I am a brand identity designer but just because I love my job I promise you: I would not recommend a rebrand of your business unless it needs it.

​Times change, consumer interests change, culture changes, businesses change, and sometimes a brand needs to change too. 

I will list a few reasons to consider a rebrand below, but before I dive in I’d like to remind you that the key to effective branding is that you must be what your brand says you are. Just rebranding your business without redefining what your business is about, is not going to work.

Ok here goes. 6 reasons to rebrand your business. 

Your Brand Identity looks old, and not in a classic way.
If the look and feel of your brand is stale and you’re embarrassed to have people checking out your website, well, a rebrand is what you need. Take note of the difference between an old logo and an outdated logo, though. Is it classic, or just old-fashioned? If you have a well-established brand, you need to do a proper audience research before recreating a brand new identity. It might be just a subtle adjustment to your old brand that is needed, to make it work harder in 2021.

Your brand identity looks rather similar to your competitors.
This is surprisingly common because there are tons of subliminal “rules” as to what we think something should look like. Yes, your brand identity must represent your business and be easily identified with your industry. However, if it has become a “me too” version of your competitor a rebrand might be the only way to claim your space and steal the spotlight. Bring on differentiation. Bring on originality. Find that spark of novelty that makes you special. 

Your business is looking to attract a new group of people.
People want to align themselves with brands whose values they share. Your brand should always speak to the people you are trying to reach, and if your branding is not primed to help you connect with the target audience you are after, then a rebrand may be what’s needed. If you plan to grow internationally, it’s incredibly important to choose a brand name that’s adaptable and appealing to cultures worldwide. Your rebrand should enhance your brand identity in a way that appeals to both your existing customers and to the new market you are hoping to attract. 

Your customers have started to look elsewhere. 
Nothing lasts forever, and as time moves on and more competitors move into your market, it’s not unusual to find that customer engagement starts to wane. If your business has lost touch with what is important to your target audience, well then rebranding can transform the fate of your ailing and failing business and make it relevant, wanted and understood again. Believe in your business. Embrace the vision of your brand. The more committed you are to the company’s view of the world, the more people will believe in your brand.

Your business has evolved and your branding is not as relevant as it once was.
As a business grows it usually develops or acquire various products and services. A new business might start off as one thing, but over the course of time it could have transformed into something else. This organic brand growth can often result in an overly complicated, complex and confused brand clutter. If your products or services fit naturally with one another you should consider creating sub-brands so that all your products and services are under the same umbrella. However, if the products or services don’t fit into the existing brand, you might have to start from scratch.

Your business has merged or acquired.
The way your business is perceived by those it serves should always align with the way it operates behind the scenes. If your business was acquired or is joining with another business, then two independent brands come together. One of these brands might be stronger than the other, and all involved might agree to “ditch” the weakest brand. However, if the two brands are equals it makes sense to do a rebrand to combine the two.

There are other reasons why businesses chose to rebrand. New management who wants to make their mark, the need to cover up for bad press, or perhaps you’re simply bored of your own logo because you see it every day. Well, unless this new manager has changed the whole business model there’s no need to rebrand. And your target audience, well they are smarter than you think and would see through a cosmetic cover up. And finally, your customers do not see your brand logo all that often. At all. 
​
The key to a successful rebrand is in identifying a core story that expresses the brand’s connection to its audience. Why are you important in the eyes of your target customers? How do you tell that story? If you have done this well, chances are that your brand will last you for a long time.

What is a brand? Wikipedia defines a brand as “a name, term, design, symbol, or other feature that distinguishes an organisation or product from its rivals in the eyes of the customer.” Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, says “branding is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” 

What are you selling? If the answer to this question is something bigger than the category your business is in, you could be on your way to building a brand.

A brand is your business reputation. 

It is through branding that you will create consumer trust and emotional attachments. A good example is Lego. They’re not just building blocks for kids. They represent childhood imagination and creativity. 

As a graphic designer I have worked with several branding experts over the years. And although things change constantly there are a few fundamental principles when it comes to branding and these are pretty much unchanged since I started out in the industry some twenty odd years ago. 

Here is a very simplified introduction to these principles. 

Do your research
Finding out where a brand stands or where it doesn’t stand in a market, is a crucial first step. You need to research everything there is to know about your business (or product) and the market in which it will compete. Look at what other businesses are doing. Work out where you are and where you could be in the future by making a list of these three things: The facts. The obstacles. The opportunities.

Know your customer
You can’t be all things to all people. The most important task in building a brand is to get to know your audience. You need to know who your customers are and how to reach them. What do they like and what do they dislike. You need to know their needs and motivators, as well as their overall profile. Think of your brand as a person, and create a persona for your ideal customer. 

