In 1995, the company Northern Telecom (NorTel) decided to redesign their logo. It wasn't just the logo though, the entire brand and its materials. It was a huge project. The brand book for instance was over 400 pages.

The move cost them a total of about $600,000. That is approximately $1,044,000 in today's value, and more than half a billion naira in Nigerian currency.

Was all that money spent worth it? Well, find out.

After NorTel unveiled their new logo, their stock speedily skyrocketed. Just a year later, they were making millions of dollars already, recovering and surpassing what they spent on rebranding.

Why did this happen?

The company understood the importance of good visuals and good branding, they invested in it, and it paid off.

It is said that people shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but they do. In fact, people are more likely to buy and read your book if the cover is professionally designed. The reality is that people associate good design with seriousness, quality and trustworthiness, even though it doesn't necessarily mean that. People won't take you seriously if your designs are poor.

What is the lesson to be learned here?

If you're a business owner, there's a reason why you should take your visuals very seriously. It doesn't matter whether you're a big business or startup, invest in how your brand and products look!

Many businesses when starting out make the mistake of not making plans and reasonable budget for their visuals. They do this because they think anyone sitting behind a monitor in a print shop can design. That's quite a costly mistake considering how much they'll lose out in the long run, and the cost of rebranding when they finally realise their mistake.

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