The rebrand is dead. Welcome to the age of the brand ‘refresh’

As someone who writes about design and branding, my inbox pops and pings 24/7 with emails from PR reps, agencies, studios, and corporate behemoths bearing news of fresh projects and products. It’s all usually straightforward enough. But over the past few months, my inbox began to tiptoe toward The Twilight Zone. Seemingly all at once, PR reps and media coordinators began dubbing every rebrand a “refresh”—even when it was a complete and utter visual overhaul. (One even noted that if...