How do we define re-branding?

To begin with, let’s establish the meaning of this concept. Re-branding is the process of changing the imagine of a brand. However, this change is a more profound one. It all starts at the core of a brand: its mission and values. This being said, the refresh is not a superficial one. In order to re-brand yourself, it’s not enough to change your usual font, your logo or your color tone. The change needs to be more profound.

So where do we begin?

Even though the name and the logo are iconic, the mission and the core values of a brand are the magnet that attracts and keep your audiences nearby. Your brand is much more than a simple logo. It’s built on certain values that your target group adheres to, believe in and search in most of the products or services they use.

Your brand must have something unique to it, that distinguishes it from other similar brand on the market. Use this Unique Selling Proposition to establish yourself as the most relevant brand in you area of expertise. It could be a simple idea, a slightly different way of serving your users or your brand’s tone of voice. By going straight at the mission and values, by keeping in mind the essence and reinterpreting it into something new, you might gain much more than by simply changing your appearance.

Re-branding also means changing the direction of your entire communication. Firstly, ask yourself: is it necessary? How will this serve me? By doing so, you might even find new acting directions that might interest you, such as attracting a new group of consumers: the youngsters. This way, you’ll maintain your brand alive for a very long time.

Although, you must keep in mind: you don’t need to be appealing for everybody. Just find you niche and stick to it.

When do we focus on visual elements?

After finding a new way of interpreting your brand’s core mission and values, after deciding if re-targeting is necessary, after using your Unique Selling Proposition in a new way, you can move your attention to the way you communicate visually. What does this mean? You can act on and change logos, fonts and color palettes, websites and Social Media pages, flyers and brochures.

However, this change isn’t a radical one. You can play with shapes and colors, with lights and shadows and fonts. Why, you might ask? Well, they tend to get out of style. In the end though, there must be a smooth, visible transition between the old look and the look. When it comes to brands, logos are kind of a big deal. That’s why every little change and alteration must be backed up with lots of good reasons and smart decisions.

To sum up, re-branding isn’t all about changing only superficial elements and sticking to the old way of doing business. However, if you decide that improving your brand visually is all you need, WhatFontIs is here to help with lots of creative and notorious fonts. Check it out!

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How it all begun

On the 16th of July 2014, Airbnb introduced the world to its new and improved identity. The new positioning, Belonging Together, gave the brand a new whole new meaning. ‘Belonging has always been a fundamental driver of humankind. So to represent that feeling, we’ve created a symbol for us as a community. It’s an iconic mark for our windows, our doors, and our shared values. It’s a symbol that, like us, can belong wherever it happens to be’, declared Brian Chesky, founder of Airbnb.

In order to come up with a identity that could speak up for the brand and to the community, four members of the creative team pursued on a journey. They visited 13 cities from four different continents and met 18 different hosts. The result? Something that shaped the way we understand travel.

The visual representation

The new identity on fonts

Firstly, this new identity needed a fresh new font. The previous logo was designed by one of the owners of Airbnb. In order to write down the brand’s name, he used a font called Bello. Although it looks nothing like the current one, it somehow managed to send out a sense of comfort and casualness which helped at developing the brand’s new image.

Through its appearance, the 2014 logo managed to attract a more mainstream audience and to create brand awareness. For this new logo, the designers used a font from a particular font family: Lineto. Thus, the brand’s name is written in a customized version of Lineto’s Brown font, while other messages are written in a customized version of Lineto’s Circular. Check out a pretty similar font called Smooth Circular! It’s a nice and clean sans serif font that you must keep in mind.

The new identity on colors

Secondly, another step in redesigning a brand’s image is choosing a representative color. Or, if you are really creative, coming up with one. The main color that stands for Airbnb is called after the street where everything started: Rausch. Pretty cool, right?

The new identity on logo

Finally, let’s focus our attention on the brand’s new logo. Commonly know as ‘The Bélo’ – remember the whole belonging concept, right? – the logo is an abstract representation of four ideas: people, places, love and Airbnb. They are beautifully blending together in an A shaped logo. You can check out a short video about ‘The Bélo’ here.

To sum up, when it comes to the travelling community, this new face of Airbnb has the potential of becoming as famous as the WIFI icon. Or the Apple’s logo. In addition, besides all this sense of community that this new identity indulges, Airbnb made us aware of one significantly important thing. It matured and it has the ambition to become a worldwide known brand. In other words, this change was beneficial.

However, do you think that changing the identity of a brand should begin with a new logo? While you think about an answer, check out whatfontis for lots and lots of fonts that can come in handy for your creative project!

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