Company mergers, acquisitions, or plain old stagnation are common reasons behind a business updating its brand to reflect a new identity or keep up with ongoing customer trends.

But what happens next once you’ve decided to embark on this brand renaissance?

Answering this question involves bringing in the right crew who will bring the brand the life and work with your company’s team to make sure everything goes off without a hitch.

Redesigning with a plan in mind

Before pulling together resources to work on a brand redesign, you have to establish the goals on which the new brand will be measured. If you have an existing brand, you can reach out to current customers to get their perceptions about your business.

This customer feedback is invaluable in moving forward with the brand redesign. Plus, pairing these insights with competitive research will help specify what key objectives and messaging the new brand should focus on.

It’s also helpful to conduct an audit on not only the competition but your own brand. This investigation gives you insight into the strengths and weaknesses of what you’re doing now and what people think of it.

Once you’ve conducted a thorough analysis, surveyed your audience, and confirmed your goals, you can create a brief for your internal and external team.

Who should be involved in the brand redesign?

Naturally, you want everyone involved in the redesign to feel heard and that they’re making a major contribution. But you also want to ensure the project progresses instead of being bogged down by indecisiveness or internal back and forth.

Here are the groups we recommend including in the design process.

C-suite executives – Executive-level staff usually provide feedback during key moments of the brand redesign, like creative presentation. They work closely with other departments to give input as the creative and marketing teams complete the final design.

Marketers – This department’s marketing directors, brand managers, and others work closely with designers and copywriters. They relay the internal strategy to all team members, ensure that the redesign matches the company’s goals, and are often the driving force behind the brand’s positioning and messaging.

Project managers – These are the people who keep the entire project on track. They serve as the intermediary between the organization and external vendors to track and monitor how much time and money is spent on the project.

Brand designers – As creative experts, brand designers are well-versed in pulling apart and rebuilding brands from the ground up. They incorporate the creative direction and feedback provided throughout the process to deliver a design that effectively checks all the boxes for visually communicating the brand’s character.

Copywriters – Marketers, designers, and copywriters engage with one another to give voice to the company’s brand. They aim to express the organization’s values so customers immediately recognize and associate with them.

And now that we’ve outlined the team, here’s how they produce the new brand.

Designing the brand

Brand designers work their best magic when they have clear direction and understand what objectives they should be working towards. From there, they’ll develop a visual identity matching the brand’s personality, whether it’s colorful and with a slightly retro feel, as in the redesign of Burger King’s brand, or celebrating the history of the product, as in the case of Barilla’s 2022 refresh.

Designers, copywriters, and marketers—all under the watchful eye of project managers—will collaborate on the brand’s message to ensure it’s seen correctly across multiple platforms. This collaboration includes making the design and copy flexible in print and digital formats.

Together, they’ll create a new brand that looks and sounds consistent no matter where the company’s target audience sees it.

They’ll also present their ideas to key decision-makers who will give their input before going live. These are presented as mockups in various settings to show how each brand element looks in online and offline placements, like billboards, bus depots, advertisements, and social media posts.

Usually, this can include an in-person or video presentation walking through the new logo options, typography, and other visual elements. After the new brand is finalized, the designer will create a style guide for the company to follow so each element remains consistent.

Brand design is a joint effort

Creating a new brand identity doesn’t happen in a void. It’s a partnership between marketers, designers, and other decision-makers who all have a say in shaping the brand’s new direction.

Going in with a plan that includes all of the strategic and business goals this new creation should encompass ensures the final result is one everyone is proud to release into the world.