Zebra Designs is a full service graphic design agency specialzing in digital and print experiences. Our unique style is second only to our impeccable customer service.
Zebra Designs is a full service graphic design agency specialzing in digital and print experiences. Our unique style is second only to our impeccable customer service.
The decision to update your brand is rife with uncertainty. When is the right time? Is there a right time? Can you truly update for the future, or will you always feel two steps behind?
Each brand has its own set of challenges, goals, and customer expectations to meet but the good news is it’s actually easy to revitalize your brand and keep it fresh and in-step with an increasingly dynamic marketplace.
Focus on Your Customer
Many companies make the mistake of evaluating their brand internally from their own perspective.
Your brand does not belong to you…not anymore. Your brand is not about your perception, or your response. Instead, it belongs to your customers. They connect with it, share it, and make it their own. Focus on how they see you, feel about you, and respond to you.
Listening to your customers helps you break through the noise. If you give them the chance, they’ll tell you exactly where you need to improve. And the answers may surprise you.
Rebrand? Refresh? What’s the difference?
The scale of your update and what you call it largely depends on your circumstances. If things are going well, you might focus on smaller adjustments and tweaks to your visual identity.
More specifically, we can break these down into two distinct approaches.
Refresh:
Literally a freshening up of your brand, as opposed to a wholesale reinvention. In this case, the fundamentals of your brand may actually be strong however, individual components of your visual identity appear dated.
Successful brands refresh their visual identity all the time, maintaining an anchor in their classic branding but bringing new elements, new looks, and new excitement to their brand.
Rebrand:
Think of this as a gut renovation. As a company grows and diversifies, it’s easy for the message to become fractured and inconsistent in places.
Made the decision to Rebrand? Where to go from here?
Embarking on a brand update can seem overwhelming, so it’s helpful to begin by focusing on a few key areas without worrying about the full scope of your brand. These elements are the foundation, after all, so any changes you make will reverberate throughout your entire visual identity.
Logo
Seldom does a refresh completely change your logo. More often, the existing logo becomes the foundation of a new, updated look. You may change the look & feel, color palette, fonts, and more, but your logo should still remain immediately recognizable to long-term customers.
Messaging
A brand refresh creates an excellent opportunity to update and improve your messaging. Vernacular and colloquialisms constantly evolve, so you’ll need to examine their role in your existing messaging.
Design System – Color, Fonts, and More
Does your design system reflect and represent who you are and what your brand aspires to be? Is your look consistent with what customers expect to see today? Remembering that brands evolve, keep a careful eye toward the future to allow flexibility for the adaptations and improvements that will inevitably follow.
Stay Focused
Perhaps the biggest challenge of any brand update, whether it’s a minor refresh or a major overhaul, is staying true to your goals and vision. There will be a lot of decisions along the way, with endless questions and a ton of second-guessing from all levels of your organization. This is a natural part of the process—after all, everyone wants to get it right.
Have goals!
Make a list of your goals and remember they must clearly reflect your commitment to solving the challenges and seizing opportunities that led you to update your brand in the first place.
Question everything (well, some things)
• Does your new brand faithfully reflect your company identity?
• Will your new brand be well positioned to move your company into the future?
• Is your new logo, colors and revised content modern and relevant?
• How does your new look compare to your competition?
• Is your brand consistent across print, digital, public displays, apps and packaging?
• Is the new appearance well connected to the best qualities of the past?
• Is your revised brand instantly recognizable?
With an honest perspective on your visual identity and an eagerness to explore new directions, you can breathe new life into your brand and keep your customers engaged, loyal, and excited to see what’s next.
We, at Zebra, will help you answer the question while we make the process easy for you. Give us a call at 202-583-9766 or reach out to Jarrin @ jdavis@zebradesigns. We’re ready when you are!
