Emotionally Navigating a Large Rebrand

Whether we like to admit it or not, a rebrand is an emotional process. Even the most logical of our clients can find themselves anxiously wanting to explore infinite possibilities, feeling pressured to make the perfect choice, and stressing when confronted by the personal visual preferences of their peers.

These are normal feelings to have when working on something as important as your organization’s core identity! Branding can be complicated not just from a technical perspective, but also from an emotional one.

Every branding situation is unique, but here are the three common threads we see:

1. Feeling lost in infinite possibilities

For the analytical folks out there, it’s natural to want to explore every single option before making a final decision. How can you know what’s best if you can’t see them all and then decide? Unfortunately, in design, that’s simply not possible. Even with unlimited resources and time, you’d never be able to see all the possibilities. More realistically, you’ll be working with a designer who does have limited time, and you’ll have a limited budget (or no budget) for design. So what is a compulsive completionist to do?

This can become a problem if you are unable to be satisfied by any logo option because you are still asking “But what if…?” This leads to restlessness, a time-consuming process, and, potentially, frustration.

There are a few solutions:

• Accept that you cannot explore all possibilities. When you’re shopping for a pair of shoes, it would be impossible to try on every shoe available for sale in the world. At a certain point, you have to accept that you must limit the options to, let’s say, the shoes in your local store. Then narrow it down by size, color, and function until you are left with a handful of options. When you find a few options that fit all of your needs, it’s possible that the final choice might come down to personal choice (“I think this shoe looks better than the other two options”).

• Trust your designer to guide you in the right direction. They have likely made hundreds of logos in their career. If you don’t feel confident in the work of your designer, consider finding a different designer whose work you absolutely adore, so you can more strongly trust their recommendations.

• Reassure yourself by knowing that there are several correct answers when it comes to design. There are multiple ways to successfully brand your organization. It’s very possible that between two options presented by a professional designer (who understands your needs, goals, etc), either one would serve you well.

2. Having a hard time letting go

It makes sense to have a strong personal attachment to your original logo, even if it’s not functionally serving you anymore. It’s easy to factually know that you need a change in order to grow – but emotionally, it can be hard to let go of past designs. There’s nothing strange or wrong with this. Everyone goes through those feelings when undergoing a rebrand (or any significant change in life)! After all, this old logo has been representing you for years, and it makes sense to be attached. (Note: Just because it’s old, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s broken. Consult with your designer to help you decide whether a change is needed).

This can become a problem if you are clinging to a brand that’s potentially harming your work, and are unable to let go, even after seeing new potential ideas. It may cause you to forego a rebrand at all, even if it would benefit your work.

There are a few solutions:

• Take your time with the rebrand process so that you don’t feel rushed or forced into change. If something feels forced, it’s likely that you will change your mind later, which can cause delays and added stress. You don’t want to have that “cold feet” feeling before you release your new brand to the world.

• Carry forward some elements from the old brand into the new brand – this could be as simple as keeping one color from the old palette, or a small hint at the old brand that maybe only you (and your closest followers) know about. Those small tie-ins can go far when trying to carry forward some of that past brand equity and emotional weight.

• Ensure that your designer fully understands your concerns. Don’t be afraid to share what you love about your original brand, and which elements you want to carry forward. The designer will be able to advise on how to continue those elements in the future brand in a functional way.

3. Being overwhelmed by feedback from others

The logo design process for one person is hard enough – when you add in the personal tastes of everyone on your team and in your audience, it can get really complicated and potentially stressful. It’s important to make sure everyone feels heard and is a part of the final result, but incorporating every single piece of feedback can result in brands that become “design by committee.” This phrase refers to branding flops where there are simply too many compromises weakening the overall final design. 

For example, if Andrea prefers Option A, and Joaquin prefers option B, and they compromise on a Frankensteined version of A+B, that logo design is probably going to be weaker than A or B alone. 

It can also be impossible to include every single piece of feedback, because they often conflict. 

This can become a problem if you let the large amount of conflicting feedback overwhelm the process and muddy the original vision for the rebrand. 

There are a few solutions:

• Ensure that your team and audience feel heard, whether their ideas are incorporated in the final result or not. This is just basic leadership, but everyone should practice this – ensure that your team and audience feel appreciated and that you value their time and feedback. It is reasonable to not be able to include everyone’s comments in the final result, but it’s important for them to know that they helped along the process. The process towards the final result is always filled with ideas that won’t get used, and that’s ok – those ideas made the final result possible, so it was still worthwhile!

• Stay focused on the original goals for the rebrand. It’s very likely that some folks in your audience are not totally aware of your brand goals, your vision for where you want the brand to go in the future, the desire for added brand functionality, or other reasons for rebranding. So absorb their feedback, but take it with a grain of salt and use it to inform your decisions rather than drive them off-course.

• Try to ignore irrelevant personal preferences. For example, the statement “I hate the color blue” is not helpful. You and your designer could have a long list of strong reasons why blue works best for your brand, but there will always be some people who have a personal objection to blue. It is impossible to accommodate everyone’s personal preferences.

• Accept that it is impossible to please everyone. This is a fact of life – but especially in anything related to art or design. You could create the most amazing design in the world, and there will always be one person who would prefer something else. But at the end of the day, it’s up to you to choose, and move forward with confidence.

In addition to these three common threads, there are countless personal or specific reasons why you may feel stressed during a rebrand process. That’s why it’s important to work with a designer you trust, who can help you through the process not just technically, but with compassion and understanding. You need someone who will listen to you, and is committed to learning about your brand’s past, present, and future. This is why a logo design process can be more complicated than you’d think, and why we strongly recommend against using free/cheap logo generating websites.

Navigating rebrands is our specialty! If you’re working for animals and are considering a rebrand, reach out to us. We can start with a consultation and see what’s possible. As a reminder, all of our work is entirely pro-bono for advocates working to create change for animals.