BRIEF: Rebranding

Introduction to Brief:

Rebranding is "the process of changing the corporate image of an organisation". Rebranding is a market strategy of giving a new name, symbol, or change in design for an already-established brand, in attempt to create a new, different identity for a brand, from its competitors, in the market. This brief concept was heavily inspired by my university dissertation, titled "An Investigation into the Importance of Rebranding, with specific reference to Facebook.", where I learnt all about the importance of rebranding within Graphic Design and how a brand/product can decrease in success if they fail to rebrand, when need be.

This is aimed to be an average length brief. It should take averagely 2-3 weeks. Try to stick to this. Try not to spend too little/too much time on each task. I advise you create a timetable before you start section 1, particularly if you struggle with time management.

Below is an image of Rafael Serra's work, who I analysed in another post, titled "10 Typographers which you could research". Serra took popular brands, such as Spotify and McDonalds, and rebranded/redesigned them with a new vintage look, making their brand better targeted towards the younger, student ages, which vintage fashion is currently very popular within.

For this brief, you need to choose a brand which is in need of a rebrand, and rebrand them. I advise you primarily focus on the change in design over a new name, a like Serra has above. You need to rebrand your chosen brand with a new identity, with reason.

What you will learn:

• A developed understanding towards the importance of rebranding.

• What makes a successful rebrand.

• What makes an unsuccessful rebrand.

• How to identify relevant touchpoints.

Section 1 - RESEARCH

A) Understanding the importance of rebranding.

Before you start designing, I want you to do some thinking into WHY I am setting this brief. Grab a notebook and answer these questions:

1. When is it beneficial for a brand/product to rebrand?

2. Why do brands/products rebrand?

3. Why is it important to rebrand a brand/product, when appropriate?

B) Researching rebranding success.

You now need to find an example of a brand who has rebranded successfully, and answer the following questions:

1. How did they rebrand?

2. What makes this rebrand successful?

3. Did the rebrand maintain loyalty towards what their target audience would like?

4. Did they rebrand beyond their change in design? Did they change their target audience? Did they change their brand name? Did they change their purpose?

C) Researching rebranding failure.

You now need to find an example of a brand who has rebranded unsuccessfully, and answer the following questions:

1. How did they rebrand?

2. What makes this rebrand unsuccessful?

3. Did the rebrand maintain loyalty towards what their target audience would like?

4. Did they rebrand beyond their change in design? Did they change their target audience? Did they change their brand name? Did they change their purpose?

D) Choosing your brand to rebrand.

Now you have a good understanding of the importance of rebranding, examples of rebranding success' and rebranding failures, you can use this to help decide which brand is in need of you to rebrand it. When looking for a brand, you need to think of WHY it needs a rebrand. Use these questions to help guide your answer.

• Is any aspects of their brand not fitting to their target audience?

• Look at their design rebranding history - is their any patterns which you can notice? Do these patterns need to stay because it is part of their brand image (such as Starbuck's colour palette of green), or it too boring and repetitive, helping their brand blend into the crowd of their competitors?

• Compare their design to other popular brands within their field. Do these other brand all share characteristics which your brand does not? Should your brand adopt these clearly successful techniques, or should they have something new and innovative to help them stand out from their competitors?

E) Understanding your brand.

It is important to gain an understanding of your brand before you even think of designing so you know what approach to take with your design. Grab a notebook and answer these questions:

1. What is your chosen brands purpose?

2. Who is their target audience? Create a detailed description of at least 3 different people who this brand could be targeted towards. Example: Karen, single mother, aged 33, loves the outdoors and spends her spare time in the park, listening to her favourite true crime podcast whilst her son is at primary school. Be as detailed as possible. Make the reader feel like they know this person you are describing.

F) What does your brand need to rebrand?

Once you have decided your chosen brand to rebrand, you now need to find WHAT characteristics need to be rebranded. Use Section 1D) and the questions below to help you.

• Is it the colour palette? Are the colours involved incompatible? Do the colours not match the personality of the brand?

• Is it the style of typography style? Is the placement of the text off? Is it the text size? Is it the text style boring - could you warp the text to make the cover more unique? Is it the incorrect style of letterform (serif, sans serif, script, monospaced and display)?

G) Researching revlevant designers to inspire you.

Now you have discovered what is your chosen brand/product needs to rebrand, you need to find AT LEAST THREE artists who use similar styles which you are aiming to use. Use your answers in from Section 1F). to help you.

• If the brand needs brighter colours, look for artists who use vibrant colours.

• If the brand needs an improved type style, look for artists who experiment with typography.

• If the brand design is too boring, look for artists who use unique approaches/medias.

• What design techniques of your chosen brand works well? Look for artists who also experiment with this technique for inspiration.

(If you are struggling to find any artists, scroll through this blog. I have done plenty of different blogs about different artists who inspire me.)

Section 2 - DESIGN

Now that all of the research is done, you should:

• Have a good understanding on the importance of rebranding.

• Have a good understanding on your chosen brand.

• Have a list of reasons WHY your chosen brand needs to rebrand and WHAT needs to be rebranded.

• Have a minimum of three designers which you have found to help inspire your design.

You should create:

• A vast range of different potential designs/variations/experimentations of design which can potentially be used for a final product.

• At least 3 final touchpoints which are relevant to your brand. List of examples: logo, instagram story, instagram posts, clothing, accessories, collectables, posters, website, animation.

Section 3 - ANALYSE

Now you have created 3 final touchpoints, it is time to analyse your work. Answer the following questions:

1. What were the visual identities of your chosen brand that needed to be rebranded (brief description as you should have already covered this in section 1)? How did you change and evolve this? What did you change?

2. What are the most effective new design attributes of your rebranded design?

3. How did you use the selected artists which you researched to influence your design?

4. What 3 final touchpoints did you create? Are these touchpoints relevant to your brand?

5. Is there any adjustments you would make to your own design? If so, why were you not able to do this?

6. How long did you spend on this brief? You were advised to spend 2-3 weeks on this brief. Did you stick to this?

End of Brief.