Visual generators: How brands stay recognizable while never standing still
Dynamic design systems that turn identity into something living, flexible, and built for a changing world.
For decades, visual identity has been about creating assets: logos, guidelines, and templates. That foundation hasn’t changed. Strong, consistent visual elements remain essential to brand recognition. But what has changed is the world around them.
Today, brands operate across endless platforms, contexts, languages, and formats. Content is updated constantly. Audiences expect not just coherence, but responsiveness. In this environment, static design assets can only go so far.
That’s why we believe the future of brand identity lies not just in assets, but in systems. We call them visual generators.
What is a visual generator?
A visual generator is a programmable design system—a set of creative rules that can generate a wide range of visual outputs while remaining true to a brand’s DNA.
It doesn’t replace traditional design. It builds on it.
Instead of manually designing each variation, the designer defines the parameters:
- What can change
- What must stay the same
- How outputs should behave across different contexts
The result is a living identity: expressive, varied, and always recognizable.
This is not template thinking. It’s system thinking: the ability to scale design without losing its soul.
Our custom visual generator helps Espoo Theatre create limitless assets through endless variations of its signature ‘&’ logo.
Why now? What changed?
Several broader shifts are converging to make visual generators especially relevant:
- The explosion of digital touchpoints: From social feeds to smart displays, interfaces are multiplying.
- The demand for content at scale: Global campaigns need thousands of assets, fast.
- Personalization expectations: Users want tailored, responsive content.
- Real-time and reactive environments: Brands are being asked to adapt to the moment—whether in live events, automated marketing, or interactive platforms.
- The rise of generative technologies: Tools that can generate visuals on demand are becoming more powerful and more accessible. The question is no longer "can we generate this?" but "how do we do it in a way that's meaningful and on-brand?"
In short: brands must move faster, adapt more often, and still remain unmistakably themselves.
Visual generators are how.
Where it fits: real-world use cases
Visual generators aren’t theoretical. They’re already transforming how modern brands express themselves:
- Identity systems that evolve across seasons or markets, while retaining core elements (Case study: & Espoo Theatre)
- Campaign/Event engines that generate dozens or hundreds of assets instantly—social posts, event visuals, localized content
- Personalized content that changes based on user input, behavior, or real-time data
- Live event branding with visuals that respond to music, audience energy, or external triggers
- Data visualizations that pull from archives or sensors and generate unique graphics with brand structure (Case study: SLS Arkivgalaxen)
- Packaging and product visuals that vary at scale, yet always feel part of the same family
- Remote monitoring centers, where branded visual elements adapt in real time to massive data flows, enhancing usability while maintaining design integrity
In short: anywhere a brand needs to stay coherent while staying fresh.
A browser-based tool that turns SLS’s archival data into a living galaxy of stories — unveiled at its 140th anniversary celebration.
How they work
At the heart of a visual generator is a creative system: a flexible set of rules, constraints, and logic that defines how design elements can vary.
A generator might define:
- A range of color variations within brand palettes
- Layout shifts that adjust depending on format or language
- Motion parameters that adapt to different content types
- Visual behavior in response to real-time inputs
Each generator is tailored to the brand—it knows how far it can stretch, and when to snap back to the core.
Some systems are standalone tools, built for designers or campaigns. Others are deeply embedded: part of the brand’s design system, integrated into CMS pipelines, ad platforms, or real-time event engines.
They can be lightweight or robust. Temporary or permanent. Centralized or distributed.
The unifying trait is this: they generate design with structure and intent.
Grand One’s identity blossoms with animated flowers — generated instantly for every format.
Why visual generators aren't just about automation
It’s easy to confuse this with automation or AI art. But visual generators are different. They're not about replacing creativity. They're about scaling it intentionally.
In fact, we see two creative models operating in parallel:
- Generative design: Structured, intentional, logic-based systems. Built by designers. Controlled variation.
- Generative AI: Emergent, exploratory, and evolving. Powerful, but often less predictable.
Both are valuable. But for brand identity—where consistency matters as much as flexibility—visual generators offer a way to embrace change without losing control.
Our point of view
At Great Apes, we see visual generators as a natural extension of the work we already do: blending craft with systems thinking, and design with creative technology.
They don’t replace traditional design. They expand it.
They let designers create not just assets, but possibilities. Not just logos, but logic. Not just templates, but tools.
Visual generators turn identity into something living.
For brands that want to scale without losing their distinctiveness, this is how you stay recognizable and stand out without standing still.
And for design teams that want to shape brand behavior across an increasingly dynamic digital landscape, this is how you do more than keep up — you lead.
We're excited to keep pushing the boundaries of what these systems can do.