by John ParkinsA rebrand is not a paint job. Half the work happens before anyone opens a design file, and the part the client actually sees on a delivery call is the smallest piece of the project. This is the part nobody tells you, and it is the part that decides whether the rebrand works.
If you are thinking about doing one, the most useful thing I can tell you is that the design is the last fifteen percent. The first eighty-five is strategy work that looks like a lot of conversations and a long quiet stretch in the middle where nothing is being made yet. That is normal. Trust it.
The real order
Strategy. Voice. Visual direction. Then logo and identity. Then the long tail of touchpoints. Doing them in that order is the boring difference between a rebrand that lands and one that looks great but does not change anything.
