The problem
Rarely is a business chosen based on the logo - perhaps apart from well-known brands like Apple or Tesla. Customers, especially in specialist services, are more concerned about reliability, turnaround times and whether they can trust the work.
The identity for this business needed to reflect those strengths, rather than simply make the business look more modern. And the best way to understand the business strengths was to speak to the people closest to the work.
What I did
I brought together a couple of people for the kickoff: the business owner and a senior team member.
Using the competitor audit from Entry 1, I had prepared a few questions across three areas:
The business and its customers
- who it serves
- why customers choose it
- what makes it different and what the rebrand needs to achieve
The brand and identity
- what should change
- what needs to stay
- how the business wants to be perceived and where the identity needs to work
The website and decisions
- what the website needs to do
- what content is missing or needs improving
- who has final approval
The most useful question was also one of the simplest: why do customers choose you?
Those answers led to a discussion that revealed more about the business than any discussion of colours, typefaces or logos could have.
What it changed
As with most businesses, I had expected the main objective to be attracting new customers. Our discovery revealed a more immediate opportunity: giving existing customers more reasons to stay.
That changed how I approached the project.
A rebrand cannot solve operational problems. But it can improve how the business communicates at each stage of a job, helping to address uncertainty and support customer retention.
- Before an enquiry:
Clearer website content could explain all the services the company offers and why customers can trust it. This would help customers understand what the company can do before they get in touch. - When a job begins:
Consistent confirmation messages and clearer explanations of the process could reassure customers. They would know their work was underway and what would happen next. - During the job:
A clearer approach to turnaround times and progress updates could help customers know what to expect. This could reduce uncertainty. - When work is completed:
Clearer documents and communication about the completed work could show professionalism. This could give customers confidence to use the company again.
These were opportunities to make the quality of the work more obvious. We moved beyond simply a logo and a website to the whole customer journey.
We also identified a gap between what the company was capable of and how it was being perceived. Its identity needed to communicate a broader role within its market without losing the credibility built through years of experience.
So, instead of designing around assumptions about what the business wanted to look like, I could begin building an identity around what it needed customers to understand.