Rebrand or refresh: how to tell what your brand needs

Rebrands often happen in a mood rather than for a reason: something isn’t working, the brand is the most visible thing about the business, and changing it feels like progress. Sometimes it is exactly the right move. Often a smaller, cheaper change — or a different one entirely — would do more.

Three different jobs

Signs you need a rebrand

• Your name describes something you no longer do, or limits where you can grow
• You’re moving into a market where your brand looks out of place next to established competitors
• You’ve merged with another business or changed ownership in a way customers need to see
• The brand carries a reputation you need to leave behind

Signs a refresh is enough

• People recognise and like the brand, but it looks dated
• Your website, social profiles, vehicles and documents all look slightly different
• The logo doesn’t work small, on mobile or in one colour
• You don’t have proper files, colour codes or font licences

When the real problem is positioning

Many brand complaints are really this: customers don’t understand why they should pick you. No logo fixes an unclear answer to that question. Before any design work, you should be able to say in a sentence who you’re for, what you do better than the alternatives, and what you don’t do. Doing that first also makes design work quicker and cheaper, because the designer isn’t guessing.

What a branding project should deliver

At minimum:

• A primary logo, plus versions for small sizes, dark backgrounds and single colours, in the file formats you’ll need
• A colour palette with exact values for screen and print
• Typefaces, with licences in your business’s name
• Short guidelines showing correct and incorrect use
• Templates for the things you produce regularly

Larger projects add positioning, messaging and tone of voice, photography direction and more templates. Get the list of deliverables in writing before comparing quotes — two identical prices can mean very different amounts of work. For UK price ranges, see what agencies charge, and for advice on your own situation, branding advice.

Keep what already works

• Recognition. A refresh keeps familiar elements; customers shouldn’t need to relearn who you are.
• Your name’s reputation, if people search for it and recommend it.
• Search visibility. If a rebrand includes a new domain name, plan redirects from every old page to its new equivalent, so you don’t lose the visits your current site earns.
• Consistency after launch. A modest brand used consistently usually looks better than a strong one used carelessly.

Before you brief a designer

Write down what’s prompting the change, who your customers are, what you want them to think and feel, what must stay, where the brand has to work, and your budget. How to write a marketing brief covers the rest.