brand strategy Archives

Rethinking Order, Beauty, and Meaning Through Asymmetry

For centuries, symmetry functioned as both aesthetic preference and worldview. From the balanced forms of Greek temples to the mirrored ideal of the Vitruvian Man, symmetry stood as a proxy for truth, order, and divine proportion. The ancients called it symmetria — a mathematical harmony that reflected the cosmos itself. By the time of the […]

Sep 28 2025 by Nancy Lerner in Brandshrink

Wonder as a Working Method

Robert Frost’s phrase—our place among the infinities—opens a door we’re still learning to walk through. It suggests not one infinity but many: the outward sprawl of galaxies and the inward expanse of human interiority; the infinitude of time and the infinitude of interpretations; the boundless network of relationships that make meaning possible. In brand-building, this […]

Aug 19 2025 by Nancy Lerner in Editorials

The Language of Trees: What Botanical Systems Teach Us About Growth

In the dominant business imagination, growth is a conquest. It’s framed in the language of acceleration, scale, and competitive advantage. Brands are expected to move fast, break things, and stay “ahead of the curve.” But in the face of ecological collapse, economic precarity, and cultural burnout, this mode of thinking is beginning to show its […]

Aug 3 2025 by Nancy Lerner in Brandshrink

Metaphor as Our Sneak Path to Truth

Brand‑building is often framed as a linear exercise—logo, tagline, guidelines, launch—yet the lived experience of a brand is anything but linear. It is felt in heartbeats and muscle memory, in the quiet confidence of a good fit and the rush of belonging. To illuminate that multidimensional journey, we borrow from terrains that, at first glance, […]

Jul 23 2025 by Nancy Lerner in Editorials

Branding in the Fifth Dimension: A Metaphysical Guide to Multi-Layered Meaning

At Otherwise, we’ve always been drawn to the spaces between disciplines — where metaphor becomes method, and strategy is stretched through unfamiliar dimensions. So today, we ask: What if a brand isn’t a flat identity, but a dimensional construct? It’s easy to think of a brand as a surface: a logo, a voice, a palette, […]

Jul 6 2025 by Nancy Lerner in Editorials