Understanding Brand Gravity Through Palace Skateboards
Brand gravity can be understood as a complex force that determines how companies attract and maintain influence in their market space. Looking at Palace Skateboards provides a perfect case study of how a relatively small brand can exert significant gravitational pull through focused intensity rather than sheer market size.
Palace’s gravitational force stems from its ability to create its own universe of rules and expectations. The brand has built its mass through a combination of skateboarding authenticity, British irreverence, and strategic scarcity. Its collaborations with major brands like Adidas and Ralph Lauren haven’t diluted this gravity - instead, they’ve expanded its field of influence while maintaining its core density.
What makes Palace particularly interesting is how it manipulates its gravitational field. The brand’s deliberately obtuse marketing, VHS-style videos, and often absurdist product descriptions create a strong pull for insiders who “get it” while simultaneously attracting curious outsiders. This careful balance of exclusivity and accessibility helps maintain its orbital pull, keeping both core skaters and fashion enthusiasts in its sphere of influence.
Palace’s approach reveals patterns I’ve observed across many successful brands, from tech startups to luxury retailers to cultural institutions. Each one develops its own distinct gravity through a careful balance of forces: attraction and restraint, accessibility and exclusivity, consistency and evolution.
Looking deeper at how this gravitational force works, I’ve identified five key tensions that strong brands must navigate and balance. These opposing forces, when properly understood and calibrated, create the dynamics that build lasting cultural gravity. They aren’t surface-level decisions about colors or typography - they’re the fundamental polarities that generate a brand’s pull.
1. Signal vs. Noise
The challenge isn’t just standing out - it’s standing out meaningfully. Every day we scroll past thousands of images, logos, and messages. The brands that cut through don’t just shout louder; they speak more clearly.
Take Perplexity AI’s approach to branding. In a space where most AI interfaces default to minimal, almost clinical designs, Perplexity uses bold typography and a distinct color palette to create a more engaging, dynamic feel. This isn’t just different for the sake of being different - it reflects their goal of making AI interactions more accessible and engaging.
Working with clients, I often find they’re initially tempted to follow category conventions. A financial firm thinks they need to look “serious” with blue and gray, or a tech startup believes they need to be minimalist. The real opportunity often lies in questioning these assumptions. What if a financial brand felt warm and approachable? What if a tech product felt playful?
2. Digital Efficiency vs. Human Touch
As more of our interactions become digital and automated, the human elements of branding become more valuable. This isn’t about resisting technology - it’s about using design to maintain authentic connections across all touchpoints.
Omsom exemplifies this perfectly. Founded by Vietnamese-American sisters, they’ve created a brand that feels personal at every level. Their packaging incorporates family photos and stories. Their website copy reads like a conversation with a friend who’s passionate about food. Even their social media maintains this intimate, family-dinner-table vibe. It’s consistent but never feels corporate.
Clients achieve the best results when they are willing to let their real personality show through. This means different things for different organizations - sometimes it’s the founder’s vision, sometimes it’s the team’s culture, sometimes it’s the company’s history. The key is finding that authentic core and expressing it consistently across everything from business cards to Instagram posts.
3. Trend vs. Timelessness
While social media pushes us toward constant novelty, strong branding builds enduring worth. This is about creating something that appreciates in value over time, rather than chasing trends.
Aesop is a masterclass in this approach. Their amber bottles, minimalist stores, and literary references create a distinct world that’s both timeless and contemporary. They’ve built such strong brand equity that they can command premium prices while using simple ingredients. The design tells the story of quality and thoughtfulness that justifies the price point.
For my clients, this often means resisting the urge to rebrand too frequently or chase every design trend. Instead, we focus on creating flexible systems that can evolve gradually while maintaining core elements that build recognition and trust.
4. External Perception vs. Internal Culture
Strong branding doesn’t just affect how the outside world sees an organization - it shapes how the organization sees itself. This internal-external dynamic is crucial for both attracting talent and building a coherent culture.
Figma demonstrates this beautifully. Their brand speaks directly to designers through every touchpoint - from their product interface to their conference designs to their job postings. This clarity of purpose helps them attract like-minded talent and reinforces their culture of design excellence.
When working on brand systems, I always consider how they’ll be used by employees, not just customers. The best brand guidelines aren’t restrictive rulebooks - they’re tools that help teams make better decisions and feel part of something meaningful.
5. Rules vs. Framework
At its best, branding becomes a framework for thinking and decision-making. It helps organizations understand who they are and what they should do next.
Stripe’s brand transcends its visual identity - it’s embedded in their systematic approach to complexity. Their commitment to elegant problem-solving manifests in everything from their API documentation to their editorial initiatives like Stripe Press. This coherence between brand promise and operational execution creates a gravitational pull that extends far beyond their core payment products. Even their internal tools and documentation have influenced how an entire generation of tech companies approach design systems and developer experience.
I’ve seen how a well-defined brand can help clients evaluate opportunities and make choices. Should we launch this product? Should we pursue this partnership? Should we communicate in this way? A clear brand framework makes these decisions easier by providing concrete criteria.
Calibrating Brand Gravity
Gravity, in both physics and branding, is a fundamental force. While tools and trends come and go, the core tensions that create brand gravity remain constant. Design without strategy is decoration. Design without empathy is noise. Design without purpose is trend-chasing. These principles guide my selective approach
The strongest brands don’t just stand out - they build lasting gravity through their ability to hold opposing forces in productive tension. Like Palace’s careful balance of insider appeal and broader influence, or Stripe’s ability to make complexity feel elegant, they understand that true influence comes from mastering these fundamental polarities.
Through thoughtful calibration of these forces, we don’t just make brands visible - we give them gravity. We create anchors in culture that naturally attract the right people, partnerships, and opportunities. This isn’t about following trends or maxing out marketing budgets. It’s about building something with enough dynamic tension to maintain its pull, year after year
Also of Note
Becky Suss in London
Longtime friend Becky Suss has a solo show in London at Massimodecarlo. If you are in town, it would be more than worth the visit to see her incredibly detailed and narratively layered paintings. On view through December 20
Trailer for Flow Animated Film
Looks pretty incredible. Watch
Paris to Berlin via High Speed Rail
The romance of European rail travel often collides with modern reality. While Americans idealize continental train networks, the day-to-day experience has become increasingly inconsistent. Service quality has notably declined across many routes, with delays becoming routine rather than exceptional. Consider the Paris-Berlin corridor: the current 13-hour direct journey hardly reflects the image of seamless European connectivity. However, the planned reduction to an 8-hour route in 2025 suggests a potential bright spot. Read More
Stripe Press Makes Beautiful Books
A brief note on Stripe Press, which I mention above: Their elevation of technical and economic discourse through exquisite book design deserves deeper analysis. The strategic deployment of high-caliber publishing as a brand instrument - outside expected luxury and cultural institutions - warrants its own discussion.More
Until Next Time
Upcoming reports about London, as well as some news about some teaching I’ll be doing in Paris. And I finally have photos of and some words to say about the Mouse Museum book I worked on with William Pym and Alex Da Corte. Looking forward to telling you all about it.
As always, your support means a lot as I rebuild this connection with you. If you found value in this newsletter and want to encourage more, consider consider buying me a coffee. Cheers.