How We Rebranded a Logo

Hint: It’s about much more than just the logo

Part of what makes the work that we do interesting and thought-provoking is getting to engage with clients from all industries around the world. So we were excited when ClassRanked, an EdTech company based in Salt Lake City, reached out to us for a rebrand of their identity. (Fun fact: they discovered us through one of the branding projects that we did for another EdTech company — read more here!)

ClassRanked offers higher education enterprise software solutions such as course evaluation, reporting, and survey management. The aim of the company is to provide data-driven insights using the latest cutting-edge solutions to support university administrators and students in the education sector.

The Evolution of ClassRanked

Let’s rewind back in time a little.

When ClassRanked was first founded, its intention was to help students find the best university classes by displaying ratings and reviews from other students who had taken the class. To appeal to a younger audience, the brand personality was initially more youthful and casual.

ClassRanked’s original logo

Since then, the company has evolved and shifted its focus to target a more mature audience. Instead of targeting individual consumers, mainly students, the service now helps universities with their hiring, promotion, and tenure decisions for faculty.

With this renewed product direction, ClassRanked hoped to move away from its youth-oriented brand direction and create a new identity that reflects professionalism and credibility for institutions.

Step 1: Discovery

Creating a brand identity is more than just crafting a logo. A logo is a symbolic representation of the brand, but it is only one element of the business’s brand identity. A holistic brand identity is the collection of all elements and systems that visually reflect the company’s values and portray the right image to its core user group.

Before diving into the details of crafting a visual brand identity, we conducted brief research on the competitor landscape. We observed what their service and product offerings are, and how these brands position themselves in the market. This preliminary stage of research and data gathering helps us identify core key differentiators for the brand.

Step 2: Scoping things down

After gathering enough information to gain a broad understanding, we narrowed our focus and began connecting the dots.

In order to ensure that ClassRanked’s new brand identity resonates with the target audience, we conducted a brand personality exercise internally. Through this exercise, we were able to identify and extract core values that best represent the brand and its mission. These values in turn shaped the formation of the logo and its supporting visual elements.

The team also utilized the brand personality slider to define brand positioning. This acts as an anchor — one which would serve as a reference tool when conducting design experimentations later on. In the case of ClassRanked, they want the brand to be perceived as credible and trustworthy while preserving an innovative spirit.

We extracted four core values of the ClassRanked brand.

Step 3: Setting the mood

The next phase of the project involved visualizing all the insights that we acquired during the discovery phase. One of the visualization techniques we employed was developing a series of mood boards.

Brand mood boards help bring focus and visualize abstract statements like company values, through a collage of different visual assets. They also get your entire team on the same page (and yourself) to build an impactful brand from the ground up.

Now is also a good time to check in with the clients by presenting them a few mood board options, each illustrating different concepts and directions that the brand could take.

Mood board 1: This mood board creates a harmonious blend of vibrant colors and geometric shapes, highlighting the product’s innovative character with a hint of professionalism.

Mood board 2: This mood board reinforces the idea of credibility and timelessness through the combination of a more subdued color palette, minimalistic visuals, and classic serif font choices.

Step 4: Sketch, Sketch, Sketch

Only after thorough research and gaining clarity on ideas, we can move on to the design work.

The design process officially began after the discovery and analysis phase (spoiler: the client chose Mood board 1). The client resonated with the vibrant palette and modern geometric patterns that were reflected in mood board 1.

We kick-started the design process by developing a few loose sketches. This part of the process is mainly to get as many variations of the logo as possible. Perfection and fine-tuning can come in later.

Refining the logomark

To refine the logomark, we port the sketches over to a professional design software. After careful deliberation and meticulous refinement, we arrived at several logo options for the client to consider.

Concept 1: The logo conveys the message that data-driven solutions are available to everyone. The arrangement of the dash-like lines alludes to the concept of rating and data bits, while the inclusion of human figures signifies that people are an essential part of the product’s objectives and aspirations.

We also ventured into other logo concepts, including ideas such as combining initials and experimenting with shapes that symbolize institutions, data, and progress.

At this stage, It is also helpful to do a quick mockup to show the brand application to the clients. Creating a mockup of the brand’s application can be incredibly helpful for clients to gain a greater understanding and appreciation of how the new logo could be utilized in various contexts and applications.

We developed a few mockup samples for the client’s reference.

Ultimately, the clients picked Concept 1 as the logo mark closely aligns with the brand’s intent to be perceived as an innovative, technology-driven, and people-first company.

Building the system

Creating the logo is only a part of the process. The next part of the design process involves building a system around the chosen logo mark. These refer to the brand palette, type scale, and refining brand applications.

Let’s start with colors. From the beginning, the client wanted to preserve the color blue as it is strongly tied to ClassRanked’s existing brand. However, we decided to switch up what previously was a pale blue to new sets of brighter and more vibrant shade of blue to match up with the new rebrand.

Primary brand palette: We generated different shades of blue to expand the brand system.

Similarly, we selected Roc Grotesk as a primary typeface for its distinct enough for a primary typeface yet versatile typeface for the brand. Roc Groesk is supported by a secondary typeface called Inter for its simplistic and legible characteristics.

New Primary and Secondary typefaces for ClassRanked.

The Finale

After weeks of designing and refining, here’s what the final refreshed brand identity looked like for ClassRanked. Overall, the client was pleased with the final logo and commissioned us to create a short logo animation to add live and motion.

Final logo design.

In addition to the logo, we provided a series of mockups to help visualize how the brand could come to life in the real world.

We also created digital mock-ups and additional style impressions to showcase the brand.

Creating a brand identity requires more than just a logo and is a multi-faceted process. Considerations include establishing brand values, visualizing and crafting a symbol that represents those values, and setting up systems and guidelines to ensure brand consistency across all touch points.

If you’re thinking of revitalizing your branding identity or have a project in mind, reach out to us via email at hello@55mins.com. Our DMs are open!

Kay is a designer and a part-time sloth. In her free time, she likes to hibernate and consume algorithmic content on YouTube daily. When she is off abroad, she enjoys dérive-ing and hanging around at local supermarkets.