Tell a story
Position your brand by defining what makes it truly unique and how it will slot into an available space in the market and in your customers’ minds. Make double sure there is a market in that gap. Define your brand by stating what it stands for and what value it promises to deliver. Done well and chosen carefully, these believes and values can become critical in defining your business.

Get your mission right
Create a voice for your company that reflects your brand. This voice should be applied to all written communication and incorporated in the visual imagery of all materials, online and off. Develop a tagline: Write a memorable, meaningful and concise statement that captures the essence of your brand. 

Think design
Carefully tailor your design, sales and marketing activities to your target market and do so consistently across all channels so the brand becomes easily recognisable. Be clear. The foundation of your brand is your logo and your design guidelines. The guidelines allow a brand to be recognised for its attitude to imagery, choice of photography, tone of voice, personality and writing style. Great brands have a clear approach to their entire communication and not just the logo itself.

Blow your own trumpet
The greatest strategic idea or the worlds finest symbol will fail if it isn’t seen, heard or understood. Implementation is key. Branding extends to every aspect of your business and every encounter with your brand must consistently convey your brand promise, whether it is with your staff, product, website, social media (etc, etc). Successful branding takes on average 2 to 3 years to develop, so stay true to your brand and give it chance to grow. 

​So do you have a business or do you have a brand? What are you really selling? Is it something bigger than the category your business is in?

My name is May but it is pronounced ‘My’. It’s pronounced this way because I am Norwegian. My surname, Sivertsen, is even trickier to pronounce. Hence my name breaks the first rule of naming a business, namely that it is easy to pronounce!

Naming your business is the most challenging process of branding. Millions of names have already been registered by hundreds of thousands of businesses across the globe so finding, generating, choosing and purchasing the ‘right’ name is difficult. Very difficult. But it is critical.

The sound and feel of your business name should suggest what your business is all about. It should reflect the character of your business. How do you want people to feel when they read or hear this name for the first time?

Your business name needs to be unique and memorable and it should be easy to say. The shorter, the better. You should also make sure that the name doesn’t translate into something inappropriate in a different language.

There’s plenty of ways to go about developing a name for your business. Here’s 10 ideas and some successful examples.

Use the founder’s name 
Hewlett-Packard (David Packard and William Redington Hewlett), Marks & Spencer (Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer), Boots (John Boot) and IKEA are a few examples. Ikea is named after the initials of its founder, Ingvar Kamprad, the farm where he grew up called Elmtaryd and Agunnaryd, the nearby village.  

Describe what it does 
Create a name that describes what the business does. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is a perfect example of a descriptive name. Consumers use it to explore the Internet. 

Describe what it is 
Mark Zuckerberg originally wrote Facebook as a social network for the student community in Harvard where he himself was studying at the time. A face book is a printed or online directory found at American universities consisting of individuals’ photographs and names, helping students get to know each other.

Make up a word 
The name Google came about by accident. Whilst trying to think up a good name, something that related to the indexing of an immense amount of data the words “googolplex,” and “googol” were suggested. Both words refer to specific large numbers. When they did a search of the domain name registry to see if Googol.com was still available they made the mistake of searching for the name spelled as “google.com ” instead.

Pick a geographic origin 
Jeff Preston Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, picked up a dictionary and scanned word after word until he discovered the word “Amazon”. He liked this name for two reasons. In the past, websites were listed alphabetically, which meant Amazon would always be higher on the page, giving a slight competitive advantage. And secondly, he picked the largest river in the world to communicate Amazon’s vast selection of books.

Add a Prefix or Suffix
You can turn a common word into a product name simply by adding a prefix or suffix to it. An example is Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iMac. BMW 2, 5, 7 series and Audi 2, 3, 4 and 6 series are examples of similar ‘naming systems’.

Change Spellings 
Flickr and Liquid-Plumr use real words that are misspelled. It’s creative and helps when the name you want is already trademarked or the related domain names are already taken.

Take a word out of context 
The name Matrix Electronics didn’t cut it. Apple Computer was named so after Steve Jobs’ visit to a commune he called  an ‘apple orchard: “Partly because I like apples a lot and partially because Apple is ahead of Atari in the phone book and I used to work at Atari.” Siri was also named by an Apple employee. Dag Kittalaus, the Norwegian co-creator of the voice-activated assistant had actually planned to name his daughter Siri, which means “beautiful woman who leads you to victory” in Norwegian. Until he had a son. 

Use a Verb 
You can use a verb as your product name, like Bounce dryer sheets or Apple’s iPod Shuffle. Some examples of brand names that have turned in to generic verbs are Skype, Hoover, Photoshop, Tipp-Ex and Google.

Make an acronym 
Richard Saul Wurman created TED to inspire greater communication between emerging industries. “It occurred to me during frequent airplane flights in 1982 that the only interesting conversations I was having were with people in the technology business, the entertainment industry and the design professions.” Two years later, he planned the first TED conference in California and invited leaders of the technology, entertainment, and design (TED) industries to attend. 

