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Remember the last time your firm updated its brand? Chances are it involved a flurry of activity—a new logo, fresh website, updated business cards—followed by years of… well, not much happening until the next refresh cycle.
Here’s the problem: that approach doesn’t work anymore.
Let me ask you something: Would you build your legal strategy on disconnected projects rather than a coherent system? Probably not. Yet many firms still approach branding exactly this way—as a series of occasional makeovers rather than a dynamic framework that evolves with your firm.
The most forward-thinking law firms are shifting from treating branding as discrete projects to developing comprehensive brand systems. And the results speak for themselves: research from McKinsey shows that brands delivering consistent experiences across touchpoints increase revenue by 10-15% while reducing operational costs by 15-20%.
Think about it—your firm is constantly evolving:
A static brand simply can’t keep up.
Here’s a counterintuitive truth: the path to brand consistency isn’t rigid control—it’s thoughtful flexibility.
The most successful brand systems use modularity as their secret weapon. Rather than forcing everyone into identical templates, they provide adaptable components that teams can assemble to meet specific needs while maintaining the firm’s core identity.
This isn’t just about looking good—it’s about building trust. According to research from Sitecore, 89% of legal clients cite consistent brand experience as a key factor in retention decisions. When your London office’s materials feel disconnected from your New York headquarters, clients notice.
I recently spoke with the CMO of a global law firm who implemented a modular brand system. “We used to spend weeks getting materials approved because everything was a custom job,” she told me. “Now our teams create on-brand materials in hours instead of days, and our client feedback shows they perceive us as more coherent and thoughtful.”
Many firms make a critical mistake: they treat website redesign as the finale of branding work rather than the first chapter.
Your website should be the most visible expression of your brand system—a dynamic platform that can evolve with your firm’s priorities without losing coherence. Without a systematic approach, even frequently updated sections like attorney profiles quickly drift out of alignment with your broader narrative.
When built on a flexible structure with a cohesive design language, your site transforms from a static brochure into a responsive publishing platform that showcases your firm’s thinking in real-time.
This shift requires more than better designers. It demands structured collaboration between marketing, firm leadership, practice heads, and IT.
A 2023 Gartner study revealed something fascinating: law firms with formalized cross-functional brand governance teams were 2.7 times more likely to maintain consistent client experiences during periods of change.
The most effective firms are establishing brand governance committees—groups of partners, associates, and marketing professionals who evaluate significant brand adaptations while empowering daily implementation. This approach reduces bottlenecks while strengthening overall brand cohesion through shared ownership.
When controversy strikes—whether from client matters, public scrutiny, or internal disagreement—your brand system becomes your foundation for a coherent response.
According to the 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer, 86% of clients expect law firms to take clear positions on societal issues related to their practices, while 73% of associates consider a firm’s values alignment in employment decisions.
Firms with systematic approaches to brand communication navigate these tensions more effectively, balancing client confidentiality with institutional values and transparency.
Ready to move from project-based to systems-based branding? Here’s your roadmap:
Most firms see returns within 12-18 months through reduced production costs, faster launches, and strengthened client perceptions.
For law firm leaders navigating today’s market pressures, this shift may seem subtle. But its impact is transformative. A brand that functions as a system doesn’t just communicate value—it operationalizes it, turning marketing from a support function into a strategic advantage.
The question isn’t whether your firm needs another brand refresh. It’s whether your brand functions as a living system capable of adapting to tomorrow while maintaining the coherence that builds lasting client relationships.
That’s not just smart marketing. It’s smart business.
This post was originally published on Lynda’s LinkedIn newsletter, Marketing without Jargon. Lynda leads a team at Decker Design that focuses on helping law firms build differentiated brands.
Header image by Getty Images for Unsplash+.
The post You Need a Living Brand System (Not Just Another Rebrand) appeared first on PRINT Magazine.
Simplehuman, a brand best known for its minimal, high-function home products, has taken a creative detour. In its first-ever Artist Edition collaboration, the company has teamed up with Brooklyn-based muralist Katie Merz to reinterpret five of its most recognizable items through a bold, hand-drawn lens.
Merz, who is renowned for large-scale murals that feel part-glyph, part-storyboard, brings a playful weight to the collection. Her signature black-and-white linework, referencing architecture, urban signage, and spontaneous mark-making, wraps around Simplehuman staples like their sensor bins and soap dispensers. The limited capsule collection transforms these utilitarian tools into conversation pieces; objects that don’t just blend in, but ask to be noticed.
Per Simplehuman’s website, the collection blends “The best of both coasts — California design meets the art of New York.”
Collaborating with an artist like [Katie] Merz, whose work is rich with symbols and visual storytelling, marks a subtle but significant expansion of the brand’s design language.
