Good rebrands start in Figma. Great ones start in the room.

When brands come to us asking for a new rebrand, they typically want a brand mark, colour palette, typography and motion design, as well as a handful of marketing templates. What we give them is a 3-4 month collaboration that involves a lot of upfront groundwork: talking, research, thinking, asking and listening.

When we meet a new brand looking for a change, we always ask where they’re based and do everything in our power to make a face-to-face meeting happen. Rebranding is quite an intimate process, so it’s important for us to get together and look each other in the eye, get under the skin of the business, understand their office culture, what makes them tick, what they love and what they hate. Even though we might give you a brand new look, you’re still going to be you at the end of the day. We’re not the ones who are going to have to live with the rebrand long-term—you are. You need to be part of the brand’s DNA from day one so that it feels true to you.

What we’re really doing here is building a clear understanding of what’s changing—and why. Typically, a business goes through a rebrand at a point of inflection: new leadership, new acquisition, new investment, new product or new ambition.

That’s why we host a workshop or interviews to start.

We begin with the very basics—Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. What does your business do or solve? We break down the physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging needs your business fulfils. We are particularly interested in where you are now and where the business is going, what kind of business it’s going to be. It’s that disparity we are most interested in investigating.

And this is why the best rebrands start in conversation, not in design software. In the room with the people who live and breathe the brand every day. Talking about what’s working, what’s broken, and where you need to be in 6, 12, 24 months and beyond.

Here’s what that can look like:

• Your CONSUMERS – Who are the tastemakers?
• Your CULTURE – What will consumers pay more for in the future?
• Your CATEGORY – How is your competition evolving?
• Your COMPANY – What long-term impact do you hope to have?

Once you’ve done that, design stops being decoration and starts being strategic direction. We take the learnings and insights from you and layer our own insights on top. It’s not just about making things look better—it’s about making them make sense to you, to your team, to your consumers, now and next.

If your brand is about to change, resist the urge to rush to visuals. Take a week, take a day—but start in the room. Because a rebrand is only as strong as the thinking behind it.