When you work in branding, you work in the future. Brand strategy is charting the course the brand will pursue. Brand writing and design build systems with foresight so that the brand can expand and thrive. Although you're creating that work now, you're thinking through future scenarios, future applications, and future contingencies.

Because of this, I know many folks who work in branding and suffer from anxiety. Future stresses that don't exist. A worrisome future that lives only in your mind. 

The ability to think of future outcomes is one of the tools that we lean on because it makes many of us so successful in branding.

But when you don't give yourself a break from that space or if it becomes your default mindset, it can make you miserable.

So here's a reminder to pause and be present. 

Take time to engage in an activity where you can set down those tools in the toolbox, even if just for a moment. If you can find something where you can lose yourself in a state of flow, even better. But simply taking a brief moment of pause can be enough. Before scrolling to the next section of this newsletter, allow yourself a moment of pause and presence.

Stay inspired,

Creative Director

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1. Dallas Trinity FC Identity
Combining the Trinity River with a 1930s landmark, Pegasus, the team’s identity is distinctly, but subtly, Dallas. And that serif logotype? Swoon.

2. Brand Naming and Poetry
Stevie Belchak applies poetry’s lessons to her work in naming: a preference for Germanic words over Latin for emotional impact, the power of refrain, and the embrace of strange. “Poets give language to that which resists language. They may complicate and confound, but they also clarify.”

3. Use Design To Design Change
In its second edition, James Hurst's “Use Design To Design Change” focuses on the power of brand beyond aesthetics. Hurst says (and we agree), “I have—in my opinion—a point of view: brands are more than visual identity systems. They're the operating systems of businesses, guiding decisions, strategies, and relationships.”

4. Why DeepSeek’s Logo Represents a New Era of AI Branding
“DeepSeek’s unexpected branding is a first building block toward establishing an AI company that opts to distinguish itself from the competition rather than blending in.” The friendly whale logo is most likely a concentrated attempt to make AI appear less intimidating, and it will be interesting to see if other AI tools follow suit. OpenAI’s recent rebrand aimed to be “more organic and more human,” though it didn’t go quite as far as a jovial cetacean.

C R E A T I V E   S P O T L I G H T

Work by Laura Bonanno

Laura Bonanno

Reminiscent of the psychedelic illustrations of the 1970s, Laura Bonanno’s illustrations capture the dreamy experimentation of the time. We’re particularly fans of her unexpected color palettes of purple skies, pink clouds, and orange mustaches.

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Totango Case Study

The merger of two customer growth platforms — Totango, the trusted heritage solution for enterprise, and Catalyst, the agile innovator — needed to find a delicate balance and discover a unified voice.

Creative Agencies in 2025: Trends, Advice, and What's Ahead

Bill Kenney discusses the state of creative agencies in 2025 with Casa Davka partners Emily Cohen and Hunter Vargas as they share their experiences and observations from working with agency leaders across the country and beyond. 

Brand Refresh Trends with Ten Minutes On Brand

Focus Lab Brand Strategist Anna Beyerle Rosen breaks it all down: the latest trends in brand refreshes and her predictions for what the future holds, why companies are prioritizing clarity over cleverness, the rise of "debranding" and nostalgia, and how brands are taking more risks than ever before.

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