I hope some of these ideas has inspired you to come up with a name for your business. 
My business is called Trumpet, as in “blow your own trumpet”, and that is exactly what you have to do if you want your business to succeed.

Listed below are several articles that I have written about branding and design. Please do not hesitate to contact me at any time if you would like some more information. I would absolutely love to hear from you!

​You have done your market research. You know who your customers are and you know what your competitors are doing. You have defined what makes your business truly unique and you have found a gap in the market. You know what you stand for. (If you do not have a name yet, read my blog post called ‘Name your business ’.)

Now you want to tell your story. 

You want to build a strong connection with your customers through telling them your brand story and I can help you with this by designing a clear and unique brand identity.

Brand identity are communication components related to your business, product or service. I will design your logo along with brand identity guidelines that will allow your brand to be recognised for its attitude to imagery, fonts, colours, choice of photography, tone of voice, personality and writing style. 

In order for me to start designing your brand identity we need to establish a clear objective and I will need all relevant information about your business. This is called a creative brief.

A creative brief is a communication tool that outlines a project’s requirements, expectations and resources. It helps ensure that everyone involved in a project are on the same page. I spent several years working as a freelance designer for various design studios and advertising agencies. They all had different ways of writing a creative brief. There is no absolute ‘right way’ to go about this but key elements to be included for a brand identity project are:

The objective. 
Be very clear about what you want from this brand identity work. Why do you need it? What are you hoping to achieve with it? What are your goals? How will you measure success? 

Who are you? 
Information about your business, service or product. How would you describe your business? What background info is relevant? What are the benefits and features of your product or service?
 
Who are you here for? 
Mindset that unites the complete target audience. If possible, try to describe a person you know. What is the most relevant desire, need, hope or fear held by target audience that your business can address?

Competitors and obstacles. 
Understanding what the competition can offer will provide a clearer picture of where your product or service stands in the market. List main business challenges. 

What is your brand ambition? 
Where do you want your product or service to be in the mind of the target audience? 

Brand personality. 
What tone of voice will the target audience best react to? 

Tagline. 
What are the key points that need to be communicated?  

Practical considerations.  
List all elements that need to be included. Are there restrictions of any kind, like certain colours that can’t be used etc?

Budget. 
A ballpark idea of budget sets the parameters for how much time I have to work with. Are other resources required? 

Scheduling. 
We need a realistic time frame to keep the project on track. This schedule should include design presentations, client feedback, content delivery and approval dates.
It is vital to list all the work to do and to be clear on who are responsible for what.

​I appreciate any guidance as to what inspire you so please include a few examples of designs you like or don’t like. Not for the intention of copying, though. I know Picasso said that ‘good artists copy, great artists steal ’ but if you want to copy someone else’s design you are better off asking another graphic designer to do it...

Click here to download the Trumpet Creative Brief template.

Before I end this blog post I’d like to talk about managing expectations. I develop brand identities and the foundation of your brand is your logo, your website, packaging and promotional materials. However, I do not build brands. 

Branding extends to every aspect of your business, whether it is with your staff, product, the price you charge, how and where you advertise, social media (etc, etc, etc). As concluded in my January blog post: ‘A brand is your business reputation’. 

“Before beginning, plan carefully”.
Marcus Tullius Cicero

You want to build a strong connection with your customers through telling them your brand story and you need to communicate clearly, confidently and positively. It is absolutely vital that your logo represents your core values. 
​
Here’s my design principles and some of my logo designs.

Unique 
Your logo must have the ability to stand out against the crowd and it should be easily recalled after just a glance. Keep it simple for easy recognition. Less is more.

Memorable  
A few seconds is all it takes to make a first impression, but you need to make sure your logo makes a lasting impression as well.

Appropriate  
Your logo must represent you. It must be relevant, tailored to your audience and easily identified with your industry. However, it must not become a “me too” version of any other similar business to yours.

Versatile 
Your logo will be used in a number of ways and in multiple contexts and it has to be effective at any size.

Timeless   
Focus on your brand rather than what the latest trends are. You want your logo to be able to stand the test of time. I designed the logo for Berg Hansen (1) in 1996. Twenty years later this re-design (2) still has links to the original logo.

Talk with one voice. Show one face.

Colours have the power to convey and communicate meanings and messages without words. It is the most important component of a logo design and by far what people remember the most, much more so than the shape or word of the logo itself. 

In branding and design the use of colour is hugely important as they are signifiers for emotions which we are often unaware of. In fact, most of us, weather we are conscious of it or not, would make a snap judgment about a product, based on its colour alone.
​
Choosing the colour (or colours) that best represents your brand is no easy task as different colours can provoke very different reactions in people. However, there’s a few things I think we can all agree on. Warm colours are associated with energy and cold colours bring calmness. Black is total absorption in complete contrast to white, which is total reflection. 

