A brand is a decision made once
Good identities are not a style. They are a small set of decisions made once, so nobody has to make them again.
Every time someone in your company opens a blank document and wonders which font to use, the identity has failed a little. Good identities are a small set of decisions made once, firmly, so nobody has to make them again.
Decide the boring things
One type family. One red. A rule for photography that fits on a post-it. The identities that survive are the ones a stressed intern can apply correctly at 17:55 on a Friday.
When we handed Kade Zeven their signage kit, the test was not whether it looked good in our deck. It was whether their facilities team could spray a correct sign on a shutter without calling us. They could. That is the brand working.