Eivind Bårdsen | Graphic and logo design from the Sunshine Coast

One of the applications of design that I find very interesting is corporate identity and branding. I was looking for a book on public relations in the university library when I found a title that caught my eye: Designing Corporate Identity: Graphic Design as a Business Strategy by Pat Matson Knapp. Needless to say, I picked it up and started to read. In this series I want to share with you why and how design can help your business.

In this part I will focus on branding for the purpose of renewal. In the next posts I will write about repositioning, change and growth.

Why renew a brand?

It is important for many businesses to stay fresh. A brand needs to differentiate the company from its competitors as well as saying something about the company values and aspirations. But when changing the identity for renewal, a company must stay familiar and consistent. In the words of Knapp:

For many of these companies, new identities are often more evolutionary than revolutionary: They want customers to recognise an old friend, but be pleasantly surprised by a fresh new visual expression.

In the book, Knapp describes several case studies. Some reasons for identity renewal are the following:

Outdated and fragmented corporate image
If a company diversifies into other fields, or changes its focus to a different field, its image may no longer accurately portray what kind of company it is. In one case study, people working in different divisions used different business cards and made their own letterheads. That doesn’t portray the company as a solid, consistent entity.

Your company needs to find its place in the market
The market may have changed. Strong competitors chew away at your target market. Should you still be ‘the cheapest’ or should you position yourself as more of an exclusive option? How can you be different (and better)?

You simply want to make more money
Having a strong brand creates better connections between you and your customers and employees. A good connection helps relationship building and persuasion. If you have good relationships with your customers they are more likely to give you business in the future.

What can a new or updated identity do for my business?

In her book, Knapp asks the clients in the case studies what their new identity has done for them. Here are a few results:

Vicky Carlson, president of Office Pavilion San Diego, says that after the identity launched, sales increased and that 90% of people who visit their office purchase a product.

Design is important because it helps us tell our story. The work environment tells you a lot about the company, and when customers step inside our door, they know we practice what we preach.

Carol Wiley at Brown Shoe & Co says the company is more focused, both internally and externally, and that the identity has helped the company:

It has given us a clear vision of who we are, and how to present ourselves to the world. It brands us as stylish, but timeless.

How do they do it?

The designers who worked on the rebranding of these companies use different approaches. However, there are some similarities to how they work. The process for rebranding is as follows:

Research

• Interview employees from a range of positions
• Review existing market research, internal reports and competitors
• Evaluate the company’s strengths and weaknesses

The interviews are meant to give the designers insight in what the company is all about. How employees see the company, but also how they interpret the company’s vision and mission.

The market and competitor research is to create a picture of the target market and to see how the company can differentiate itself from its competitors.

The strength and weakness analysis is to see which areas of the company the identity should play on, and which areas the company can improve itself through, among other things, their new identity.

Present
The designers present the findings of the research to the company, and identifies which attributes and values they should accentuate in the identity.

They also generate lots of ideas before they narrow it down to a few they show the client.

Produce
When the client has chosen a concept for the new identity, the designers get to work refining it and adapting it to its various uses. In some cases the designers need to create style manuals, which describe how the identity is to be used across the company. This document includes elements such as how much space should be around the logo on a letterhead to how the new identity should look like on the company’s cars.

In conclusion

A strong identity can be very valuable to a company, and using graphic design as a business strategy can make a difference. Designers base their suggestions on sound research and guide the client through the process of creating the renewed identity.

Do you have any stories about how an identity renewal helped a company? Or do you approach identity projects differently? Please share your thoughts in the comments!