What does $84 trillion look like?

Anthony Coombes, Creative Director at Bladonmore, explores how high-end visual storytelling is evolving in the era of the Great Wealth Transfer. 

 As a Creative Director, I’ve spent years helping brands navigate complex audiences. But few audiences are more layered, or scrutinized than today’s high-net-worth individuals. And with the Great Wealth Transfer underway – an estimated $84 trillion is changing hands between generations over the next few decades – the rules are changing fast. 

This isn’t just a financial milestone. It’s a generational shift in influence, values, and expectations. A younger cohort is inheriting capital and rewriting what wealth looks and feels like. For brands that want to stay relevant, this means rethinking their communication. 

Visuals are business critical 

In branding, visuals aren’t decorative, they’re declarative. They signal who you are before a word is read. From the personality of a typeface to the weight of a business card, everything either builds credibility or erodes it. 

With high-net-worth individuals, the visual language of wealth is particularly nuanced. You’re not designing for a crowd; you’re designing for someone who’s seen it all. Every micro-interaction, every conscious act of restraint, and every choice of image is meticulously evaluated – even if just in the back of their heads. 

While traditional craftsmanship remains valued, its modern manifestation lies in how something behaves. Think of a homepage that transitions seamlessly, the polished feel of a film, or the thoughtful use of typography. 

Wealth is culturally and generationally coded 

Wealth doesn’t speak with one voice. In some cultures, it’s loud, expressed through scale, spectacle, and unapologetic luxury. In others, it’s near silent: unbranded tailoring, understatement, and legacy conveyed through edit, not excess. 

Add a generational shift, and the codes become even more complex. The inheriting generation tends to be more values-driven. They tend to care more about sustainability, legacy, and intentionality. In volatile or unequal markets, even the act of signaling wealth can feel tone-deaf or risky. In these scenarios, brands must be careful. Confident, yet discreet. Aspirational, yet grounded in context. 

Still, across this diversity, a few enduring principles hold: 

1. Before it’s understood, wealth is felt

Great brands assume their audience can feel quality before they even register it. The choice of film location and lighting, or a microsite that loads its content with grace. These aren’t flourishes, they’re foundational. 

Consider our work with RIT Capital Partners: its website employs a sparse yet fluid interactive design, complemented by full-screen, high-resolution imagery and minimal typography. This design implicitly signals control, attention, and experience without resorting to explicit statements. 

Craftsmanship means showing restraint and intention, the difference between an off-the-shelf templated website and one built to editorial standards, or between a standard PowerPoint and an engineered CEO presentation that feels more like a keynote. Speaking to the wealthy, in this context, is communicated through what feels inherently right. 

2. Wealth doesn’t ramble. It edits

Imagine an executive office where every detail, from lighting and materials to branded notepads, is tastefully curated. This principle extends to content. Wealth-oriented brands don’t over-communicate; they edit, remove, and create breathing room. Affluence is communicated through intentional absence, the space between elements, the pause in pacing, and the quiet confidence to leave something unsaid. 

For instance, in crafting the brand identity for Ara Partners, we distilled the firm’s analytical rigour and dedication to decarbonization into a design that communicates confidence through simplicity. 

Time is the ultimate luxury, and excellent communication respects that. Whether it’s a presentation or a brand narrative, the tone should be clear, intelligent, and edited to its essence. No filler. No noise. 

Affluent audiences don’t need to be dazzled, they need to feel understood. The most potent brands know when to speak and when to leave space. 

3. The semiotics of luxury are evolving

Old codes like gold foil, overly decorative graphic flourishes, and logo saturation still exist. But the new signals of status are quieter. Think Céline’s stark modernism, Bottega Veneta’s logo-less bags, or how Goldman Sachs has dialed down the corporate blue. 

Even fintech brands, once obsessed with disruption, now borrow from the luxury playbook, with elegant micro-interactions, frictionless flows, and interfaces that feel more like high-end concierge experiences than financial tools. 

Today’s credibility is built through clarity, not bravado. 

4. Storytelling isn’t It’s meaning

In luxury, the story is often the product: heritage, rarity, craftsmanship. In finance and professional services, it’s no different. The way you frame your value matters. 

A bespoke deck. A C-suite-level event. A gated research platform. These aren’t nice to have, they’re proof points. They say, ‘We know who we’re speaking to, and we’ve built this for you.’

For example, consider the rapidly evolving space industry, which is now much more than hardware. It’s about intelligence. Something we learnt when helping AAC Clyde Space shift from selling satellites to delivering insight, turning complex tech into a compelling investment story. This wasn’t marketing. It was a reframing of value. Built for the boardroom, shaped for investor confidence. A narrative that helped fuel acquisitions, capital raises, and repositioned the company for the New Space economy. 

That level of intention is rare. And in this market, rarity equals respect. 

Speaking to the wealthy isn’t about showing off. It’s about showing up with intent 

It’s a design mindset grounded in restraint, clarity, and craft. It’s content that moves slowly and confidently, assuming your audience doesn’t need to be impressed, just understood. It’s a visual language where trust is earned not through excess, but through elegance. 

When brands get this right, they don’t just feel premium; they are premium. They feel inevitable. 

 

Want to know how your brand can evolve to meet a new generation of wealth? Get in touch to start the conversation.