DESIGN FOCUS

TO REFRESH OR REBRAND?

Your brand is much more than a logo. It represents your values, ethics, attitudes, traditions and culture and communicates the personality of your organisation. It speaks to your desired target audience in their service experiences and should accord with their expectations of you.

The brandmark, or logo, is usually the first interaction a consumer or potential client has with your product or service and is the most immediate, visual way of representing your brand. Along with the ‘look and feel’ of your corporate identity (the graphic elements - typefaces, colour palettes, photography and templates), your brandmark should capture your brand personality and have a message for your clients.

A brandmark is not changed lightly. It should not be changed simply because someone on the management team is tired of blue! Below are some of the key questions to ask yourselves when formulating a brandmark design brief:

• Why are we doing this and what are we hoping to achieve? Has our core business, geographical scope or client base changed or grown? Does our visual identity seem a little old-fashioned today or do we need new digital applications, such as electronic letterhead?
• How are we different or unique in the marketplace?
• Do we know how our clients and other stakeholders feel about our brand?
• What are the “mandatories” in terms of adding or retaining information or elements? There may be elements of your brandmark that contain high brand value and are important to retain e.g a well-recognised circle shape.
• What is the budget for this project?

Sometimes a careful strategy that involves small changes - a ‘refresh’ of the brandmark and/or other graphic elements - can be just as effective as a complete overhaul of your logo, or a ‘rebrand’.

Aaron Williams, Head of Design
aaron@fenton.com.au

Issue One February 2010

Main story - A smoke free zone
Design focus - To refresh or rebrand?
Tip story - Incorporating new media into the media relations mix
Tip story - The ambassador advantage
Case study - Promoting debate about housing and homelessness
Case study - Helping to blitz biodiversity
Food for thought home