Thoughtful communication during every step of BeBop Technology's 2022 rebrand was just as important as the design.
When I'm hired, it means an organization is looking for change. Even so, I can never assume every decision-maker is fully supportive of a rebrand, or comfortable with the creative decision-making process in general. That's why the process itself begins with a thorough strategy phase, and why the rebrand process cannot be too fast or too short. The deciding body of an organization often needs more than a weekend to sit with new ideas, insights, and designs.
BeBop's managing board knew their original logo had valiantly carried them since 2015 but was failing to resonate in the current competitive landscape of media production software platforms. They were fully committed to change, and opted for an aggressive rebrand schedule, but we would soon discover, they were not completely aligned on how far-reaching the visual identity scope would be.
We were able to resolve this significant challenge by slowing down slightly and engaging in a few more one-on-one meetings with the dissenting party. This wasn't a wrench in the process. Quite the opposite, it aired an important point of view and enlightened our process moving forward.
Analysis & Brand Strategy
The beauty of this phase is that it holds a mirror up to an entity and reveals what is being perceived and what is being imagined. The access BeBop granted us was invaluable to the process: we interviewed the managing board, audited the current brand, researched competitors, and had an orientation to understand first-hand how subscribers use the products.
Though our final project deliverable was visual — a new logo family, colorways, typography, and use-cases across media types (see project here) — this phase went beyond that contractual scope. We recommended a broader context for the brand that extended into marketing language, product experience, and website architecture. The visual identity had to be backed up by other sensory inputs across all touchpoints of the brand to ensure BeBop could be understood correctly and comprehensively.
On behalf of the brand, the stakeholders who founded it in 2015, and those who have shaped it since, we analyzed it through the following questions. Not our own invention, we incorporated these lines of inquiry into our process because they are simple and effective:
• Why are we here? (The project team mandate)
• Who are we? (The brand audit across media)
• Where do we live? (Competitors / rivals)
We also included:
• What we heard (Insights from interviews)
• Naming (We needed to dive into connotations of the name)
The Strategy section first summarized our thoughts and interpretations using a Brand Pyramid: why BeBop exists, what it promises, and who it is. We landed on four brand character words that captured the brand's ethos. These adjectives led to design drivers (i.e., What does 'agile' look like?). The design drivers led to image research that would inspire the visual strategy in the next phase.
The entire process felt like a well-documented conversation that led to meaningful action. It activated and aligned our stakeholders and primed them to make good decisions in the next phase and beyond. It also prepared me to design meaningful, effective, focused options backed up by what we had learned, and what we were planning together.
Now, fast forward beyond the brand launch, and check out BeBop's new website and UI/UX redesign. The client-side creative, product and marketing teams have taken the strategy and identity to great places. This could not have happened without a strong Analysis & Strategy phase or without the care we took in aligning the brand's stakeholders from the very beginning.
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Project Co-Lead - Lead Strategist and Identity Designer
TEAMÂ
Ian Searcy, ICDB - Project Co-Lead - Account Lead and Creative Direction
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