

It's never a good time to rebrand. - rriepe
http://blog.ivylees.com/its-never-a-good-time-to-rebrand/

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pxlpshr
While I agree with the context of your article (though sometimes it is VERY
necessary to rebrand), I think you missed an important point on how to avoid
rebranding woes. Most established companies tend to favor unique typographic
or vague logo marks more often than detailed illustrations to avoid narrow
definition and the hassles of a complete rebrand. By adhering to a simple and
less specific brand mark, the logo becomes more organic in nature. Companies
can redefine their marketing message and expand their product offering with
flexibility.

Think about the most prominent web/software companies such as Google,
Microsoft, Digg, Facebook, Vimeo, Flickr... most have unique typographic logos
because features change overtime. Case in point, Flickr now supports video.
The fashion industry is also a very good example of this. Non-specific logos
allow them to build (and change) associations based on lifestyle photography.
Why is this important? Product cycles are seasonal and generally very
trendy/volatile.

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rriepe
You're right, the timing will seem perfect in a lot of situations, such as
Xe's recent rebrand. I felt like those decisions deserved their own post,
though.

Also, I wasn't entirely clear in my post; we rebranded some of our features,
not our central site. IvyLees is still up, just functioning as an umbrella
site for our tools. It already had a pretty versatile logo, which I agree is
important.

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rriepe
Full disclosure: I'm the Rex in "By Rex"

But this is one of our better blog posts and I thought HN would like the info.
You guys were hugely helpful a few months ago when we did an Ask HN. I thought
I'd share some of what we've learned since.

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tdoggette
This isn't hugely relevant, but why did you go with "kitn" instead of
"kitten"?

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rriepe
We wanted to emphasize the "press kit" part of the name. Press kits make
information and media easily available to the press, just like our product.

I don't think "Presskitten" would have necessarily taken away from that, but
in our minds "Presskit'n" just worked better.

