ArtVersion’s Principal, Creative Director Goran Paun publishes on Inc.com: “What Tracking a Brand Refresh Taught Us.” It’s not a launch recap, it’s a long view on what holds up after the eyeballs move on.
Branding is not a static exercise. Keeping it stable at the core and flexible at the edges is the goal. The work that lasts is built on clear brand principles (voice, values, visual language) and maintained through small, continuous iterations. That means governance teams can actually follow, measurement loops that inform design decisions, and interface patterns that evolve without breaking recognizable brand elements. Iteration, when disciplined, preserves identity while keeping pace with new channels, standards, and audience expectations.
The piece follows Legat Architects two years after a human-centered brand refresh and asks a simple question with hard requirements: Did the work endure? The findings trace how the identity evolved without losing its meaning, how internal adoption made external consistency real, and how small, data-backed design editions kept the brand system relevant as the firm’s practice advanced.
“The middle period—after the initial excitement and before a rebrand is even on the table again—is where you see the truth. Durable systems show up in daily workflow, measured improvements, and the way people talk about the brand without being prompted.” — Goran Paun
Why this matters
Most refreshes are judged at launch. This article treats brand as a larger system of elements. Its performance is measured over time, adjusted with intent, and aligned to how users actually experience it. In architecture field, that means identity must communicate empathy, use, and social impact. This is achieved in the brother visual and written narrative and not just through style cues.
Inside the article
- A two-year check-in on brand performance: engagement patterns, client sentiment, opportunity mix.
- How human-centered branding translates into voice, imagery, and interaction design that non-architects can understand.
- Why internal adoption determines whether the outside world actually feels the brand’s consistency.
- Practical, incremental adjustments that keep the system current without eroding what makes it distinct.
As part of ArtVersion’s broader research and practice, this piece extends the studio’s focus on durable systems, human-centered branding, and accountable iteration, complementing earlier stories shared in Fast Company, Entrepreneur, and Forbes.
Zooming out, this is the throughline of our work: build brands that people can use, teams can maintain, and organizations can measure. We design for the “middle miles”—the months and years after launch—where small, well-governed changes compound into credibility. That’s where a brand proves itself: in day-to-day, like proposals, products and services, in community moments, and in the easy to follow design language teams use without thinking.
That larger vision is simple and demanding: clarity over theatrics, access over decorations, and steady iteration over periodic overhaul. This Inc. piece is one report from the field: when principles lead and teams are empowered to execute, brands don’t merely endure; they compound, keeping pace with the industry they represent.