Breaking Down Well-Known Brand Systems

What makes a brand system great?

It's pretty easy to look at a successful brand and recognise its visual identity. The colours, typography, imagery and logo all work together to create something familiar. But there's a lot more going on if you take a look beneath the surface.

The brands that really stand out aren't necessarily the ones with the most distinctive logos or the most comprehensive guidelines. They're the ones that have developed a recognisable way of communicating with their audience, regardless of where or how we experience them. And that's becoming increasingly important.

Brands now exist across an enormous and ever-growing range of environments. Websites, apps, social media, campaigns, video, physical spaces and plenty of other places that didn't exist when many established identities first stepped onto the scene.

The challenge isn't simply making sure everything looks consistent. It's creating a system that gives the brand enough structure to remain recognisable, while allowing the flexibility to communicate differently depending on the audience, message and environment.

Some brands do this particularly well. Spotify, Google and Airbnb are three interesting examples, each demonstrating a different approach to building a system that works beyond the original identity.

Image credit: Spotify Design, 2024. Via D&AD.

Spotify: Flexibility without losing recognition

Spotify is a great example of a brand that manages to be incredibly expressive while still feeling consistent.

Think about the different places you encounter Spotify. Its app, advertising campaigns, artist promotions, personalised playlists and annual Wrapped campaigns all have different purposes. They're speaking to different audiences and communicating different messages.

Yet there's usually something that makes them feel unmistakably Spotify.

It's not because every application follows exactly the same layout or uses identical imagery. In fact, quite the opposite. Spotify's identity gives it plenty of room to experiment with colour, typography, motion, photography and composition.

The consistency comes from having recognisable foundations that can be interpreted in different ways.

Spotify's Encore design system is one example of how that thinking works at a practical level. It provides shared components and principles across its digital products, while allowing different experiences to respond to the needs of their users.

That's an important distinction.

A brand system shouldn't restrict creativity to the point where every piece of communication starts looking the same. It should establish enough consistency that creative teams have the confidence to explore different expressions of the brand without losing its identity.

The lesson from Spotify is that consistency doesn't have to mean uniformity.

Sometimes, the most effective brand systems are the ones that make room for difference and allow the same identity to be expressed across different outputs.

Video credit: Welcome to the Gemini Era by Google Brand Studio. Motion design attributed to Ordinary Folk. Editing by Nick Davis. Via YouTube.

Google: Consistency through behaviour

Google is an interesting example because its identity isn't defined by one particular visual treatment.

Across its products, there are different interfaces, layouts, colours and ways of presenting information. But many of the interactions feel familiar, even when you're using a product for the first time.

A big part of that comes down to behaviour.

Google's Material Design system goes beyond the appearance of buttons, typography and interface elements. It also considers how those elements respond, transition and interact with one another.

Motion plays an important role here, but not simply as decoration.

When an element expands, moves or changes state, that movement can help us understand what's happening. It can show us where information has come from, where it's going and how different parts of an interface relate to one another.

These are relatively small details, but collectively they help create a consistent experience.

It's also a good demonstration of why motion should be considered as part of a brand system from the beginning.

When movement is left to individual designers or developers to interpret, the same brand can end up behaving differently across its products and communications. One interaction might feel abrupt, another overly playful and another completely disconnected from the rest of the experience.

Defining those behaviours gives teams a shared understanding of how things should work.

And the benefit goes beyond visual consistency. Purposeful motion can make interfaces easier to understand and interactions feel more intuitive.

The lesson from Google is that consistency isn't just something we see. It's something we experience.

A recognisable brand is shaped as much by how it behaves as how it looks.

Video credit: Same Room by Airbnb. Creative by Airbnb, via YouTube.

Airbnb: Turning brand personality into an experience

Airbnb takes us in a slightly different direction.

Its brand is built around the idea of belonging. That's a much bigger idea than a logo, colour palette or typeface, and it's something that needs to come through in the experience people have with the brand.

That means the identity has to work across very different situations.

Someone might encounter Airbnb through an advertising campaign, browse accommodation through its website, interact with a host through the app or use the platform while travelling somewhere unfamiliar.

Each of those experiences has a different purpose, but they should still feel connected to the same brand.

Airbnb's visual identity helps establish that connection through its typography, imagery, illustration and overall design language. But the more interesting part is how its personality informs the wider experience.

Its approach to design has placed importance on creating interfaces that feel approachable, intuitive and conversational. These principles help connect the functional parts of the platform with the more emotional story the brand is trying to tell.

And that's where a good brand system starts to become more valuable than a collection of assets.

It's one thing to define how a brand should look. It's another to translate what that brand stands for into principles that can influence the decisions people make when designing its products, communications and experiences.

For Airbnb, that means thinking about how the idea of belonging can be reflected throughout the customer journey, not just in the marketing.

The lesson from Airbnb is that a brand system should be rooted in the brand's strategy and personality.

The visual elements are important, but they should be expressions of a bigger idea rather than the starting point.

What do these brand systems have in common?

Spotify, Google and Airbnb are very different businesses, with different audiences, objectives and ways of communicating.

Their systems reflect those differences.

Spotify needs room for expression and experimentation. Google needs familiar, intuitive behaviour across a huge range of digital products. Airbnb needs to connect an emotional brand promise with a practical customer experience.

There's no universal formula that would work equally well for all three.

But there are some common principles worth paying attention to.

Firstly, each has recognisable foundations. Whether that's a visual language, a set of behaviours or a clearly defined personality, there's something connecting the different expressions of the brand.

Secondly, the systems allow for flexibility. They aren't simply collections of rigid rules designed to prevent people from doing things differently. They provide a framework that helps teams make appropriate decisions in different contexts.

And importantly, they're practical. A system only creates value when the people responsible for applying it can actually use it.

That's something we think about a lot when developing brand systems for our own clients.

It's easy to become focused on the final deliverables. The logo animations, guidelines, templates, illustration libraries and other assets that make up the finished package.

But those things should be the result of understanding what the brand needs, rather than a predetermined shopping list.

The real test comes after launch

There's something else worth considering when looking at successful brand identities.

The moment a new brand launches is probably the easiest time for it to look consistent.

Every application has been carefully considered. The website, campaign imagery, social content and launch materials have all been designed together, usually by the same team.

Everything looks exactly as intended.

The real challenge comes six months, a year or five years later.

Different teams are creating content. New campaigns are being developed. The business has grown, new services have been introduced and the brand is appearing in places nobody anticipated during the original design process.

That's when the strength of the system really starts to matter.

A great brand system shouldn't depend on the original designers being involved in every decision. It should give the people working with the brand the understanding, tools and flexibility they need to keep communicating consistently as things change.

And that doesn't mean creating the biggest possible set of guidelines.

It means understanding what the brand is trying to achieve, identifying where consistency matters and building a framework that makes good decisions easier.

Because the best brand systems don't just help brands look recognisable today. They give them the foundations to remain recognisable as they evolve.