New look, now what?

So, you’ve got a shiny new visual identity - congrats! You’ve communicated the rebrand internally and externally, and you’ve applied your new identity to all your digital, physical and internal documents. All sorted, right? Wrong. I’ve been entrusted with a great many rebranding projects over the years and most of the time, I’ve enjoyed seeing the fruits of my labour out in the world, being implemented with care. But there have been instances where the work, once handed over, has lost its way. As Kevin L. Brown notes in Fundable & Findable, ‘Logo files are buried in an unknown folder. Employees never download fresh new fonts. Templates get misapplied’. Consistency is key to breaking through the noise, as well as fostering trust and credibility. So, what happens after you’ve launched your rebrand? How can you ensure that your visual identity is maintained and reinforced?

Follow these 4 steps for keeping things consistent in the long-term.

1. Keep your friends close and your Brand Board closer

Chances are, one of the main reasons you opted for a fresh look in the first place is because you wanted to appear professional and reassure stakeholders of your integrity and attention to detail. If you don’t use your visual brand assets consistently then the opposite is achieved. To this end, your Brand Board, or Brand Guidelines document, is your BFF.

A Brand Board is an at-a-glace document that showcases your visual brand components so you can easily grab a font name or hex code. A Brand Guidelines document is more in-depth, letting you know not only what your fonts and colours are but when each should be used, and in what manner, for example.

Whichever you’re working with, these documents are designed to make implementation of your rebrand easy. So, keep it close and stay true to its word.

2. Appoint a Brand Chief

Depending on the size of your organisation, making sure everyone is on the same page about how to use your new brand assets might be a challenge. Brand needs to lead from the top, so the consistent and appropriate use of brand assets must be a priority for leadership. That said, a CEO doesn’t usually have the capacity to field questions like:

Where can I find the Brand Board again? (This one comes up a lot!), What version of the logo should I be using here?, I don’t have this font installed, Is this a brand colour?, Can I use this style of photo here?

That’s where a Brand Chief can come in. A Brand Chief is someone that acts as primary custodian of your brand and ensures consistency across all touchpoints. This person needs to be available to answer all brand-related questions, as well as proactively leading training sessions, creating and/or checking new templates, or doing spot checks from time to time.

3. Go to the source

You can always go back to your designer for advice. Believe me, it will save on time and resources in the long run! It’s amazing how quickly things can get off track. For example, imagine you need an icon but there’s no suitable one within your brand pack, so you hastily find one online. It’s quite different to the others but it suits that particular purpose, so you crack on. Someone else in the team sees it and uses it too, but this time they use it alongside another that they’ve found online (assuming this is fine to do). They’re not sure how to change the colour so they leave it as is. You see where I'm going with this. If the Brand Chief had flagged this issue with the designer then another icon could have been created, or an alternative to icons suggested. It might seem minor, but that’s often how it starts. Your designer can help nip this in the bud.

4. Adjust with care

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that all of the above isn’t to say that your visual identity must be forever rigid. It can be helpful to gather feedback over time on how your visual identity is being received. Is it still resonating? You may find that, as your organisation grows, aspects of your visual identity need a tweak. That’s absolutely fine, but any adjustments should always be considered. In particular, try to future-proof every decision you make about your visual identity. Yes, you may have the illustration you need today, but what if next month you launch another project and need another one in the same style. What then? Is it worth getting a bespoke set drawn, or can we find one that isn’t so specific and use it across multiple projects? Are illustrations even the right call here? Thinking critically is super important for the success of any rebranding project.

If you’re thinking about a brand refresh, I can help! Get in touch with me (Lorelle 👋) at hello@greatgoodcreative.co.uk, or check out my branding work.