Our company turns 17 this month. As technology and legislation have evolved over the years, we’ve changed our methods and our organizational structure. However, one thing that hasn’t really changed along the way has been our visual branding: it’s been bypassed as all the other advances were taking place around it.
So after 17 years with the existing designs, we felt it was time to freshen up our logo and corporate identity a little. We haven’t made a drastic departure from our old style—we’ve just given it a more up-to- date look. (We wanted to make sure we weren’t inadvertently sending a signal that there had been a change in ownership.)
We also are finishing a web upgrade. Those web renovations were partly driven by the logo design changes, but we also wanted the site to be more user-friendly in organization and content. Plus, we have some new personnel and locations that we wanted to highlight, so the site needed to reflect that growth, too.
I have to admit: making these changes was a little tough. After all, we’d been living with the old style for so long that we’d gotten pretty attached to it. But the process has left me with one reassurance I can give other business owners. It is possible to project an image that says you’re keeping up with the times…without sacrificing the identity and reputation you’ve built as part of your brand.