At Prismic, we work closely with agencies that care deeply about brand, craft, and execution; the teams pushing to create digital experiences that actually stand out. In this article, OFF+BRAND, one of the UK’s most exciting brand and web design agencies, which recently worked on the launch of F1 driver Lando Norris’s website, shares their perspective on what it takes to build distinctive, experience-led websites in 2026 and why playing it safe is no longer an option.

The following article presents a guest perspective from OFF+BRAND on building distinctive web experiences.

Playing it safe is the risk

Most websites today are optimised for internal approval. Consensus-led. Trend-chasing. Slightly-better-than-before. The kind of work that’s designed not get anyone in trouble. But the brands that make the biggest impact do not design this way. They commit to a point of view and execute it completely.

Think of the biggest brands in the world, and they tend to have a vision.

And now, this is more pressing than ever. Development velocity has exploded with the rise of generative AI. Tooling is better. Browsers are more capable. Expectations are rising faster than most brand cycles can keep up with. Some work that passed as ’good enough’ five years ago looks ridiculous by today’s standards. And, in this environment, there is very little excuse for safe, clichéd choices that make you indistinguishable from your competitors.

Think about the message you want to convey, the feeling you want to create, and the best way to do it. Then commit.

Experiences are no longer optional

The web can do far more than it could even a few years ago. When used properly, interaction, motion, and depth are not just decoration; they are what separate a site people skim from one they remember. They turn a page into a place, an experience. They reward attention, and in doing so, they hold it.

The best sites do not just communicate information; they create a feeling, a vibe. They give people something to engage with, not just something to read.

And crucially, in a growing number of cases, AI tools already gave them the information before they came to you. When someone finally arrives on your site, more informed and more intentional than ever, your job is to show them they chose well and guide them to the action you want them to take.

Ideas are easy. Execution is what counts.

The web is full of strong concepts that collapse under real constraints. Aside from generally poor attempts at realising designs, even for ‘ great looking’ websites, at scale, oftentimes performance drops, accessibility is compromised, and internal teams inherit something they cannot realistically maintain. This is why choosing a partner is about more than taste. Execution matters. Bold brand work only counts if it ships fast, stays performant, remains accessible, works for real teams after launch, and, crucially, genuinely looks amazing. An immersive experience that takes eight seconds to load is not immersive. It is broken.

And remember, immersive does not just mean 3D. It means an experience that feels smooth, deliberate, and explorable.

Originality survives the summary

Markets are increasingly flattened into summaries. Generic brands collapse into interchangeable descriptions. That makes a strong narrative and point of view essential.

People (and LLMs in most cases) do not necessarily need exhaustive explanations or feature inventories. They want to understand what you are, who you are for, and why you are different, quickly. The days of keyword stuffing are well and truly dead: create experiences people are going to love, and they will find you.

Memorability is a real competitive advantage. Distinctive visual language and considered interaction design create recall, not just comprehension. They help you to tell a story.

When it comes to copy, less is more.

The bar has moved

It used to be that most sites just looked bad, and good design was a differentiator. A bit of care and attention went a long way. That is no longer true. With generative AI, good design is the minimum standard. Great design is strategic. If you want to stand out, you need a clear goal, the confidence to commit to it, and the discipline and skill to execute it properly. You also need to give the right team the space to do the work.

Playing it safe is no longer safe. The brands that win will be the ones people actually remember.

Prismic's take

The tools teams choose shape what’s possible. When content, design, and development are allowed to move with the same clarity and conviction, brands can take creative risks without sacrificing performance, scalability, or maintainability. Platforms like Prismic give teams flexibility, without locking them into rigid templates or brittle workflows, making it easier for developers to build the kind of memorable, experience-led sites described above. And for marketers to be able to update them independently, while staying on brand. In that sense, the right content foundation doesn’t just support great work; it quietly enables it.