The appeal of a redesign is that sense of endless possibility— the chance to reinvent a company’s identity to reflect its best self. But as anyone who’s been through the process knows, there are countless ways things can go off track. A designer’s challenge is to steer around all the obstacles—from design by committee to unrealistic deadlines—and deliver a smart solution to the problem at hand.

First things first

Sean Adams, partner at AdamsMorioka, says 80 percent of any redesign is talking, gathering information, and building consensus. “Everyone tends to think the solution is a new logo,” he says. “If someone calls and just wants a new logo, we’ll say we’re not interested.” Instead, his firm looks for situations where they can build partnerships with a client. They demand access to the final decision-makers and look at big issues— like messaging and core business values—before working back to the visuals.

The firm makes it a point to talk with as many people in a company as possible. Who do they think the company is? What do they think they do? For a rebranding project for Nickelodeon, this phase included talks with employees in the mailroom all the way up to the company president. “We’re like archaeologists trying to dig back to the core of who they are,” Adams says. “Our job is to try to take away the subjective point of view.” And the way to do that is by establishing a set of criteria everyone wants to meet.

Getting the specifics

At ID Branding, a rebranding project typically starts with an all-day identity workshop. The firm facilitates a discussion about business context, talking with the client about the company’s history, vision, mission, and values. Then the agenda moves to tone and voice. What would the business be like if it were a person? Stuffy? Casual? “In order to establish the kind of connections they want with customers, they need to relate to people on a human level,” says creative director Brian Rupp.

Answers to all of these questions can help articulate what makes a client uniquely valuable in the marketplace. Rupp says these findings are put together in an identity platform—a document that answers the questions who, what, and why. It’s then approved by the client and used as a foundation for future creative work.

Tim Smith, principal and creative director of Tim Smith Design, suggests you also familiarize yourself with a client’s customers. “Get a client to provide you with information from their customers or do it yourself,” he says. “Interview end users. They’re the ones who have to respond.”

Designer as client

Sometimes the best tactic to make a redesign go well is to get out of the way. When Davia Smith became the art director of Money magazine last year, the publication had already decided to redesign. An extensive research project got feedback from readers (and potential readers as well) while internal staff met for their own brainstorming sessions. When it was time to start on the new visual look, the magazine hired Pentagram’s Abbott Miller to lead the way.

Miller met with four key decision-makers at the magazine, who shared their goals and research. Then he was given the freedom to go behind closed doors for three weeks and come back to the table with a number of big-picture proposals. “He’s a very careful listener, and the things he came back with addressed very specific challenges we talked about,” Smith says. “The whole experience was wonderful.”

About the author
Michelle Taute is a freelance writer and editor in Cincinnati who specializes in design topics.