Erik Messaki | April, 2023
The times when B2B companies didn’t need rebranding, restyling, and redesigning are long gone. This case highlights what rebranding means for a business and why it’s necessary for any brand’s development and promotion.
The market of online services and B2B platforms is growing very fast. To sell and promote a product online, one needs a visual code. It’s a means of communication, a reflection of the company’s positioning, ideology, and brand strategy. The visual code affects how consumers perceive the brand and makes it easier for them to digest information.
An outdated design is not harmless. It sends a clear signal that everything else about the company is probably just as outdated, from its software to its work processes.
Updating the identity means that the company is actively pursuing all current market trends and staying relevant in every aspect of its business.
What Stark Bank offers its partners are technologies for business growth and development. Our clients understood that they must start with their own brand. It should look relevant, adequately reflecting the company’s essence and consumers’ expectations. Conceptual changes within the company must also be reflected outwardly.
Let’s see what the company has gained from rebranding.
Stark Bank is a fintech company that provides technology for companies to scale their operations, allowing them to make more transfers, payments, and fees. The platform is prepared for companies of all sizes, from startups to large corporations.
The brand’s growth and development necessitated a change of strategy. The brand’s existing visual code did not match the new strategic approach. The visual identity was obsolete. A new brand image with new meanings had to be presented to the consumers.
Task: A rebranding that reflects the new brand strategy. A visual update incorporating minimalist, serious design, fresh illustrations, changes to the color palette, and an animated logo. A brand book for a visual identity consistent with the new strategy.
Tech, but Minimalistic. Discreet, but Powerful. Daring, but Elegant. Bold, but Low Profile. Complex on the inside, simple on the outside.
Corporate B2B clients are decision-makers (Founder, CEO, CTO, BDM, CMO, etc.). They are interested in business, finance, planning, and investments. It’s a fairly large audience that includes both up-and-coming startups and big companies. These entrepreneurs seek to build their business empires quickly and with minimal expenses, they keep an eye on digital innovations and financial technologies. This group of consumers prioritizes convenience in online platforms, speed, orderly processes, expanding their capabilities, and growing their profits.
The old style did not match the brand’s positioning, character, and values. An abundance of vivid colors and similar hues made the visuals look disorganized. Too many illustrations further strengthened the impression of shallowness and informality. The visual identity did not correlate with this type of business, negatively affecting the company’s image. The brand design looked outdated and required an update:
A feature of B2B business is the need to build long-term and trusting relationships, choosing partners with good reputations. This means that the company itself has to signify reliability, positivity, confidence, and stability. Our task was to develop a visual identity that reflects these characteristics.
The company sought to show its increased professional level and the use of new technologies. It was necessary to convey these changes to the consumers.
The company’s new strategy included a simplification and acceleration of methods and processes, ensuring simplicity and transparency of banking operations.
“We exist to solve problems. We question the status quo and how things are done. We are always trying to find the best way.”
— Stark Bank
A simple and minimalist design perfectly reflects these goals and values, which is why it formed the basis of the updated corporate identity.
Before getting rid of an outdated design, we assess not only its weaknesses but also its advantages. This way, we don’t lose anything useful and important. In this case, the old visuals were harmonious and friendly. This had to be retained, except in a new form.
Since the company already had an audience of loyal consumers, the rebranding couldn’t change the brand image beyond recognition.
The company’s logo uses an image of a twinned arrow to represent determination and scaling.
The client decided not to change the logo, but to make it more noticeable via animation. As a result, the logo is still recognizable but now it looks more modern and exciting:
Finance companies often use blues and greens in their identity. These colors are associated with trustworthiness, calm, and reliability. They are inspiring and reassuring.
The initial corporate palette had many complimentary colors, which added confusion and deprived the visuals of clarity and freshness. We removed the extraneous colors and hues, coming up with a cleaner and more minimalist palette.
Main colors:
Secondary colors:
Color hierarchy:
Sample options of using the logo with the corporate palette:
The font used previously, Myriad Set Pro, was bland and too “soft.” A stricter brand concept required a different kind of typeface. We proposed using the Red Hat font family.
The rounded, austere block types of Red Hat Display perfectly convey the serious character of the brand. The letters are large and the height difference between lower and uppercase is not too big. This makes it ideal for text highlights and headings.
Red Hat Text, from the same family, has its own advantages. It’s compact and useful for displaying large volumes of text, which was another requirement.
The previous visual identity of the brand used a lot of illustrations. They were too detailed and had a multicolored palette. This style has lost its relevance, falling behind the current trends and clashing with the brand’s new identity.
We didn’t reject illustrations altogether, because they make the brand friendlier and more approachable, simplify the processing of information, and establish an inviting atmosphere. But we completely overhauled the drawing style and limited the color palette. Now the illustrations look lightweight and clean, matching the overall style while still serving their purpose.
Stark Bank was created to help people, so communicating with consumers and partners is important. Photos of people are an essential part of the visuals. It’s a way of reaching out and showcasing the friendly atmosphere in the company.
However, even photo presentations can become outdated. Here’s an example of the old style:
After discussing it with the client, we decided to make the photos of people more minimalist and positive. The new photos are mostly without backgrounds, with small bright accents, cheerful and expressive. The lack of background makes it possible to combine any pictures with the brand’s color palette.
To promote the brand on social media, we designed minimalist, attention-grabbing banners. They use corporate colors, fonts and illustrations, photos of people with no backgrounds or muted backgrounds. All this makes the brand more recognizable, and yet sets it apart from the competitors.
Merch is a powerful tool of brand-consumer communication. It makes people like the product more, boosting brand recognition and memorability like nothing else. It’s advertising media that is quickly spread far and wide.
For Stark Bank, we created different branded merch options. All of them reflect the central principles of the brand: minimalism, clarity, and simplicity.
The outcome of our rebranding work was the brand guideline which outlines the rules for using the logo and corporate style elements. Now Stark Bank has a set of unified, documented stylistic standards for using the brand identity across platforms and advertising media, scaling methods, acceptable and unacceptable combinations. This document is necessary for working with contractors, advertising agencies, and design studios. The brand guideline will also help new employees understand the Stark Bank style and corporate culture.
The updated Stark Bank brand conveys professionalism, reliability, and quality in everything. The new image appeals to more customers, which will help the bank expand its audience.
The brand now retains its core values, while harvesting a new look and feel. It is completely new in character and at the same time recognizable by its original individuality.
The Stark Bank case clearly demonstrates how important it is to keep the brand relevant and update its identity accordingly. This allows the brand to expand its audience, remain competitive in the market and appealing to customers.
