The logo is an identity and the soul of a brand. To remain relatable and communicative with the audience, it becomes necessary for the brand to speak the language its consumers and future targets best understand.

Most companies, whether they are start-ups or Fortune 500 companies, consider image overhaul to be a positive exercise, indicating that the company is moving ahead of its current position towards bigger and better prospects. The timing for this is crucial. 

The most relevant example of an excellent rebranding strategy is that of Google’s. On a mundane morning, the masses woke up to a new Google. It was a delight to log in to the Gmail account, which once opened with a red and white envelope was now replaced by an iconic “M” filled in with its classic red, yellow, blue and green colouring.
This trend was followed on all of its other icons of applications such as Google Drive and Meet.

What is notable here is that Google did not completely stray away from its already exemplary image. It just wrapped its brand identity and notched it up to a whole new level.

Its main agenda was to revamp G-Suite, by renaming it to Workspace. The technology major went on to place every work-related application under one umbrella. Refurbishing the icons to look alike was just one step on the way to create a space where every component is correlated.

Did Google need a rebranding?
Google is known for its notorious repositioning of products, it never seems to stick with one image. But, in a larger perspective, this notoriety is what makes it Google. It has skillfully mastered rebranding, mostly because its thought process which revolves around how to remain “googley” amid such massive changes.

This elucidates the point that the whys and whats of a rebrand process are more thought-worthy than the decision to rebrand.
The reasons to rebrand could
plausibly include:

• A distinctive change in the target audience
• A new competitor entering the market
• A business plan taking a new direction
• Historic brands looking to get a refresh
• Comprehensive branding exercise as it’s never been given much importance before

On one of our design adventures, we got the opportunity to work with a world-class playing cards manufacturer, Parksons Cartamundi. Now, here is a brand that really
understands the significance of a new image, a new style whilst treading on its old path of quality and sophistication.

The company’s prime challenge was to change the world of artistry in cards, which is still an emerging market. This was a new space and dimension for the business and the finest way to make a mark was by redesigning the logo and the cards. Considering Parksons’ age-old saga of manufacturing legendary playing cards, conceptualising designs that spoke volumes in quality and identity was a challenge.

Parksons Cartamundi's packaging revamp

Following a rule of "modernise, familiarise and standardise", we designed a logo that head-on represented cardistry – the unfurling cards – and we stylised a font that blended
well with the new identity.

Finally, instead of printing cliched, fully-covered card designs, we manoeuvred to keeping it simplistic and classy by printing only the new logo along with the name in all of
their cards.

This brings us to the points to bear in mind during the rebranding process:

• Always stay true to your vision, mission and brand values - an honest approach never fails.
• It’s very important to plan an overall strategy so that your brand identity and personality is intact across all mediums.
• Your refreshed identity must include an integral part of your current image and build on further to remain relatable - if your older brand image had a big market share of brand value an interim identity may also help in transition in this kind of situation.
• Communicate your refurbished identity in an interesting manner to not only the external world but also to your organisational hierarchy.

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  Bhavika is the founder and creative director of Mumbai-based Beyondesign. After completing her master's from Georgia, she conceptualised the all-women design firm in 2006.