Here’s one quick design solution if you’re not ready for a B2B rebrand
So much to do, so little time.
Rebranding is often a blanket solution that is thrown at established companies who have been in the game for quite a while now.
In fact, you’ve been in the game for so long that it can be seen on your brand identity.
However, while rebranding DOES in fact do a lot of wonders, it’s often too laborious and time consuming if you’re looking to put together better assets, one visual improvement at a time.
After all, it’s not just about sketching the logo.
The whole process extends itself to hours and hours of strategy exercises that would literally eat up the team’s time or even days, depending on how fast things churn out.
From research to target audience persona, it is too exhausting and not something that could potentially “brighten up” your trade show assets on an event two weeks from now.
So, what do you do when your B2B brand needs a good facelift right here, right now?
One word: Stylescapes
What is that?
A stylescape is a custom “mood board” for your brand that if often used among collaborators to create consistent visuals across the pipeline.
It often features the brand’s top identity elements: icons, fonts, colors, patterns + different visual representations of the brand (one of which is a picture of the target audience)
Why is this any different from a brand book?
A stylescape is more focused and agile. It helps create consistent visual assets in the near term, without requiring an overhaul of your entire brand identity.
Think of a stylescape as a “brand refresh” rather than a “brand redesign.”
It provides essential guidelines to breathe new life into your visuals while maintaining the core of your brand.
For example:
• A brighter color palette focused on your primary and secondary brand colors
• Larger, bolder usage of your logo and icons
• More imagery of people actually using your products
With a stylescape in hand, your marketing team can start implementing these refreshed visual elements right away. You’ll see changes in:
• Trade show banners and brochures
• Your website imagery and button colors
• Social media graphics and ads
Over time, as your stylescape evolves, it can lay the groundwork for a full rebranding effort down the road. But for now, it provides a fast yet strategic approach to visually updating your B2B brand.
Let’s further breakdown the similarities and differences of a brand guide vs a stylescape:
Similarities
Visual Representation: Both stylescapes and brand books visually represent the brand identity, including colors, typography, imagery, and overall design elements.
Brand Consistency: Both tools aim to maintain brand consistency across various touch points and communication channels.
Guidance for Designers: They provide guidance for designers and creatives on how to visually interpret and apply the brand elements.
Reference for Stakeholders: Stylescapes and brand books serve as reference materials for internal teams, external partners, and stakeholders to understand and adhere to the brand guidelines.
Differences
Depth of Detail
Stylescape: Stylescapes are more focused on the visual direction and mood of the brand, often presenting a collage of images, textures, and colors to evoke the brand essence.
Brand Book: Brand books are comprehensive guides that encompass not only visual elements but also messaging, tone of voice, brand values, and usage guidelines.
Flexibility vs. Rigidity
Stylescape: Stylescapes offer more flexibility and creativity, allowing room for interpretation and exploration of design concepts.
Brand Book: Brand books are more rigid in terms of providing strict rules and specifications for the consistent application of brand elements.
Stage of Brand Development
Stylescape: Stylescapes are often used in the early stages of brand development or during a rebranding process to explore visual directions before finalizing the brand identity.
Brand Book: Brand books are typically created once the brand identity is established, serving as a detailed guide for implementation and ensuring brand coherence.
Format
Stylescape: Stylescapes are usually presented as a single-page visual collage or mood board that captures the overall aesthetic and feel of the brand.
Brand Book: Brand books are structured documents or manuals that include written guidelines, examples, and specifications for all brand elements.
It’s simple — which one is more helpful as a quick reference, a one-pager or a book?
On top of that, a brand book is a comprehensive asset that serves to educate not only creative collaborators but other interested members of the organization as well.
It’s a tool that offers a thorough understanding of the brand’s intricate DNA.
How do you come up with a stylescape then?
Audit your existing website: Identify elements such as color schemes, typography, imagery styles, and overall design elements. This is where you open your eyes to the visual details — the shapes, the textures, the patterns.
Analyze your brand: Review your current brand guidelines, including your logo, brand colors, fonts, and any existing brand assets that need to be retained. This also includes your brand’s non-visual elements such as the mission and vision, your target audience profile, tone of voice, and keywords that best describe your brand.
Identify your brand’s key elements: Pick out key design elements from your website that align with your brand identity and resonate with your target audience
Create a mood board: Compile a mood board with examples of design elements, colors, typography, and imagery that inspire you and reflect the desired look and feel for your brand refresh.
Design your stylescape: Using the insights gathered from the website audit and mood board, create a stylescape that visually represents the new direction for your brand assets. Include elements like color palettes, typography options, imagery styles, and overall design aesthetic.
Feedback Loop: Share the stylescape with key stakeholders within your company to gather feedback and ensure alignment with the brand vision and objectives.
Iterate and Refine: Based on the feedback received, iterate on the stylescape to incorporate suggestions and make necessary revisions to fine-tune the visual direction.
Implementation: Once the stylescape is finalized and approved, use it as a reference point for updating various brand assets such as marketing materials, presentations, and other collateral without the need for a complete rebrand.
As someone who’s been in the design industry for 10+ years, I prioritize innovating our creative processes to a much simpler approach.
It’s all about prioritizing what’s more important at the moment and make bigger decisions when there is enough time and bandwidth to dive deeper into more comprehensive solutions.
At the end of the day, B2B visuals need a focused audience communication throughout a sales cycle and sometimes, rebranding is an arduous process to go through.
Not to discount the fact that updating an outdated identity is not a priority for a B2B brand but it’s not always an easy and fast solution when you want to up the ante in a short period of time.
Setting priorities is key and as a creative partner, it’s always part of our role to emphasize priorities and potential bottlenecks so we’re constantly aligned with our goals.
Do you use a stylescape to work with your team? if not, how do you elevate your creative assets without a rebrand?