When Branding Looks Like Pretension
Branding gets misunderstood in places where people have never had to build something of their own.
Talk about differentiation, identity systems, or positioning and the response is often a blank stare. Show them typography or color and suddenly they have an opinion.
To the casual observer, branding is the aesthetic layer — the clever fonts, the curated visuals, the tone. And when all they see is the surface, they call it pretension. Cleverness for cleverness’ sake. Decoration. Noise.
But branding is not decoration. It is architecture.
It starts with strategy, not style. Positioning, psychology, category insight, value signaling — long before a logo ever exists. The aesthetic only becomes visible at the very end, when the real work is already done.
Pretension is what happens when you skip the strategy and go straight to the aesthetics. Branding is what happens when form follows intent.
And if that distinction feels subtle, it is because most of the work is invisible. The market doesn’t reward what it can’t see, but it absolutely responds to it.
The irony is that the loudest critics of branding have never once tried to stand out, sell an idea, or build a name beyond the circle of people already familiar with them. They mistake the paint for the blueprint, the surface for the system.
Branding only looks like pretension to those who’ve never had to earn attention from strangers.
To everyone else, it’s the difference between being easily ignored and strategically unforgettable.