Before you rebrand: the decisions to close first
Rebrand when the business has changed and the brand still describes the old one, not because you are tired of the logo. Before anyone designs anything, close a short list of decisions in writing: who it is for, who it is not for, what you compete on and the one sentence that says what you do. The design is easy once those are settled.
Part of: Brand identity
Most rebrands start with the logo, because the logo is the part everyone can see. That is also why so many of them end with a new logo on the same confusion.
Rebrand, refresh or leave it alone
There are good reasons to rebrand. The business now sells something different from what the name and the look were made for. You have moved upmarket, or into a new city or country, and the brand still speaks to the old customer. Two businesses have merged. Or the brand cannot do its basic jobs: the mark falls apart small, on a dark background, in one colour or embroidered on a shirt.
There are weaker reasons too. You are bored of it. A competitor just rebranded. A new partner wants to leave a mark. None of these is wrong to feel, but none is a reason on its own to change a name customers already know.
If the strategy still holds and only the execution has aged, a refresh is often enough: the same idea, drawn better.
The decisions to close first, in writing
Before a single sketch, write down the answers to these. If the people who run the business cannot agree on them, no designer can fix that for you.
- Who it is for. Specifically enough that it leaves someone out.
- Who it is not for. The harder half. It tells you which work to turn down.
- What you compete on. Price, speed, quality, trust, access or taste. Lead with one.
- The one sentence. What your own staff say when a stranger asks what the company does. Write the one you want them to say.
- What you will not do. Every brand worth remembering refuses something.
- What you sound like on a bad day. The apology, the delay, the price increase. A voice that only works on good news is not finished.
We go through how we close these with clients on our brand identity page.
Ask the assistants what they say about you
Before the design starts, put your buyers' real questions to ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude and read what comes back. Who gets named in your category, how your business is described, and what your one sentence sounds like when a machine says it to someone who will never visit your About page.
If the answer is wrong or vague, that is a positioning problem, and it is cheaper to find before the new logo than after.
List everywhere the old brand lives
A rebrand is finished when the old one is gone, not when the new one is approved. Before you start, list every place the brand appears: the website, the social profiles and their handles, the WhatsApp Business profile, your Google Business Profile and other listings, signs, packaging, uniforms, vehicles, invoices, email signatures, the templates your team uses every day.
That list decides the real size of the job, and it is usually longer than anyone expects.
Keep the words that carry promises
When the look changes, keep the promises you have made in writing exactly as they were: warranties, guarantees, terms, what your packaging says. Tidying "should" into "shall" because it reads better changes a promise, not a style. If a line ought to change, change it on purpose, with the person who will have to keep it.
When the brand is new
Sometimes there is nothing to rebrand: a new business needs its first mark, colours, type and website, all at once. That is a different job, and a faster one. Our Launch page shows how we do a brand and a website together.