How can you modernize your brand's identity without losing its legacy?

A brand is much more than it's visual identity. When refreshing the visual side of brand, keep in mind the brand narrative, brand promise and what it means internally, to guide the process. As long you have a strong brand definition, you can take bigger risks on the visual side.

When modernising, it's easy to throw out parts of your identity that you've spent years building equity in (intentionally or otherwise). The key reason to assess your current identity (from the standpoint of your stakeholders, not your own!) is to identify the few parts of your identity that are truly distinctive. Hold on to these dearly - they've been hard won.

There are 3 core reasons that we think about for driving an update to a brand's identity. Figure out which of these applies so that your redesign aligns with the right objectives: 1) Your strategy has changed: has your core purpose / mission or positioning shifted to such a degree that your identity no longer represents your strategic direction. 2) The times have changed: your brand doesn't exist in a vacuum. Design aesthetics change over time and your customer's perceptions of what feels relevant shifts too. 3) Your company's size has changed: as a brand grows the number of channels it utilizes grows too. This means your identity will be used in a wider variety of ways and needs to be flexible enough to handle that.

Delving into the essence of your brand identity is crucial before embarking on its evolution. - By understanding your core values, personality, and promise, you can ensure alignment with your vision, mission, and goals. - Identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats through a brand audit. - Gather feedback from your audience to gain a holistic perception of your brand. - Embrace change and adapt to the evolving market dynamics to achieve enduring success. After this step, you will know, How you will start to think about modernizing the brand.

When it comes to tackling a redesign of an existing brand identity, businesses should think about their brand in terms of 3 buckets. These will apply whenever you’re creating a new brand, or going through a rebranding process and defining a new desired brand identity. 1. Aligns to customers needs: Is this relevant and appropriate to my target audience? 2. Sufficiently distinguished: Is this differentiated adequately from competitors? 3. Authentic representation: Is this an authentic representation of my business?

The big question to ask is, what problem are you trying to solve. All too often brands spend a disproportionate amount of time and money trying to reinvent the wheel. If there’s a clear answer, what criteria will be used to judge the outcome? Has the company or product changed? Is the audience changing. Why?

Ask your audience!! Is the current branding setting us up for the future? Keep with your core brand essence Stay meaningful Gage if revolution vs evaluation Will it give longevity and flex across all channels?

The brand experience is the magical touch, it is about how your customers feel while using your brand. -Are your brand aligned with its touchpoints and promises, what makes people feel trust and loyalty towards the brand? -Are the employees expressing the same feelings that align with the brand? Think about your customers more than your brand.

To modernize your brand identity without losing its legacy, understand your brand's unique legacy, retain key elements, simplify and streamline, stay true to values, involve stakeholders, honor milestones, update storytelling and visuals, maintain consistency, communicate the transition, make changes gradually, and adapt based on feedback. This balance preserves your brand's history while staying relevant in the present.