icons and images directly into their lettering to create visually captivating logos and typography.

For example, instead of printing ‘Chocolate Chip Cookie Flavour’ on a chocolate wrapper, a cookie cutout will replace the word ‘Cookie’.

This trend helps to make brands, headlines and CTAs more memorable to consumers. From incorporating subtle symbols or shapes in headings or product names on packaging to using bold imagery to replace certain characters or words, this trend allows brands to communicate their story in a visually compelling way.

Extremes

Just like opinions these days, branding is either full-on maximalist or full-on minimalist.

Whether it’s mixing bold colours and patterns together in mind-bending ways and including abstract or distorted shapes to really catch the eye online or in the store, or choosing to go the very clean route with loads of negative space, brands are going all-in one way or the other.

At the heart of these competing styles is the drive to stand out in an overly saturated world where ad-blindness and choice ‘overwhelm’ are eating into businesses’ bottom lines.

Era Branding

Nostalgia continues to be a powerful force in branding, with brands drawing inspiration from various decades to create a sense of familiarity among consumers. From the vibrant hues and geometric shapes of the 80s to the sleek sophistication of the 2000s, brands can create timeless and evocative branding that resonates with audiences across generations.

The Return of Mascots

Mascots are making a triumphant comeback, breathing new life into brand identities and adding a playful touch to marketing campaigns. From lovable characters to iconic figures, mascots help companies – especially larger, faceless corporations – connect with consumers on a more emotional level.

Whether it’s through animation or real, larger-than-life people donning mascot suits and showing up on TikToks and reels, mascots are proving to be a powerful tool for building brand affinity, rapport with consumers and creating memorable experiences for audiences.

After having worked on more than 3,000 branding projects, we have the versatility and experience to truly bring your brand to life. Our creative branding agency builds market-leading brands. Let’s build yours.