10 May Branding. Seems like fun, doesn’t it?

Creating a brand is not for the faint of heart. It requires clarity on your purpose, understanding your customers and willingness to evolve. All of these requirements take a lot of effort and most brands change over time as they mature.

Recently we realized that a brand refresh was in order for The Good Life Consulting and got to work. The first step we took was to objectively look at what our current branding said about us as a company. After a comprehensive review, we determined that we were in pretty good shape, but our logo wasn’t working anymore.

Hey, I loved our original logo. It was created by a talented friend and represented simplicity and growth — but it also represented where we were when the business was created two years ago. Back then were focused solely on small companies in California that wanted a complete refresh of their business. It fit perfectly, until it didn’t. Our client base now includes giant corporations as well as mom & pop stores, we also expanded our services and our clients are located across the U.S. No matter what I thought about the logo, it no longer was relatable to our clients. So where to go from there?

I took my own advise and did two things I recommend to my clients. First I asked my customers what they thought represented our brand and they said “professional, honest, warm, positive and vibrant” (thank you!); then I hired a talented creative firm to translate that feedback into a visual representation for our brand. For me this is where the hard work begins and it is definitely not my strong suit. After many, many rounds of discussions and drafts they were able to create a few different logos that could work. But then I freaked out. I don’t know what color gold I want and there are way too many fonts to consider. I almost gave up. But then…

I went on vacation and decided that I needed to sit on it for a few days.  After taking a breath I realized that we were absolutely on the right track and that in fact we already had the brand logo that was perfect for the company – a simple gold pineapple. Why a pineapple? Because it is the symbol of warmth and hospitality. Why gold? Because it is elegant and vibrant, while still being relatable. Why those specific colors and fonts? Because my trusted creative agency told me they would work best on digital and print media.

And then our new logo was born.

What’s the morale of the story? Before you invest in refreshing your brand…

• Know what you stand for as a company.
• Understand your customer profiles.
• Hire good people to execute your vision.
• Take feedback from your clients.
• Breathe and get out of your own way

Have you been through a similar journey? Let us know if you have any other advice for folks embarking on a brand refresh. We would love to hear from you.