Somewhere on YouTube right now, there is a video titled “5 Color Trends Your Website Needs in 2026.” And right next to it, another one: “The One Design Trend Killing Your Competitors.” Scroll a little further. “Is Your Logo Already Outdated? Watch This.”
None of these videos or blog articles exist because your brand actually needs saving. They exist because someone needs to publish a new video on a schedule. And making up trends makes for great clickbait.
Welcome back to BRAND:NEW. I’m Donovan.
The trend epidemic is a subject I talk about often, because I watch business owners fall into this trap constantly, and it costs them more than they realize. Today, let’s talk about it. Why chasing design trends is one of the worst things you can do to your brand.
Let’s start with the reflex itself. Where does this urge actually come from?
Junior designers chase trends because they’re building a portfolio to impress other designers, not clients. Chasing what’s fashionable gets attention on design forums, but it rarely gets attention from an actual customer trying to solve a real problem.
Experienced designers do it too, often out of fear. The fear of looking dated, falling behind, or seeing their competitors’ Instagram grid look trendier than theirs.
And underneath it all is an entire content industry that needs to keep selling you something. These trend videos are pumped out constantly on a schedule, whether or not anything of substance actually changes. The trend isn’t discovered. It’s manufactured on a content calendar. Because a topic like “Five Timeless Principles That Haven’t Changed Since Episode One” doesn’t get as many clicks as “The Biggest Design Trends of 2026.”
Trends are designed to sell to designers, not to your customers.
It’s not just that the trend might look dated in two years. It’s what chasing one does to your identity right now.
A trend, by definition, is something everyone is doing at the same time. Your brand voice, your mission, your reason for existing is supposed to be the opposite of that. It’s supposed to be the specific answer to the customer’s question. Who are you? What do you offer? What problems do you solve?
The moment you chase a trend, you’re no longer answering that question. You’re borrowing somebody else’s answer.
We opened this show with a simple premise. Branding is the work. A brand is the result of that work, done deliberately and with purpose over time. A trend isn’t a process. It’s a shortcut around one. And shortcuts around your own identity tend to be expensive.
A brand that changes with every trend isn’t a brand. It’s a weather vane. If it’s not in your brand manual, it’s not in your brand. A trend was something you never deliberately chose for your specific business, your specific customers, or your specific story. It was chosen for you by whoever happened to be selling a trend video that quarter.
Let’s see what this actually looks like in the wild.
Examples include parallax scrolling and heavy homepage animation. We already tore into this one back in the web design chapter. It looks very impressive in a portfolio, but the slow load times send your visitors straight to the competition.
Neumorphism. That soft, embossed, almost 3D-looking interface that had a whole hype cycle a few years back. It looked great in design blogs, but it was really difficult for users to tell what to click. A trend that was dead within two years.
The generic tech startup gradient logo. Purple bleeding into blue in a rounded abstract shape. At one point, more than half of Silicon Valley looked like divisions of the same company. A logo is supposed to be a point of distinction. Instead, it became a symbol of conformity.
Here is another one. Oversized, ultra-bold editorial serif logos. Very fashionable in direct-to-consumer branding right now. This might age brilliantly, but then again, it’ll probably age like every other trend.
And right now, a new one. AI-generated brand art. We’re in the early days of this, but we’re already seeing a backlash against this soulless trend. Ask yourself honestly whether you’re using it because it actually serves your brand or because it’s the thing everybody else is doing.
These are just small examples of the many, many fleeting trends brands are falling for.
Now let’s talk about what it actually costs when companies get it wrong. Not theory. Real dollars.
Tropicana, for example, decides their packaging needs modernizing. So out goes the familiar orange with a straw sticking out of it, recognized from 20 feet away in a crowded supermarket aisle, and in comes a stark, minimalistic glass of juice. Very clean, very on-trend for the era. But suddenly customers couldn’t find their favorite breakfast juice on the shelf anymore. Sales dropped roughly 20 percent in two months. An estimated $30 million mistake that they had to reverse within weeks.
Another one. Gap decided to replace their blue box logo. Twenty years of solid brand equity, instantly recognizable, and they changed it for a generic, forgettable modern wordmark. The backlash was immediate. Thousands of parody versions appeared within 24 hours, appearing all over the net. Gap reversed that decision in just six days. Six days, for a redesign estimated to have cost around a hundred million dollars.
Neither company failed because their old identity was bad. They failed because they abandoned decades of brand equity to chase something fashionable. And they paid for it in real money.
So what’s the message here? Never change anything? No. The message here is that change for change’s sake is terminal.
Go back to Episode 10. We spoke about the four traits that define a lasting logo. Simplicity, memorability, longevity, versatility. Not one of those four words describes trendy. Every single one of them describes durability. The logos that survive decades share zero trend-chasing DNA. They do see change. They do get refined. Carefully, rarely, but with purpose. They don’t get reinvented every time a new super-trendy color goes viral, or a new font is invented.
Timeless design isn’t the boring choice. It’s the hard choice. Everyone with access to a font drop-down menu can chase a trend. Restraint is an actual skill.
So here’s the test. Next time you feel that pull towards whatever is hot this year, ask yourself one question. Is this serving my brand’s mission or my customers’ needs? Or am I just trying to look current to fit in with a crowd? If it’s the second one, walk away.
Trends are a rental. Timeless design is something you own.
Next episode, we talk about longevity, with a look at a handful of logos that have survived decades, and sometimes centuries, of exactly the kind of pressures we talked about here.
That’s it for BRAND:NEW. Thank you for spending a few minutes with me. I don’t take your time for granted. If this helped you, share it with a business owner who needs it. And if you’ve got 10 seconds, please leave a rating. It would really mean the world to me.