Red is a passionate colour as it stimulates us and raises the pulse rate. Green is the colour of balance. Blue is the colour of the mind and is essentially soothing. But then there’s light blue and dark blue and..... Not to mention the use of more than just one colour.
​
In this blog I have created an infographic which illustrates 12 different colours and my (researched) definition of what these colours communicate.

So what colour suits your business the best? 

Here's a very simple exercise that might help you find an answer to this.

Write down the words that best represent your brand’s personality. What colours represent those words?
​
My infographic is very simplistic and chances are you didn’t find a colour match for your words. If this is the case there’s plenty of knowledge to be found online that goes more in depth. You could also check your competitors to see what colours they use... Or you could contact me. I love the psychology of colours and I would be more than happy to help you.

Every brand, from the smallest startup to a corporate giant, need a set of branding guidelines to maintain their identity. 
​
A brand style guide is a rulebook containing specifications on everything that plays a role in the look and feel of your brand. Everything from the design of a logo and how it can be used, to what typefaces, colours and type of images to use. It lets everyone know exactly how to present your brand to the world. 

A great brand style guide will also include the brand story; the vision and the mission of the brand, the core value, the target audience and the tone of voice of the brand.

There are some brand style guides that are over 100 pages, and some that are as short as one single sheet.

Here’s a list of what I believe is essential information for a brand style guide.

A simplified brand story 
Mission and vision
Write a mission statement about why your company exists and a vision statement about where you want your brand to go. 

Brand personality/tone of voice
Make a list of 3 to 5 adjectives that describe what your brand is and what your brand is not.
​
To see the SKYPE brand style guide, click on the image below.

Logo size and placement
​Your logo is the simplest thing people have to identify your brand. Make sure you maintain a consistent use of it by dictating exactly how to use it by showing examples of usage. It’s also helpful to show how not to use the logo.
​
To see the SPOTIFY brand style guide , click on the image below.

Typography  
It’s essential to be consistent with your typography throughout any collateral you produce. Choose fonts that reflect your unique identity, but keep it simple. Stick to one or two fonts and dictate which goes where and how to use it.
​
To see the PFIZER brand style guide,  click on the image below.

Brand voice
A brand voice is just as important as the brand style. Your brand should sound and look a certain way. This applies to everything from the headlines in an ad to the way blog posts are written.
​
To see the PUMA brand style guide,  click on the image below.

Images
Guidelines for images are about more than just whether you will rely on photography or illustrations. It should explain the style, black and white or color, what way they should be edited, cropped etc. 
​
To see the ORANGE brand style guide,  click on the image below.

That’s it for the essentials. A more detailed style guide should include: Core value: Describe who you are and how you behave in the world.

Target audience:
Describe who your customers are and describe how your products or services solve their problems. 

It should also include samples of letterhead and business card design, design layouts and grids for print and web-based projects, brochure, signage and outdoor advertising guidelines along with visual examples with proper and improper use.
​
The purpose of the visual style guide is to create a distinct and unified presence for your brand. And it should inspire its user to create greatness!

As a graphic designer I have worked with several branding experts over the years. And although things change constantly there are a few fundamental principles when it comes to branding and these are pretty much unchanged since I started out in the industry some twenty odd years ago. 

Here's a few links to articles I have written about branding and design. ​

Tell a Story
Creating a brand story is the best way to differentiate your business, but it is not simply about standing out and getting noticed. It is about building something that people care about. Something they want to buy into. 

Build a Brand
A brand is your business reputation. It is through branding that you will create consumer trust and emotional attachments. A good example is Lego. They’re not just building blocks for kids. They represent childhood imagination and creativity. 

Name it
There’s plenty of ways to go about developing a name for your business. You can describe what your business is or what it does, you can take a word out of context or you can make up a brand new word.

Before beginning, plan carefully
A creative brief is a communication tool that outlines a project’s requirements, expectations and resources. It helps ensure that everyone involved in a project are on the same page.

Talk with one voice. Show one face.
Here’s my design principles and some of my logo designs. You need to communicate clearly, confidently and positively. It is absolutely vital that your logo represents your core values. 

Put it into words
While logos are visual representations of a brand, taglines are audible representations of a brand. If your business name is not already descriptive of what you do, well then your tagline should be. 

Know your colours
Colours have the power to convey and communicate meanings and messages without words. It is the most important component of a logo design and by far what people remember the most, much more so than the shape or word of the logo itself. 

Don't tell 'em. Show 'em.
Every brand, from the smallest startup to a corporate giant, need a set of branding guidelines to maintain their identity. 
Here’s a list of what I believe is essential information for a brand style guide, along with some great examples from the likes of Skype, Spotify and Orange.