ISSUE #002

Giving Visual Weight to Ideas ↗

Creating brand visuals isn’t just about aesthetics.

It’s also about how clearly you communicate an idea.

Most brand messages need some kind of visual support: a benefit, a product spec, a problem, a solution, an outcome. The visual should help people understand the point faster.

Once you have a system in place — defined materials, shapes, lighting, and a clear visual language — it becomes much quicker to explore different options for this scenario.

Here are three ways to approach the same idea, from simple and literal to more bespoke and metaphorical.

1. The easiest route: a literal icon

This is the fastest option — roughly two minutes.

Take a piece of writing and extract one keyword that feels relevant. Then search for that keyword on one of the 1000 icons sites online, download an icon that matches your brand guide, and adapt it to fit the existing visual style.

For example: outline style, rounded edges, stroke weight, proportions, and overall tone.

This works well when the point is simple, functional, or part of a larger list. It gives the idea a quick visual anchor without requiring a full custom asset.

2. The same idea, translated into 3D

You can take the same keyword and turn it into a 3D visual.

This takes a little more time — roughly 15 minutes — but it already feels much more ownable. Especially if you have a library of materials, a prepared scene, and a few reusable brand elements.

Instead of starting from scratch every time, you can use the existing system to quickly build a branded version of the idea.

3. A more metaphorical visual

The third option is less literal and more abstract.

This takes more thinking — roughly 45 minutes or more — because the visual is not just a direct translation of a keyword. You first need to look at the wording, understand the idea behind it, and find a visual metaphor that communicates the same message.

That might mean building a rough moodboard, exploring a few directions, and then creating the asset from simple forms using the brand’s existing shapes, materials, and lighting.

This approach usually needs more production and probably a professional eye to tune the scene properly. But once the scene exists, it becomes much more valuable.

You can extract multiple angles from it. You can create layout variations. You can use it as a full-bleed hero visual, or as part of a split-screen composition.

In other words: one well-built scene can extend the whole visual library.

The effect

Each approach has its place.

Simple icons are useful. Not every point needs a bespoke 3D visual. If something appears in a list, supports a small detail, or needs to be understood quickly, an icon can be completely valid.

But for hero moments, important messages, or ideas that define the brand, a more bespoke 3D visual can create a stronger impression.

It puts more emphasis on the topic. It feels more specific. And it helps the brand build a visual world instead of relying on generic decoration.

This is where consistency matters.

If a brand uses simple icons to highlight its most important message in a deck, it might fall short. It can feel underdeveloped or disconnected from the rest of the brand. And that can make the brand feel less trustworthy.

The goal is not to turn everything into 3D.

The goal is to know which kind of visualization fits which touchpoint.

Use simple icons where they are enough. Use more bespoke 3D visuals when the message needs more weight, more emotion, or a more premium tone.

That is how a visual system becomes useful: it gives you options, but also helps you make better decisions.

Hope this helps!

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out.

Best!

PS: I’m leaving out AI style transfer on purpose here, because I haven’t found a workflow yet that feels solid enough for this.

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tobias-anderssohn.com ↗
Elevating Brand Design
with 3D Visuals & Animation