The ins and outs of a brand refresh

When we are tasked with building a new website, one of the key elements we ask about is your company’s branding. People often think they have a brand because they have a logo.

A brand is however so much more than your logo (and just because you have a logo, does not always mean that it serves your brand well).

Your branding consists of a variety of elements, including your logo, corporate colours and fonts, your visual style (e.g. photography, graphics or illustrations), tone of voice (e.g. quirky, serious, professional, fun) and very importantly, your values: what your company, product or services stand for at the end of the day (be it quality, honesty, affordability or fast service or a combination).

In the digital age, re-branding or at least building on an existing brand by adding a brand style guide document (otherwise known as a brand bible) is an important consideration. The main reason is that it establishes a definite look and feel (consistency) for your brand, so people are easily able to recognize your brand online (and elsewhere) amidst the sea of others.

The key elements of a re-branding project

1. Logo

A logo (abbreviation of logotype, from Greek: λόγος, romanized: logos, lit. 'word' and Greek: τύπος, romanized: typos, lit. 'imprint') is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition.
Your logo needs to reflect the personality of your brand and must represent your values, colour schemes, shapes and lineage of your company.

View some of the logos designed by Pathfind Media

2. Brand Style Guide

You can view this example of a branding project we did for our client, Vine Recruitment.The corporate identity is a reference document with the unified, consistent look and feel of your brand and different applications thereof. It usually includes the following elements:

• Your logo and logo variations (like a stacked logo version, a horizontal version, an inverted colour version, etc.). This is to apply the logo in different formats (a very long horizontal logo will for instance not work well as a social media profile pic).

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• Tagline (a catchphrase or slogan). When we say ‘Just Do It’, you immediately think of NIKE
• A colour palette with colour codes for digital (RGB and hex codes) and printing (CMYK and pantone) application).
  
  ‍Vine Recruitment as Example‍

• Textures (when used in graphic design, texture refers to the sense of feeling, touching, and actualisation). The texture is a characteristic component of graphic design that uplifts the presence of other visual elements like patterns, colours, illustrations, content, and more.
  
  ‍Vine Recruitment as Example‍

• Typography and fonts. In essence, typography is the art of arranging letters and text in a way that makes the copy legible, clear, and visually appealing to the reader. Typography involves font style, appearance, and structure, which aims to elicit certain emotions and convey specific messages. The brand style guide will include primary and secondary fonts that will be applied universally for advertising, social media designs, your website, and even in company emails and stationery.
  
  ‍Here is a good visual representation of why typography and font choice matter:

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• Photography (preferred image and style compositions). This could be a combination of stock photography and in-house photography, depending on whether your business is service or product related.
• Iconography (a visual language used to represent features, functionality, or content). Icons are meant to be simple, visual elements that are recognised and understood immediately.
  
  ‍Vine Recruitment as Example‍

3.  Corporate Stationery

Communication items branded with the company logo and important contact/legal details.

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4. Website

Depending on your business model, the website is arguably the most important outward-facing piece of branding you have. In today’s world, most people will visit your website before making a buying decision – so make sure it’s user-friendly and on-brand.

5. Social Media

The setup and use of social media websites and social networks to market a company's products and services. Social media marketing provides companies with a way to reach new customers, engage with existing customers, and promote their desired culture, mission, or tone of voice. You need to appoint an agency to create the relevant pages on the various platforms (according to your brand style guide) and maintain it.

To deliver on our core promise of delivering excellently working websites that represent our clients’ brands well, we also offer branding services (whether you are in the market for a website or not).