I believe that the idea of fixed identity in branding is a myth.

When a designer curates a brand book, they often use vocabulary such as assets, grids, and guidelines. It is easy to speak about visual identities as finished products. As if they are designed once and maintained over time. However, behind every successful brand strategy sits a quieter assumption – that it does not exist in a fixed state but continues to evolve.

During my internship at Hi Shine, I expected to learn solid execution. How to refine rough ideas and make them feel resolved. What I learned very quickly instead was that workflows are less about control and more about conditioning. Change wasn’t just a phase of the work. It was the condition of the work.

At the beginning of a new branding project, it is crucial not to be fixed on the final outcome. Already during my first week at Hi Shine, I got the opportunity to develop logo proposals for a new client. At first, I focused on delivering three polished, fully thought-through solutions. But soon after the first demo meeting, I realised that early drafts are better approached as pointers for direction rather than ready-to-use roadmaps that would lead to a final destination.

From there, each feedback round revealed new paths with potential to be explored. My role as a designer was to choose which one to follow.

When standing at an intersection, the number of possibilities can feel overwhelming. What began as a logo selection turned into the responsibility of designing two distinct visual directions. I suddenly felt the pressure of not just navigating the project myself, but also guiding the client. At this point, it is easy to hesitate. What if I choose the wrong path? What if we end up getting even more lost? The instinct may be to slow down, but I’ve learned that these moments are not signals to stop but to continue taking steps forward.

In brand work, creating a coherent visual identity is a discovery. Along the way, you become adjusted to the way of moving: just when you feel you know where you’re headed, your path might get challenged again. But getting momentarily lost in the side tracks is just another form of exploration. And dead ends are not as deadly or final as the name suggests. In fact, they can help you navigate forward. After realising this, showing up at crossroads became far less intimidating.

As my internship journey at Hi Shine started to approach its official end, I realised that the projects I had been working on were still moving. What I had initially mapped out as a clear endpoint turned out to be still in transition.

This moment became the most unexpected lesson of my internship: working in motion isn’t a compromise or a sign that something is unfinished. 

In the same way, motion is what allows brands to remain responsive without losing themselves. Movement is not the opposite of stability. It’s how stability is maintained over time.

The only constant is change.
Not as uncertainty, but as continuity.
Not as something to manage, but as something to continue working with.

So keep on moving.