What happens when the projects you work on don’t end up being launched?

Here’s a not-so-spoken reality in the design and creativity world, especially in branding: what happens when the projects we do never get launched?

Not all brands are created equal. One might need branding service before launching, others to step into the next chapter of the brand, and others to change a little bit, and the list goes on. When it comes to brands that need branding before they launch, there’s a universal truth to them: life can get in the way, and those brands might never end up seeing the real world.

The reason can vary: in my experience, I’ve had startups that failed to raise more capital, business ventures that got their founders in a fight and decided to stop the project (surprisingly, this is the most common reason why a brand never hits the market), unexpected changes in the supply chain that make the founders push back… Life is messy, and so are businesses.

KIBA: a business that was never launched due to founder’s internal disagreements.

But at the end of it all, there’s us: creatives, who got paid, put all our efforts and working hours in creating a brand for them to go to waste.

I believe in showing those brands.

I do believe in getting those brands out there and using them in your portfolio. If the founders never get to launch, it’s a they problem, not your problem. You did your job, and you did it well.

But I also believe in being transparent on your portfolio. For example, a couple of years ago, I worked in a restaurant branding that I absolutely loved. I’m a die-hard fan of this branding. The founders were super happy about it, everything was ready to launch and… then one of them ran into financial problems and the project never saw the light.

That’s something beyond my control. That’s why I’m going to show the project and if people ask me, yes, the project does not exist…

…and that’s more common than you think.

I’m not saying only show those types of projects, because if you only show those, the real-life experience might sound a little sketchy. But if you have a couple of launched brands and projects that don’t, you can show them.

I believe in transparency.

But also, not every brand is created to exist in the market. Some are created to exist in a moment, a moment where a founder had a vision, where a business almost happened, where a direction was clear until it wasn’t.

And that doesn’t make the work less valuable.

Because as creatives, we’re not only building brands that launch. We’re building clarity, ideas, and possibilities.

Sometimes those possibilities don’t move forward. But the thinking, the intention, the craft behind them… still counts. And maybe showing that work isn’t just about filling a portfolio. It’s about acknowledging that not everything in business is linear, and design is part of that reality too.

Chiara: a brand that was closed due to the owner moving overseas.