Where to Start When Building a New Brand

Building a new brand, or refreshing an old one, is exciting, and easy to rush. Jumping straight to logos skips the work that makes a brand effective.

Signs a brand needs work

• The business has changed but the brand has not.
• The look is inconsistent across channels.
• It no longer appeals to the target audience.
• It looks dated compared with competitors.
• The team struggles to explain what makes the business different.

Step 1: Research

Understand the audience, competitors and the business's own strengths. Interview customers and staff.

Step 2: Strategy

Define positioning, values, personality and key messages. This becomes the brief for everything visual.

Step 3: Identity

Develop the logo, colour palette, typography, imagery style and voice, all based on the strategy.

Step 4: Guidelines

Document how to use the brand consistently.

Step 5: Rollout

Plan how the new brand reaches the website, social media, documents, signage and packaging. Communicate the change to customers.

Refresh or rebrand?

A refresh updates visual elements while keeping recognition. A full rebrand changes positioning and identity. Choose based on how much has changed in the business.

Build the brand with us

oceanone's logo and corporate identity team handles brand projects white-label for agencies.