Brand redesigns are an exercise in patience and collaboration. They’re emotional and time-consuming but worth the effort to continue building your company’s legacy.

First impressions are everything for a brand redesign. Studies have shown that these beliefs influence our perceptions of brands, how we perform while using them, and our enjoyment of their products.

So, how do you ensure you continue providing those positive impressions while preserving your brand promise during and throughout a redesign?

By following a few simple rules.

Rule #1 – Set clear objectives for your brand redesign

When you don’t set goals and objectives for a brand redesign, it leaves you rudderless and without a clear vision. It’s more challenging to plan, give direction to others, and define a rationale for the creative decisions made.

This uncertainty can lead to wasted resources and time, impacting whether the brand redesign matches your strategic goals.

So, what’s the solution?

Start with a brand identity discovery session. These are deep dives into your current brand, examining its visual elements, messaging, and other facets of it. It’s a brand audit that gives you an objective look at its current elements and helps you—and your design team—see what needs to stay, go, or change for the new design, giving you the necessary guidance to make the redesign go smoothly.

Rule #2 – Don’t dismiss your existing brand equity

Even though the brand gets an overhaul during the redesign, it doesn’t mean that every piece of it gets tossed out. As mentioned above, once you determine what is or isn’t working in your existing brand, you’ll have a plan moving forward.

Part of this plan could be to make minor adjustments to the brand’s visual identity. Sometimes, an existing logo doesn’t need to be redone entirely but instead refreshed. Or a dull color palette works better using the same family’s brighter tones.

Making slight changes might be a better solution because deviating too much from the existing brand could be offputting to your customers.

During any brand redesign, one of the main objectives is to not alienate loyal customers in favor of bringing in new ones. Instead, the keyword is “balance.” Only make the changes necessary to avoid potentially turning away those loyal to the brand.

Rule #3 – Pay attention to what your target audience says

One of the easiest ways to turn off your audience is to go against their expectations. Disregarding their voices can mean the difference between a brand redesign being successful or flopping altogether.

Remember the backlash that came when Google redesigned its app logos? The response was brutal. And for chip brand Pringles, their brand’s modernization left many feeling divided.

There are also cases where updates to the brand caused so much upheaval that it forced the company to change it again, as in the case of Pepsi’s new logo.

If you have an established brand, it’s essential to test the waters with your customers, which can be in the form of surveys or other qualitative research.

Of course, your target audience shouldn’t solely dictate what the new brand should look like. But their feedback before a redesign could be invaluable to understand what’s important to them and what they prioritize regarding your brand image.

Rule #4 – Create your brand standards early

Disjointed brands create confusion. Over time, this can weaken the brand and people’s perception of it. Producing a set of brand guidelines as you move closer to the final stages of the redesign helps you maintain consistency across different channels and avoid confusing consumers.

This often falls by the wayside for many small businesses and mid-sized organizations, resulting in brand inconsistencies internally and with customer-facing communications.

Brand guidelines prevent brand visuals from going off the rails by showing how internal and external vendors should utilize them.

Rule #5 – Involve your company stakeholders

If the only stakeholder in the business is you, then congratulations! The decisions start and end with you. However, if there are multiple stakeholders within the company, they must be involved in making decisions about the brand strategy and the redesign.

It’s good for morale and creates an environment for decision-makers to provide insights and feedback that guide the brand redesign process. When your team members aren’t included, or worse, asked for their input at the end of the redesign, you risk missing potential pitfalls that affect the brand.

The lack of communication internally could create skepticism and, sadly, resistance. You risk not getting the full support of those stakeholders because they weren’t consulted.

To get them onboard, they must feel empowered to have a voice in the process, making it easier to understand the reasons behind certain design decisions and how they apply to the company’s brand strategy.

Ensuring your redesign is a success

Think of your brand as a prism. Looking through it shows a multifaceted view of attributes that make it unique and hopefully irresistible to consumers. Brand redesigns create a new perspective for each facet, revealing a new side that enhances the brand.

While these rebrands are full of moving parts, they also challenge businesses to commit to building on their visual identity.

By following the rules above, you can ensure your next brand redesign doesn’t only focus on the brand’s visuals but also the original promise it made to your customers.