You may have seen the news recently of Walmart’s redesign overseen by JKR. It was all over social media, and not because it was outrageous - but because it had hardly changed at all.
In fact Aldi said it best when they poked fun at Walmart for the incremental redesign.
Walmart hardly changed their logo because they were hardly changing their brand: their proposition and what they stand for - their business doesn’t need an overhaul.
Unlike, for example, Jaguar who recently were in the news for a brand redesign far removed from where they were in their attempts to reinvent themselves as a high-end luxury electric vehicle brand - a very different positioning to the classic petrol automobiles they are known for. The brand looks very different because it is saying very different things - to different people.
Critics observed that in throwing out the baby with the bath water, the brand has failed to stay connected with their existing audience, and that may be the case, but in some cases it is essential a brand moves forward with the times, or else it will face extinction.
The question is, how do you know whether a brand needs a refresh or redesign? And what is the difference?
Brand refresh
A refresh is a tweak which can still improve the brand experience, but essentially the business and brand values would be the same. A brand refresh can:
Ensure brand relevance
Increase brand awareness
Maintain brand values and positioning
This could mean a tweak to one or several elements of the brand in order to keep it up to date and relevant in today’s market. It may be the logo, but it doesn’t have to be. It could be colours, photography styling or typography. It isn’t necessarily about trends, but over time brand identities can become dated and lack the values needed to connect with younger or newer consumers, especially when technology moves so fast. Simple tweaks can bring them brand back to life and back into the minds of the consumer.
A brand refresh can also do wonders for brand awareness in reinventing the brand identity for more engaging advertising, including on social media, which can drive access to a wider target market.
However, crucially a brand refresh should look to maintain the existing brand values and positioning rather than depart from them. It is important to maintain the existing customer base, whilst bringing the brand up to date.
Brand redesign
A redesign is necessary if you are looking to change elements of your business including:
Changing the target audience
Change in values
Changing the offering
Changing the target audience will often mean a departure from the old design as designs are very much targeted to a specific audience. Once that changes the design has to follow suit in order to attract the relevant consumer. This could mean diversifying the market, looking to those of different ages and generations or sometimes, when a product is taken to another country the master brand may not feel right and will need to be re-examined in order to resonate.
A change in values should be represented visually in the brand identity to ensure that everyone is on board with the changes in the brand proposal. New customers will be aligned to the thinking and intentions of the business going forward, which may feel more relevant to today’s world.
A change in offering is also a reason to up-sticks from an old brand design. If the product or service that is being sold changes, then the design should reflect that. For Nine Bar for example, which I worked on at Brand Opus, the name had to change to reflect the fact that they were no longer going to sell only seed bars and their identity came to encapsulate a wider feeling of positive energy and growth from the goodness of seeds.
So to conclude, unless a brand is experiencing a shift in values, needs to target a new audience, or is offering a completely new product, it probably doesn’t need a design overhaul. That said, a design refresh can still be worth doing to ensure a brand maintains relevance, to improve the brand experience or to reach a wider audience.
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