With more and more of our time being spent in the digital environment, are we being conditioned to live in a world where nothing is finished?  In a world that’s constantly changing?  Where there’s never an end goal?

Within the digital world we’re all in a permanent beta state … one of continual forward motion, one of always being tested, evolved and improved, one of never being satisfied with the status quo.

Does this mean that we’ll expect the same of our off line experiences, will commitment become a dirty word, or will we embrace its solidity.  Will marriage, mortgages and motherhood become too permanent a commitment or will we all start to seek them out more enthusiastically. 

Will more of us take up hobbies that we can start, take part in and complete all in one session?  Could even I be compelled to learn to cook, at least there’s a clear beginning, middle and end!

Or will we demand this continual state of motion in everything we do, will we constantly be searching for new experiences, the next buzz, challenge, or laugh.

And what does this mean for brands and brand identities.  We already know that for many brands consumers have become the brand owners and managers. The only thing that is currently truly managed is their visual identity, but even this is changing.  Brands in the future will need to have a clear kernel for their identity, but they will also need to have the confidence to be flexible, to allow certain elements of their identity to change on a constant basis.  The real skill is going to be to identify this kernel, the visual expression of the heart of the brand, and to encourage its audience to play with the rest of its visual identity … you never know as brand guardians we could learn from where they take the brand.