Visual Drift: Why Brands Stop Looking Like Themselves

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You know that feeling when you look at your own brand and it somehow doesn’t feel like you anymore? The logo is the same, the words are mostly right, and the message is still “on brand”… but the visuals have started to wander.

A new template here. A new font there. Someone’s “quick” Canva edit. A LinkedIn graphic that looks like it came from a different company.

None of it is a big mistake. It’s just… a hundred small ones.

And in PR, you can’t afford that moment when a stakeholder sees your work and thinks, Wait—who are we today?

Because we’re living in a scrolling, skimming world where people decide in seconds. They don’t stop to decode your intent; they feel something fast, or they move on. So how do you keep creativity alive without letting your brand drift into a different personality every week? And what actually makes a visual work now? What makes someone feel something immediately?

Listen For

:15 Why did Boaty McBoatface become the perfect lesson in brand control?

3:17 What is visual drift and how does it quietly damage brand credibility?

4:53 Why should brands resist changing logos and colors too often?

6:14 How are Canva and easy design tools changing the role of visual experts?

8:55 How do brands win attention in the first 0.3 seconds of scrolling?

Guest: Stewart Cohen

Doug

Substack | Website | LinkedIn

Farzana

Substack | Website | LinkedIn

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