What is Brand Architecture, and Can You See It?
- samarahjohansson
- Jul 7
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 19
Let’s take brand architecture out of theory and into plain sight. 👀
At its core, brand architecture is how a company organizes its products, services, and sub-brands—and signals those relationships to the world. It’s more than an internal slide buried in a brand guidelines deck. It’s the structural backbone that defines how your company presents itself and how customers navigate what you offer.
Done well, brand architecture shows up everywhere: in logos, product names, messaging frameworks, UX flows, even the tone of your customer support. It influences how you cross-sell, how you scale, and how you build brand equity across your portfolio.
But here’s where it gets interesting—brand architecture isn’t just functional. It’s emotional, too. Customers don’t just see your structure; they feel it. And that’s where brand personas—like the 12 Jungian archetypes—come into play.
Think of your brand architecture as the stage, and your personas as the characters. Whether your company embodies the Hero (think Nike), the Caregiver (Johnson & Johnson), the Sage (Google), or the Outlaw (Harley-Davidson), your brand’s voice and promise need to be clear and consistent across every product and service. When each offering speaks with the same core personality—but with just enough nuance—it builds trust, loyalty, and recognition.
If you’re leading a team, managing multiple products, or just trying to make sense of your company’s growing brand universe, understanding the logic and emotion behind brand architecture can help you make smarter, sharper decisions.
🔎 Let’s break it down with a few B2B tech examples:
🔹 Adobe: A classic masterbrand system. Every product—from Photoshop to Acrobat—sits clearly under the Adobe umbrella. Unified logo treatment, shared design system, and a consistent brand voice make it seamless. The customer always knows they’re dealing with Adobe. Including smart marketers whether they're designers or not.
🔹 Atlassian: A hybrid house of brands. Jira, Confluence, and Trello have distinct visual identities and target use cases, but they’re subtly stitched together through Atlassian’s platform messaging and shared UX elements. I saw this clearly first hand during my time at Eficode as a global product marketing manager.
🔹 HubSpot: Think branded house, but modular. This is an example, you likely have hands-on experience using. Their Hubs (Marketing, Sales, Service, CMS, Ops) are distinct, but naming conventions, UI, and cross-sell flows are tightly aligned to one HubSpot experience. You don’t get confused jumping between them.
🔹 Google Cloud: A house of products under a cohesive brand. From BigQuery to Vertex AI to Firebase, each product has its own niche and user base—but they all reinforce the larger Google Cloud ecosystem. Shared design language, simple integration, and consistent messaging help build trust and usability, even across highly technical offerings.
👉 Brand architecture isn’t just about logos. It’s how you manage recognition, trust, and clarity—at every level of your offering.
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