What’s compelling here isn’t just the aesthetic shift, but the philosophical one. Simplehuman has long championed precision engineering and a restrained modernism. Collaborating with an artist like Merz, whose work is rich with symbols and visual storytelling, marks a subtle but significant expansion of the brand’s design language. In a space where “form follows function” has often meant stripping away visual complexity, this collection poses a new question: why not both?
Over the past decade, more brands have invited artists into their product development processes — not merely as surface decorators, but as collaborators who reframe how we relate to the objects around us. While many of these partnerships lean into the hype economy of luxury drops or limited runs, the Simplehuman x Katie Merz collection feels more exploratory than commercial.
Merz didn’t merely decorate the products; she responded to them. Her linework doesn’t mask their function, it interacts with it, draws attention to it, and adds a personal layer of meaning. “Partnering with Simplehuman allowed me to bring my visual language into a new, everyday context,” says Merz. “Each product became a starting point, with its shape, purpose, and movement guiding the drawings. These designs are kinetic blueprints, turning functional objects into storytelling surfaces.”
There’s an immediacy to her drawings, as if they were sketched directly onto the surfaces in a burst of intuitive energy. That looseness stands in welcome contrast to Simplehuman’s otherwise tightly controlled, systems-driven design aesthetic.
Each product became a starting point, with its shape, purpose, and movement guiding the drawings. These designs are kinetic blueprints, turning functional objects into storytelling surfaces.
Katie Merz, artist
This collaboration also reflects a larger trend in branding: artist partnerships as cultural strategy. In an era where authenticity and visual narrative matter more than ever, brands are increasingly turning to artists to humanize their products and engage audiences in new ways. From IKEA’s collaborations with street artists to Gucci’s work with contemporary illustrators, what once felt niche now signals relevance.
What makes this partnership stand out is how quietly it challenges assumptions, especially those about what design is “supposed” to look like in a domestic context. It’s not about ornamentation for its own sake; it’s about rethinking our relationship with the tools we use every day. A soap dispenser doesn’t need to tell a story — but what happens when it does?
That kind of thinking opens the door to new creative possibilities. And for a brand like Simplehuman, whose innovations have typically been hidden in sensors, hinges, and touchless features, it raises a bigger question: can design solve problems and still spark joy?
Whether this collection resonates with longtime fans remains to be seen. But it offers a clear reminder: even the most functional objects can become a canvas.
For the branding world, it signals a quiet evolution; from products that disappear into the background to those that become part of our visual and emotional lives. And for Simplehuman, often dubbed the “Apple of home goods,” it’s a confident first step into the expressive, unpredictable terrain of art-meets-everyday.
As Merz herself might say, every line tells a story. And in this new chapter, Simplehuman suggests that even the most routine rituals, taking out the trash, washing your hands, can be moments of subtle delight.
A soap dispenser doesn’t need to tell a story — but what happens when it does?
The post Simplehuman’s First Artist Collaboration Rethinks the Role of Everyday Design appeared first on PRINT Magazine.
I have a love/hate relationship with billboards. There’s something endearingly old-school and very American about them, yet they’re a plague on our landscape—often dumb, and almost always inescapable. But the inescapable part can work to one’s advantage.
For guerrilla agitprop group Yikes, Right, which is presently on the Trump offensive, “billboards are a way of reaching everyone,” says one anonymous member. “There’s no barrier to reaching folks no matter the demographic. People don’t have to subscribe, click to select, turn on or tune in, and for Christ’s sake we won’t send a survey or bother you for ‘likes’. The messages stand on their own, and all we mean to say is ‘REALLY??’ ‘IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT??’ ‘IS THIS PRESIDENT CREATING A BETTER LIFE FOR YOU?’ Or more pointedly, ‘IS IT MORAL, IS IT RIGHT?’ … The challenge is to bring people to that realization—to create messages that invite consideration of what’s going on in light of one’s own beliefs, and perhaps a reconsideration of one’s position. It’s also damn important for people to see messages like this so they know there’s a vast and growing community of angry, disappointed, fed up and fearful citizens out there—and that’s a community they may want to join.”
Seen while speeding down the road, the design of Yikes, Right’s billboards might cause the pleasant surprise of a double-take. (Or a double-double–take, considering the graphic and the double entendre.) “The format is a bit of a sneak attack using a non-threatening visual trope that invites people in while at the same time pokes fun at the trope itself. We kinda imagine people have had enough of that, too.”
For more Yikes, Right, go here, here, here, here and here.
The post The Daily Heller: Beautify America With Angry Billboards appeared first on PRINT Magazine.
