IT provider brand refresh
IT provider brand refresh
Quality client communication leads to an extremely smooth and successful brand refresh.
Duration
4 weeks
Client
Southwestern Regional IT Provider
Overview
A regional IT company in the Southwest came to my team with a brand that no longer reflected the sophistication of its field. I worked with their leadership team to improve and expand on the brand in small ways that didn’t threaten existing brand recognition.
Brand Refresh & Client Management
Overview
Brand Refresh & Client Management
A regional IT company in the Southwest came to my team with a brand that no longer reflected the sophistication of its field. I worked with their leadership team to improve and expand on the brand in small ways that didn’t threaten existing brand recognition.
The challenge
The existing identity was based on a black, white, and red palette and utilized Oswald and Poppins as header and body fonts, respectively. There’s nothing inherently negative about these choices, but there were two problems. One, they felt flat and dated in context. Two, and this was what started to gain interest from their leadership team, those color and type combos are not own-able. Actually, Google’s AI Overview just interrupted my search for a supporting stat to say that yes, Poppins is one of the most common typefaces on the internet. Now I’m editorializing too much. Anyway, dated and generic are two death sentences for a tech company visual brand.
The challenge
The existing identity was based on a black, white, and red palette and utilized Oswald and Poppins as header and body fonts, respectively. There’s nothing inherently negative about these choices, but there were two problems. One, they felt flat and dated in context. Two, and this was what started to gain interest from their leadership team, those color and type combos are not own-able. Actually, Google’s AI Overview just interrupted my search for a supporting stat to say that yes, Poppins is one of the most common typefaces on the internet. Now I’m editorializing too much. Anyway, dated and generic are two death sentences for a tech company visual brand.
The approach
This brand refresh started in the form of a brand workshop, and in this one the client expressed hesitation to change for two reasons. The first was reluctance to give up recognition. They saw a “rebrand” as tossing current identity in the trash, and starting over. Beyond that, they didn’t see what was wrong with the current brand. They had colors. They had a logo, and some fonts. Isn’t that it? I got into the details about how colors and type combinations get popular, explode in use across the internet, then get left behind as artifacts from set-and-forget rebrands. I explained that people notice, the same way they’d notice a salesperson in wrinkly clothes, or an office that smells a little musty. A brand that’s collecting dust might suggest an IT company that isn’t offering cutting-edge solutions for today’s problems.
The approach
This brand refresh started in the form of a brand workshop, and in this one the client expressed hesitation to change for two reasons. The first was reluctance to give up recognition. They saw a “rebrand” as tossing current identity in the trash, and starting over. Beyond that, they didn’t see what was wrong with the current brand. They had colors. They had a logo, and some fonts. Isn’t that it? I got into the details about how colors and type combinations get popular, explode in use across the internet, then get left behind as artifacts from set-and-forget rebrands. I explained that people notice, the same way they’d notice a salesperson in wrinkly clothes, or an office that smells a little musty. A brand that’s collecting dust might suggest an IT company that isn’t offering cutting-edge solutions for today’s problems.
The results
We were all immediately on the same page. I built a brand refresh presentation that improved their visual language instead of replacing it. A broader color palette offered new life for their web presence and print layouts, and newly chosen type showed an intentional spin on what was familiar, and could now be even more familiar. Oswald wasn’t “own-able”, but Big Shoulders belongs to them. There were no edits, and the client was on board with every step of the process up to and including the delivery of the completed brand document.
The results
We were all immediately on the same page. I built a brand refresh presentation that improved their visual language instead of replacing it. A broader color palette offered new life for their web presence and print layouts, and newly chosen type showed an intentional spin on what was familiar, and could now be even more familiar. Oswald wasn’t “own-able”, but Big Shoulders belongs to them. There were no edits, and the client was on board with every step of the process up to and including the delivery of the completed brand document.
Highlighting Design
There were two main takeaways from this project. One: A visual brand does not need dramatic changes to feel dramatically improved. Smart adjustments to typography, color, and geometric elements made a brand update feel less like extensive surgery, and more like a timely haircut. Two: Given the chance, it is possible to win over a C-suite with design logic. The conversation between subjective aesthetics and dollar signs doesn’t always translate, but if both sides focus on the goal in the middle—company success—you’ve just improved your odds.
Highlighting Design
There were two main takeaways from this project. One: A visual brand does not need dramatic changes to feel dramatically improved. Smart adjustments to typography, color, and geometric elements made a brand update feel less like extensive surgery, and more like a timely haircut. Two: Given the chance, it is possible to win over a C-suite with design logic. The conversation between subjective aesthetics and dollar signs doesn’t always translate, but if both sides focus on the goal in the middle—company success—you’ve just improved your odds.
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Let's cut through the noise and bring real strategy to your project.
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Tell me what you're building
Let's cut through the noise and bring real strategy to your project.