I’m Donovan. This has been BRAND:NEW.
Somewhere on YouTube right now, there is a video titled “Five Color Trends Your Website Needs in 2026.” Right next to it sits another one, “The One Design Trend Killing Your Competitors.” Scroll a little further, and you will find “Is Your Logo Already Outdated? Watch This.”
None of these videos or blog articles exist because your brand actually needs saving. They exist because someone needs to publish a new video on a schedule, and making up trends makes for great clickbait.
The trend epidemic is a subject I return to often, because I watch business owners fall into this trap constantly, and it costs them more than they realize. Chasing design trends is one of the worst things you can do to your brand.
Here is why.
Where the reflex comes from
Let’s start with the reflex itself. Where does this urge actually come from?
Junior designers chase trends because they are building a portfolio to impress other designers, not clients. Chasing what is fashionable gets attention on design forums, but it rarely gets attention from an actual customer trying to solve a real problem.
Experienced designers do it too, often out of fear. The fear of looking dated, of falling behind, of watching a competitor’s Instagram grid look trendier than theirs.
And underneath it all is an entire content industry that needs to keep selling you something. These trend videos are pumped out constantly, on a schedule, whether or not anything of substance has actually changed. The trend isn’t discovered. It’s manufactured on a content calendar, because a topic like “Five Timeless Principles That Haven’t Changed in Decades” doesn’t get the same clicks as “The Biggest Design Trends of 2026.”
Trends are designed to sell to designers, not to your customers.
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Trends are designed to sell to designers, not to your customers.
What a trend does to your identity
It is not just that the trend might look dated in two years. It is what chasing one does to your identity right now.
A trend, by definition, is something everyone is doing at the same time. Your brand voice, your mission, your reason for existing is supposed to be the opposite of that. It is supposed to be the specific answer to your customer’s questions.
Who are you?
What do you offer?
What problems do you solve?
The moment you chase a trend, you are no longer answering those questions. You are borrowing somebody else’s answer.
Branding is the work. A brand is the result of that work, done deliberately and with purpose over time. A trend isn’t a process. It’s a shortcut around one, and shortcuts around your own identity tend to be expensive.
A brand that changes with every trend isn’t a brand. It’s a weather vane. If it’s not in your brand manual, it’s not in your brand. A trend is something you never chose deliberately for your specific business, your specific customers, or your specific story. It was chosen for you by whoever happened to be selling a trend video that quarter.
A brand that changes with every trend isn’t a brand. It’s a weather vane.
What this looks like in the wild
Many people believe a mobile site is just scaled-down Parallax scrolling and heavy homepage animation. It looks very impressive in a portfolio, but the slow load times send your visitors straight to the competition.
Neumorphism, that soft, embossed, almost 3D-looking interface that had a whole hype cycle a few years back, looked great in design blogs, but users struggled to tell what they could actually click on. The trend was dead within two years.
The generic tech startup gradient logo, purple bleeding into blue inside a rounded abstract shape. At one point, more than half of Silicon Valley looked like divisions of the same company. A logo is supposed to be a point of distinction. Instead, it became a symbol of conformity.
Oversized, ultra-bold editorial serif logos, very fashionable in direct-to-consumer branding right now. This one might age brilliantly. Then again, it will probably age like every other trend.
And right now, a new one. AI-generated brand art. We are in the early days of this, but we are already seeing a backlash against a trend that feels soulless. Ask yourself honestly whether you are using it because it actually serves your brand or because it is the thing everybody else is doing.
Ask yourself honestly whether you are using it because it actually serves your brand or because it is the thing everybody else is doing.
What it costs when you get it wrong
Those are just a few of the many fleeting trends brands fall for. Now let’s talk about what it actually costs when companies get it wrong. Not theory. Real dollars.
Tropicana decided its packaging needed modernizing. Out went the familiar orange with a straw sticking out of it, recognizable from 20 feet away in a crowded supermarket aisle, and in came a stark, minimalist glass of juice. Very clean, very on-trend for the era. Suddenly, customers couldn’t find their favorite breakfast juice on the shelf anymore. Sales dropped by roughly 20% over two months, an estimated $30 million mistake that had to be reversed within weeks.
Gap decided to replace its blue box logo. Twenty years of solid brand equity, instantly recognizable, swapped for a generic, forgettable modern wordmark. The backlash was immediate, with thousands of parody versions appearing across the internet within 24 hours. Gap reversed the decision in just six days. Six days, for a redesign estimated to have cost around $100 million.
Neither company failed because its old identity was bad. They failed because they abandoned decades of brand equity to chase something fashionable, and they paid for it in real money.
They failed because they abandoned decades of brand equity to chase something fashionable, and they paid for it in real money.
Change with purpose, not for its own sake
So what is the message here? Never change anything? No. The message is that change for change’s sake is terminal.
The four traits that define a lasting logo are simplicity, memorability, longevity, and versatility. Not one of those words describes trendy. Every single one of them describes durable. The logos that survive for decades share zero trend-chasing DNA. They do change. They do get refined, carefully, rarely, but always with purpose. They don’t get reinvented every time a new color goes viral or a new font is invented.
Timeless design isn’t the boring choice. It’s the hard choice. Anyone with access to a font drop-down menu can chase a trend. Restraint is an actual skill.
Timeless design isn’t the boring choice. It’s the hard choice.
The one question to ask
Next time you feel the pull toward whatever is hot this year, ask yourself one question. Is this serving my brand’s mission and my customers’ needs, or am I just trying to look current to fit in with a crowd?
If it is the second one, walk away.
Trends are a rental. Timeless design is something you own.
This article accompanies Episode 25 of BRAND:NEW, the branding podcast from Jeff Payne Company.
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