Inside Stryber Rebrand
A logo is more than a graphic representation of your company because it connects people’s minds to the business. That’s why we believe our logo has to speak for us. It represents who we are and the things we believe in. That is why work in rebranding is always challenging. People have different expectations and needs. The challenge is to take these diverse and unique lemons and make a delicious lemonade out of it.
This is not a technical article, it’s my personal journey through a rebranding process. If you are not a designer, you’re also more than welcome to continue reading
But let’s take a step back and try to understand why Stryber needed a new brand.
Since I started to work for Stryber, I was amazed to see how fast this company was growing. Stryber has expanded and changed but our logo was not representing us anymore. We needed something bold and unique. We needed to be recognized for the things we do, but also to be remembered for the things we believe in. At that time we didn’t have a proper design culture, so this was the perfect opportunity to work on our rebranding. Our goal is to show that a good design culture can generate a positive change inside, and outside the company.
The problem with our first brand was that we didn’t have a very well-established brand guidance. Our social media channels were very different from our website and they were very subtle. We decided to take a small step and try to get some feedback from the employees and from people outside. The design team collected a lot of data, and this is where we started to view everything from a different, refreshed perspective.
The cherry on top was to understand what Stryber represents to their employees, making sure everyone is being heard. We had a chat with Alex and Jan the CEO’s to understand what they wanted to achieve with the new brand, and of course, if they were open to change. After collecting all the important data, we decided to create some different paths and play with the company values.
At the time we kept 2 things in our mind:
1. Stryber is unique;
2. The new brand needs to represent our values.
So our first strategy was to create a custom typeface that was bold and modern enough to represent us. We started to sketch, and the first drafts began to appear. The main idea behind the font was the circular aspect. All the letters should have the same curvature to give this contemporary feeling. After some different tests, this version was ready for up feedback.
The font was ready but it was not enough, so we decided to create different icons. I could say that I’ve created more than 70 different icons. It was a very delicate and intricate process with a lot of good ideas. But unfortunately, I was not there yet. So after a couple of days, I decided to present 2 different versions:
- The 1st focused on being bold and modern but not necessarily with a strong meaning behind it;
- and the 2nd one with a history behind it.
You can see the different results here.
Well, of course, we were not there yet… (whoever said that design is a fast and cheap process must be prosecuted). People were happy but it still needed extra work, our values were not quite there yet. After a couple of weeks, we gave it a second shot. This time after a second meeting with one of our CEOS, these final values came up:
- We are Data-Driven;
2. We are passionate entrepreneurs;
3. We believe in our team.
And on a rainy Bavarian weekend, it came. That famous “click”. I was sketching some ideas in my notebook and came up with an idea to mix all these elements into one symbol. Well, I must say that it was kind of too much for a logo… I tried tons of different options and it was still not working (again, fast design? What? haha). But I couldn’t get rid of the idea, to tell our history with all these elements into one simple symbol. So, after a few studies, the final solution was a combination of simple geometric icons that represent our values (data-driven, passion, and people). These elements together compose a tilted S, and it allows you to see different meanings.
Now, it was ready.
And here is our fresh branding video:
After the long process of rebranding, the fun part came: the freedom to test and think of different assets. You can see some of them below.
One of the main lessons we learned on this project was not to design two elements separately, that are supposed to work together. The perfect font was there, but we were struggling to design an icon with those same characteristics. Now we have a better understanding of how to create a good brand environment. It is helping us a lot to create better solutions, in a shorter period of time.
It was a lot of work but also very rewarding (you know, after the rain, the rainbow comes) to be able to uncover our values and reflect them in our brand. This project put our team closer and warmed our hearts ❤
It’s been almost one month since we launched our new logo and we couldn’t be more proud. Stryborgs are very happy and we are still collecting a lot of positive feedback.
Thanks for your time reading this. I hope somehow it can inspire you to create and test. Furthermore, don’t give up on changing something that you believe in (remember the rainbow in the end).
