
How to Know it’s Time for a Brand Refresh
Experts reckon you need a brand refresh about every five years and a total reinvention every 10 years. Your logo, colour palette and imagery work together to give customers an impression of your business. Altogether, they’re called your ‘brand’. If these visual elements are showing their age, they can make your business look behind the times. Here are three aspects of your brand you need to think about when deciding if it needs some work:
1. Your Logo
Your company logo is one of the first things people will notice when they discover your brand. And it’s something they’ll continue to see every time they encounter your brand in the future. Even if when your company was formed you had a logo you loved, the truth is no logo can stay relevant forever.
Times change and so do companies. An outdated logo is usually easy to spot, even for average consumers who don’t know the first thing about design. If you haven’t evolved your logo for a few years, there’s a good chance it’s lost some of its oomph. A clever graphic designer can update your logo without reinventing the wheel – it’ll look more contemporary, but still feel like yours.
2. Your Colours
Consider the colours that represent your business. Do they set you apart from your competitors? It’s great if the main colour of your brand is unique in your corner of the market. Believe it or not there is a lot of underlying psychology associated with colour and people generally perceive certain things from certain groups of colours. Sometimes a colour change can make all the difference to a brand. Wether it is reducing the amount of colours used or completely changing the colour scheme.
3. Your Imagery
Having a decent set of images to use on your website, brochures and other marketing materials helps with brand differentiation. Have you ever considered getting a graphic design to define a style of photography for your business? It could give you an edge in the marketplace.
Think of a brand refresh as more of a facelift, leveraging existing brand equity while expanding the look, feel and messaging with fresh treatments and positioning. While sometimes a brand update impacts the logo, other times it doesn’t; it may just involve looking for ways to explore new type, colour palette expansion or photography styles.
The graphic designers at Fusion Print are always ready to help with brand evolution and imagery. If you want to ask some questions or throw a challenge their way, call Emma-Jane on (07) 847 7214 or email emmajane@fusionprint.co.nz