Read: Lessons Learned from Branding Small Architecture Firms
By Emily Hall, Xylia Buros, and Lisa Saldivar
If you missed this CVG live webinar in late July 2020, here’s another opportunity to learn more about our rebranding process. We’ve summarized the ten key lessons learned through our collective experience crafting the brands of dozens of small architecture firms.
Branding work can be truly enlightening and energizing for firms. However, like architecture, a successful outcome relies on an effective design process.
The marketing team at CVG has taken a candid look at our rebranding experiences over the years. We’re sharing our observations in hopes of helping your team follow the best possible process as you approach a rebrand—and we hope you’ll contact CVG to discuss your branding project!
A summary of ten lessons learned…
1. Rebrand for the right reasons.
When considering a rebrand or a brand refresh, examine your reasoning carefully. Are you using branding work as a substitution for lackluster business development activities, inconsistent marketing activities, or as an internal “morale boost?” If so, even the most beautiful graphic identity won’t solve these problems. They require different tools.
On the other hand, if all of your marketing and BD activities are solid, and your brand STILL isn’t serving you... read on.
2. Understand the problem you’re trying to solve.
Why isn’t your brand serving you? How is your firm currently positioned in the marketplace compared to where you want to be positioned? How exactly does your firm’s brand need to change to elevate you?
CVG works with firms to outline these responses in a creative brief. The brief serves as a set of project guidelines. It is an important point of consensus for firm leaders, and a communication tool to guide your graphic designer.
3. Know your target audience (hint: it’s not other architects).
Surely your firm knows its target audience(s). Keep them front and center as you work through branding concepts. This is who your brand needs to speak to.
Often the graphic design work becomes so fun for architects, they make it too conceptual. If it begins to feel like you’re speaking in code to other architects, step back! Ask close clients for their opinions.
“As experts in the field, it’s easy to forget what you once didn’t know. Ask yourself regularly what your ideal client doesn’t understand. Seek to create a brand that speaks to them, not you.”
4. Commit to the time, energy, and cost that a proper rebrand will require.
Your brand is your business’s calling card. It touches everything you do. Firm leaders should prepare to be fully engaged in the process; once you realize how many layers branding touches, you understand how many decisions need to be made. Firms tend to underestimate the time this will require of them.
That being said, we’ve never met a firm principal who isn’t incredibly busy. That’s why structuring the process efficiently, with mutually understood expectations, is so important.
“From the webpage where someone first learns of your work, to the sign that welcomes them into your studio, to the contract they sign to hire your firm - all these elements combine to tell one cohesive story of your brand.”
5. Prioritize quality over quantity.
This is especially true when deciding what to share on your site and collateral. Remember, the goal of all communications is to inspire potential clients to contact you! Don’t overwhelm them with pages of archives.
This also applies to your messaging. A few strong sentences about your firm’s value proposition can be more effective than several paragraphs of philosophy.
6. Err on the side of simplicity.
Don’t let your graphic identity compete with your design portfolio. Keep graphic elements and ornamentation to a minimum so that the focus is on your architecture, your team, and your value proposition.
7. Recognize complicated interpersonal dynamics between partners.
Branding is very personal to small business owners. This is entirely understandable, as a brand is often considered a firm’s “baby,” especially if it includes the names and values of founding partners.
In all honesty, branding work can bring out partnership conflicts and alliances. Be prepared for this. Keep an open mind and communicate clearly and honestly. Refer back to your creative brief to keep the decision-making objective.
If one or more partners choose not to participate in the process, define clear milestones at which point they can provide feedback if they’d like.
8. Designate an internal “rebrand champion” to keep the process moving.
It works best when this champion is an administrator that is fully empowered to “crack the whip.” Designating a busy firm principal in this role often creates a bottleneck, and isn’t the best use of billable time.
This person’s role is to keep the momentum going by:
Setting deadlines
Making sure everyone completes their homework
Gathering and delivering assets (such as written content, photos, graphic files, etc.)
Ensuring decisions get made in a timely manner
9. Deliver feedback constructively.
As a designer, you know how helpful it is when a client comes to the table with visual examples, and can clearly communicate why they do—or don’t—like a design direction.
It is also common for firm leaders to ask for external feedback during the decision-making process. Be intentional about whose feedback you request; trusted clients and/or design-adjacent contacts are likely better suited to deliver constructive feedback than, say, your 7-year-old.
Be aware that too many outside opinions can become confusing and result in “design by committee.”
10. Trust the experts.
That’s what we’re here for! Just like architecture, following the process is critical. Take advantage of our understanding of where clients tend to get stuck and when decisions get difficult.
Most importantly, have fun during the process. Know that once your new identity is out in the world, it is up to you to build on it, maintain it, and amplify it. A strong brand is an ongoing—and very worthwhile—investment.
The CVG team would love to help you with a brand audit, a brand refresh, or a rebrand. Talk to us about your goals!