# Dynamic Brand Identity: Designing Logos That Evolve - review & insight | Gareth B. Davies Source: https://garethbdavies.com/course-insights/dynamic-brand-identity-designing-logos-that-evolve/ [← All courses](https://garethbdavies.com/course-insights/) Graphic Design · Solid intro · Rated 8 /10 # Dynamic Brand Identity: Designing Logos That Evolve By Gareth B. Davies · Updated July 2026 Paula Scher · Partner at Pentagram Intermediate · 71 min A working design leader breaks down the exact process behind five real, decades-spanning identity systems, not a theory lecture on branding. [Get a Free Month on Skillshare](https://skillshare.eqcm.net/c/3155494/298081/4650?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.skillshare.com%2Fclasses%2Fdynamic-brand-identity-designing-logos-that-evolve%2F239606488) New to Skillshare? Your first month is free, enough to take this course at no cost. ## What the course actually covers Paula Scher's class is not a tutorial on drawing a logo. It's a walkthrough of how an identity system gets built, tested, and kept alive over years, told through five real projects: the Public Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Type Directors Club, and Microsoft Windows. The structure follows her actual process in order: research, finding solutions, simplifying, then stretching and testing. Only after that framework is laid out does the course turn to case studies, which means the case studies function as proof rather than filler. The central idea, which she calls "liquid identity," is that a brand should be built as a kit of parts (a logo, a type system, a color palette, an icon language, a method) rather than a single fixed mark. The Public Theater example is the clearest demonstration: the same American Wood Type-derived typeface was redrawn three times over 20 years, colored differently by season, and used to brand a hit show (Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk) that never got its own logo. Audiences recognized the system anyway. That's the payoff the whole course is building toward, and it lands. ## Where the teaching is strong The research section is more concrete than most branding courses get. Scher frames client discovery like a doctor taking a patient history: find out why the organization is changing, because organizations rebrand for one of two reasons, something is failing or something internal is shifting drastically. That two-reason filter is a genuinely useful diagnostic a viewer can apply immediately to their own client conversations. The "stretching and testing" lesson is the strongest single idea in the course. Scher describes evaluating an extended identity system like an IQ test question, asking which element doesn't belong in the set. The Type Directors Club case study makes this tangible: she shows the exact point where varying the weight of a striped letterform crosses from recognizable to illegible, and where curving a straight line breaks the system entirely. Seeing the failure point demonstrated, not just described, is what makes the lesson stick. The Windows case study is worth singling out too. Scher's reverse-engineering of Microsoft's old bent, flag-like Windows mark, questioning why a static logo was drawn to look like it was already in motion, leads to a rule (perspective from a single vanishing point) that then generates a whole family of related but non-identical product logos. It's a rare look at how a design principle, not just a shape, gets sold to a large, politically complicated client. ## Where it falls short The course assumes the viewer already has design literacy. There's no instruction on typography fundamentals, color theory, or software, and someone without prior design training will follow the ideas but won't leave able to execute them. The assigned project (build a liquid identity kit for a nonprofit) is described in only a few sentences with no rubric, checkpoints, or example of student work to calibrate against. At around 70 minutes across eleven lessons, several case studies get compressed. The Jazz at Lincoln Center segment moves quickly through a 15-year, multi-art-director redesign, and viewers wanting the kind of granular decision-by-decision detail found in the Public Theater section may come away wanting more from the shorter case studies. Still, for anyone past the beginner stage, this is a rare chance to hear a working practitioner explain not just what she designed but why systems succeed or collapse over decades of use. The standout The IQ-test framing for stretching an identity, asking 'which of these doesn't belong in this set' to find the exact point a system breaks, is a genuinely transferable diagnostic tool. ## What you will learn - · How to structure client research so it produces a usable diagnosis rather than a mood board - · How to present a spread of design options from conservative to radical and read a client's risk tolerance - · How to build a reusable 'kit of parts' (logo, type system, color palette, icon language) instead of a single fixed logo - · How to stress-test an identity system by pushing its variations until one no longer belongs, then pulling back - · How to adapt a single typographic system across posters, signage, architecture, and digital screens without redesigning it each time - · How to rename or re-emphasize an existing mark (the Philadelphia Museum's animated 'A') without discarding recognizable equity Best for: Working graphic designers and brand strategists who already know design fundamentals and want to see how a veteran actually runs client research, presentation, and long-term system extension. Skip it if: Complete beginners looking for logo software tutorials, step-by-step Illustrator instruction, or a quick formula for designing a single static mark. Helpful Examples Engaging Teacher Clarity of Instruction Audio & Video Quality [Get a Free Month on Skillshare](https://skillshare.eqcm.net/c/3155494/298081/4650?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.skillshare.com%2Fclasses%2Fdynamic-brand-identity-designing-logos-that-evolve%2F239606488)