Should brands be beautiful, or impossible to ignore?

When I designed the identity for Sandwich, an advertising agency, I quickly realized that a polished, predictable brand would be the wrong answer.

Inspired by the tight structure of a sandwich, I knew the identity had to feel bold, loud, and unapologetic. The logo and overall identity needed to grab attention.

That is what I find interesting about Neo Brutalism. It strips away the filters and lets the message hit harder with high contrast type and bold colors.

As it's hard to replicate with AI, do you think Neo Brutalism is a lasting design direction?

Neat!

Every established founder I've worked with knew their brand had become a problem. But none of them had ever calculated how much that problem was costing them. They’d say things like: "We look like a small shop. But we're not." "I've been trying to grow for two years, but something keeps blocking me." "They don't take us seriously." It was clear what wasn't working. The cost wasn't. Because nobody had ever stopped to ask the right question: How many clients did you lose last year because they didn't trust what they saw? How many dismissed you before you even got to speak? When you look like an amateur, people assume your product is too. It's that simple. My job doesn't start with design. It starts by figuring out what "looking small" is actually costing you, what keeping your current identity is costing you. Only then does the design conversation make sense.

A weak brand quietly taxes every sales and marketing effort.