Nine Questions to Ask before You Do a Brand Redesign
We’ve put together a list of the nine questions you should ask yourself before embarking on a brand redesign. With these tips, you should be able to navigate the process without too many hiccups and have a more harmonious partnership with your designers!
1) What do you like about your current branding (and what don’t you like)?
Before you go to a designer and start the redesign process, it’s important to know what you like and don’t like about your current branding. In most redesigns, the new branding isn’t a complete change from the original and is instead an updated version. Decide what areas of your current branding need to be maintained and what areas you are unhappy with. This will help the designer to understand your motives and give them direction.
2) Do you have any examples of brands and brand designs that you like?
Much like the above question, giving a designer some direction by referring to some existing brand designs can help greatly. You may notice a theme appearing across your choices, with specific qualities featured in the brands that you like. This pattern could help with narrowing down what you want for your own design.
3) Who is your customer?
Your branding needs to attract the right audience, so it’s vital that you know who you want to target. If your brand is growing, it’s important that your branding is attractive to both new and old customers across a variety of demographics. Ask yourself what your customers look like and arm your designer with this information to help build up different personas.
4) What do you want your branding to say?
Do you have any particular objectives or a strong business message? Let your designer know what you want your branding to say about your company and how your business could be described. These descriptions and characterisations will help designers with everything from typography to colour.
5) What does your competitor’s branding look like?
Who are your direct competitors and what does their branding look like? This will help your designer create a new brand that stands out from the crowd, but also fits well within your industry.
6) Where do you see your brand in ten years?
Brand redesigns can be a time-consuming and costly exercise. They should also be done in moderation, so it’s important that when you undertake one you have considered where your brand will be in ten years’ time. Forward thinking and goal setting will help your designer to produce a new brand that is evergreen and not just hopping on the back of current design trends.
7) What is your budget and timeline?
This is perhaps a boring subject, but it can change everything about a brand redesign. Scope out your budget and timelines before approaching a designer. This will save them from veering off on an expensive and unachievable project and help keep everyone to deadlines from the start. It may be that you need to renegotiate your original budget or time allowance if it’s not sufficient.
8) Who will make the approvals?
If you are working to a strict deadline, this is even more crucial, but it’s always important to decide early on who will be signing off on brand designs. ‘Too many cooks’ is a common issue at this point, so try to narrow down the number of opinions as much as possible — just a few key voices.
9) What are your expectations?
Setting your expectations early on also helps give the designer a better understanding of what you want your brand redesign to achieve. This is also a great point in the process for the designer to set expectations too. Unless you have an unlimited budget or a very clear brief, it can be difficult for a designer to translate all the exact nuances and expectations that you have in your head. Communication is key to achieving great results and a good relationship.
Once you’ve gone through your brand redesign, check out our extensive array of branded merchandise and get in touch today. We’d love to help to get your new brand design out there! Simply fill out some details in the form below and we'll be in touch shortly.
