When you first start a business, rebranding is probably the last thing on your mind. After all, it’s difficult to sit down and look through fonts when you still don’t know who your patrons are (and where to find them).
Furthermore, even if you made developing a brand identity a priority in the beginning, a shift in business plans may have rendered your preliminary branding strategy outdated. Whether your branding design efforts began (and ended) with a napkin logo or you whiteboarded your way through the entire branding process – from brand values to logo variations – something broke along the way.
You’re not happy, no matter how you got here. Rebranding, fortunately, is not uncommon; many major brands, from Dunkin’ Donuts to Uber, have successfully rebranded in the past. If you’re starting to think about rebranding ideas your company, keep reading to learn how to rebrand a company and to see examples of other companies which have successfully rebranded their website, name, logo, or entire company mission and purpose.
Recreate your brand’s identity.
How to do rebranding? By the time you consider a rebrand, the tangible elements you use to communicate your brand may have been in use for a few years. This means you’ve had plenty of time to consider their upsides and downsides before replacing them.
You may also want to redesign your logo, use new colors in your brand leverage, or even build innovative brand guidelines. Here are a few common examples modifications you might make as part of your rebranding strategy:
Your Company’s Logo
Maybe you loved your logo when you first started your business, but your customers never seemed to “get it.” Alternatively, perhaps your logo needs updating to reflect the other major changes you’ve put in place internally. Is rebranding a good idea?
Keep it simple.
Trying to cram as much symbolic meaning as possible into a logo rarely works out. However, this is a harsh reality for young businesses that are still attempting to establish themselves. Show your faith with a simple logo now that you’re more established.
Make an impression
Perhaps you took the opposite approach in your original company logo because you were frightened to be audacious, so you went with something safe. If people can’t remember your logo, it’s not worth much, and don’t end up settling for something which won’t stand out when redesigning it.
Be flexible
One thing you may have discovered about your first logo is its constraints. Keep in mind what patterns or formats might not be as flexible for the networks your company actually uses during the redesign.
Attempt to be appropriate
As businesses reach maturity and to get to know the customers, a logo that made sense at the time of launch may now be considered totally inappropriate for that professional point of view.
Consider the long term
Rebranding is fun, but you don’t want to do it every year, so consider your vision, mission, values, and purpose and whether this new logo can endorse them in the long run.
Keep through-lines in place.
Your logo, like your name, is one of the most memorable aspects of your brand. Stop losing too much brand recognition when rebranding by retaining the parts of your old logo that worked. If you can maintain a sense of consistency, you’ll be able to keep some of the brand recognition that your previous logo had.
Creating New Brand Guidelines
If you’re taking the trouble of establishing a new brand image for your company, make absolutely sure you use it properly. Having (and following) brand guidelines will assist you in maintaining brand consistency after the transition.
Logos, in particular, require strict brand guidelines. Logo guidelines are intended to make it as easy for clients to see, acknowledge, and remember your logo as possible, compensating for any missing familiarity that comes with such a rebrand.
Here are a few things to think about when creating your logo guidelines:
Elements of a logo
What visual components comprise your logo? When and how do you use each of them?
Variations in color.
How does the colored edition of your logo appear? How about in black and white? When do you use each of these?
Make room.
This is the room around your logo that restricts overlap or distorting. It is also known as padding. At all times, reach at least 10% width.
Unacceptable applications.
What can’t be done with your logo? What different shades, turnarounds, scaling, and so on would you like to avoid?
If you’re redesigning a website, launching a rebranding campaign, or creating other promotional materials, you’ll want to have your guidelines on hand.
