Rebrands are dangerous enterprise. Good ones elevate the feel and appear of a model and resonate with energy customers (Webflow, anybody?). Lower than stellar ones really feel contrived. Some rebrands are polarizing and trigger a ruckus on social, solely to be deemed profitable when the mud lastly settles. Bear in mind when the brand new Instagram brand dropped?
It’s a slender goal, however there’s a candy spot the place rebrands really feel “proper,” the adjustments are virtually apparent, and the work paves the best way for years of development.
So what separates the nice from the dangerous and the becoming from the pressured? Prior to now 12 months, we developed the Assist Scout model and realized so much within the course of. Whereas every journey is exclusive, there are some steps any crew can take to make massive adjustments occur, rapidly and at scale.
Set a transparent imaginative and prescient (and don’t be too treasured)
We set out by forming a cross-functional working group that included representatives from the chief, model, and product design groups. Taking inventory of our present model highlighted bottlenecks and helped establish aspirations.
Our new model wanted to be daring and opinionated, and talk the craft and energy of our product. Groups wanted to have the instruments and programs to scale this work out, and the model and product wanted to be as linked as ever. Simple, proper?
We wished to work transparently and do the work in-house, so we held month-to-month syncs and shared frequent updates. This stored suggestions loops small and ensured we had buy-in alongside the best way. We structured the workstream to exist in parallel with day-to-day work carried out by the inventive crew.
We agreed that new concepts that felt robust might discover their manner into the work we had been actively transport. The model evolution course of trickled out as we had been defining it. Our not-too-precious mentality gave us a superb alternative to check reception available in the market, loop in additional crew members, and cut back work on the tail finish.
Root adjustments in values
We knew that creating pointers and programs — all derived from and aligned to our values — would unlock our small however mighty in-house crew. What would turn into an ~80 web page doc set the muse for rollout and clarified our visible and verbal programs.
Model basis and messaging
Truing up our firm imaginative and prescient, mission, and values was a vital step in our course of. Solidifying our model basis gave us a tonal benchmark for each following resolution, from writing copy to selecting typefaces.
With values in tow, we consolidated our model writing ideas and product messaging into one doc, additional synchronizing our model. New boilerplate content material, worth props, and key messaging served as a jump-off level for the whole lot else we’d write.
Model identification
Whereas larger adjustments had been on the desk, the profitable kind issue and values-aligned that means of our present brand guided us to refine moderately than overhaul. The mark resembles a refined, summary “H,” and our CEO Nick Francis tell us that he thinks of the emblem mark because the three fingers of the “scout’s honor” signal.
We up to date the letterforms to be extra trendy and legible, adjusted proportions, and launched our new core model coloration, Cobalt. We ended up with a extra scalable brand and a timeless wordmark, and we stored all of our hard-earned fairness. Win-win-win.
Model system
To make sure our crew had the instruments to create work that delivered on the daring, opinionated aspirations of the model, we created a brand new model device package that enabled designers to construct at scale. We shored up our overarching visible course, repositioned the product as our major storytelling device, and paired all of it with a extra expressive typestack.
We revisited our palette to supply a fuller set of tints and shades throughout the colour spectrum. This allows us to create accessible UI and web site pages in addition to vibrant editorial content material and visuals.
Construct a system (and be prepared to interrupt it)
Armed with the street map of name pointers, we constructed programs to maintain our groups linked to the identical sources and pointers. These sources had been designed to alter and be fluid.
Making massive, world adjustments
Design programs have a popularity for being inflexible. Whereas that is perhaps the case typically, programs may also be a method for iteration and world change. Organising dozens of kind kinds with font-size and line-height tokens appears like a variety of work (and it’s), however with the ability to dwell with these kinds (and alter them in a single fell swoop) is empowering.
At one level within the course of, we took a very good, arduous take a look at our Cobalt 600 / Motion Default coloration swatch. Was it eye-catching sufficient? We took a beat, workshopped the colour ramp, and, in just a few clicks, had been in a position to roll the change out throughout parts, code, logos, and extra. The benefit of a system isn’t that it’s fastened and outlined. The true energy of a system is in its fluidity, the place adjustments are holistic and never one-off.
Refreshing the advertising and marketing web site
Within the Johnny Money music “One Piece at a Time,” Money sings from the attitude of an car meeting line employee who would steal one half per day, ultimately constructing himself a brand new automobile. We constructed our automobile (advertising and marketing web site) the exact same manner, including our new design system and model course one web site part at a time. Now that every one the constructing blocks are new and dialed-in, the entire web site feels dialed-in. By specializing in the constructing blocks, we’ve enabled a number of groups to create extra pages with out a lot improvement and design assist.
Deepening our two-way sync between model and product
We’ve all the time made some extent to work shoulder to shoulder as product and model design groups. For years we’ve shared design programs, and our work is strongest when all events are concerned. Our new product-focused visible course depends on that alignment greater than ever.
Enhancements to our new system deepened that connection by creating extra shared parts and tokens. This additionally signifies that the product takes middle stage on either side of the login display screen, creating a way of continuity for guests and prospects alike.
We had been bullish on staying in lockstep with the product crew by syncing up the launch of our new model with the overhaul of our core product function, Inbox. Not solely have we modernized the inbox expertise with a strong new editor (and rather more), however the complete app has been rethemed to match the brand new model. You may see extra Inbox options throughout the advertising and marketing web site by beginning a free trial or opting-in as a buyer right now.
Forecast the longer term
All instructed, we accomplished our model evolution in simply over a 12 months. This extraordinarily lean timeline was made doable by the expertise of our in-house crew and since our programs had been constructed with change in thoughts. Our programs and guidelines-driven strategy wasn’t about etching selections in stone. As a substitute, our strategy created an ecosystem that drives cohesion and welcomes iteration on a extra world stage.
Did all this work hit the rebrand candy spot? Up to now we’ve acquired nice suggestions, stored our high-performing web optimization efforts intact, and even had pages just like the AI function web page inspire a better charge of oldsters to attempt the software program. One customer cited, “If the brand new look feels prefer it’s all the time been there, you’ve achieved it proper. And, by golly, this one feels pure.”
Whereas the reception’s been nearly as good as we might hope, our crew is aware of that model work isn’t achieved. I personally subscribe to the Residing Model philosophy, espoused by Michael Jager of Solidarity of Unbridled Labour design studio: “Manufacturers reside issues. They develop. Adapt. Evolve. To flourish, they should be nurtured.”
Our strategy leaned closely on setting a stable basis. Doing so set us up for the subsequent (and arguably most vital) stage — to nurture the model and proceed to evolve. Our groups now have the programs and instruments to go deeper and quicker at scale, charting a course towards — and enabling — the innovation to return.