Steps to a successful logo redesign

Perfect your logo redesign

If you are one of the many businesses about to refresh their identity and undertake a logo redesign, this post could help you boost your company’s identity with a comprehensive checklist of criteria to plan your brand refresh. You might also like to read “Is your company suffering from outdated branding?” 

It’s vital you have a clear strategy in place before embarking on any brand refresh, to make sure you tick all the boxes, and ensure you don’t alienate your current clients. In order to really make the most of a rebrand or refresh you must be sure that the time, effort and money is going to be a good investment.  

Being clear on the following points can help you establish whether the time is right to implement a logo redesign or update to your brand:

• Is your audience changing? This can happen as your business grows and progresses, and it’s important you should change with them to ensure your brand remains up to date and appealing.
• If you have had the same branding for some time, your offering may well have changed in some way too, and you want to ensure your branding reflects your current product or service.
• What branding do your competitors have?  Is it similar to yours?  There is likely to be more competition out there now than when you first started and your brand may no longer stand out from the crowd.
• Do you need a full rebrand or would a brand refresh do the job? A brand refresh can enhance the strongest features of your existing brand. It’s therefore less risky, costs less, and maintains your brand’s integrity, whilst creating a buzz and keeping your brand from looking dated.

Planning your logo redesign is of course a vital step in the process, but before you go ahead and dive in, follow this 7 step process to ensure you get the desired outcome.

1. Carry out a Brand Audit

Before any rebrand you should research, research, research. It’s important to remember it’s about more than simply pretty graphics:  

• Who is your current customer and what do they want?
• What are the assets of your current branding?
• How and where is your logo currently used?
• What are the current styles, formats and colours of your logo?
• Who are your competitors and what is their branding?

2. Create a Schedule

Once you have carried out your brand audit, you should create a rebrand schedule to keep you on track financially and time-wise. Before your rebrand you should have a clear idea of the following areas:

• The timeline of your rebrand. Work backwards from your launch date, and make sure you find out any lead times for creating new collateral. It’s also vital you make sure all signage and advertising has been changed, and that your logo images are optimised and ready to be updated on all digital outlets on launch day.
• The budget for undertaking the rebrand. Be sure you take into consideration all associated costs. You can make life easier and cut costs by finding a company to take care of everything, from the logo redesign to printing and updating digital outlets, for you.
• The objectives behind your rebrand
• Any changes in market positioning. If during your brand audit you found you would be targeting a different audience, you must make sure that your new branding and advertising campaigns will appeal to them.

3. Include your audience in the rebrand process

Your customers are essentially the driving force behind your rebrand and you should make sure you are listening to what they want. Find a focus group and get their thoughts and feedback on the brand. By empowering your customers and influencers and including them in the creative process, you will be innovating both strategically and tactically. You should always refer back to the customer, rather than yourself and make sure that all teams within your business are on-board and equipped to explain, support and defend the rebrand if necessary. Asking their opinion and giving them examples to choose from is a great way to engage them during the logo redesign planning stage.

Rochford Veterinary surgery are an independent practice for local pet owners. They have been caring for cats, dogs and rabbits since 1912. Whilst the original logo had served them well they came to us looking for a new logo that represented their business on a more personal level. We set out to design a logo representing there established traditional practice, displaying the animals they cared for, as well as incorporating familiar architectural elements of the practice. Here are some images taken from the logo design process to see the finished result read on.

4. Change more than just the name of your business

Be aware that changing just the name of your business is not a good approach. By all means change your company name to something that is more relevant to the new direction of the company, but have a think about what else this may mean for customers and employees. Use the rebranding process as an opportunity to look at other areas of your business which might benefit from a change, such as your website, services, marketing model or price structure.  Your rebrand is an opportunity to reach a wider audience and you will need to change more than just your business name to achieve this.

5. Launch your new brand

Set a date for your rebrand announcement and be sure to keep existing customers, suppliers and employees in the loop.  Keep them informed that something big is going on, to retain their loyalty during your rebrand. Have a think about your launch strategy and where you plan to make the announcement, to ensure that everything happens all at once, and that you don’t have a mix of different logos. There are different ways you can approach a launch – a quiet soft launch where you transition over to the new brand, or a big launch to introduce your exciting new look and offers. Choose the method which is right for your business.