Rebranding Your Business: Indigo Ember

Sometimes, pressing the restart button and completely rebranding your business can be the best thing to do after getting established. It’s an understandably daunting undertaking, but it can truly be a game changer, especially when your marketing efforts aren’t adding up to your sales goals.

When we were first approached by Patricia to redesign her website, her main goals were to improve website traffic, increase conversion rates, and better communicate the voice of her brand—a personalized gifts and home goods company that creates wooden greeting cards, stationery, and accessories.

We assessed Patricia’s brand and quickly realized that the immediate solution was not a redesign; at least, not until the important foundational work was performed first. Having helped creative businesses with their brands for over a decade, we always want to be sure that our work will provide a good return on investment for the shop owner. This often means that a client may tell us what they think they want, but we assess and strategize over what they need.

Start fresh, strong, and focused

We insisted on completely rebooting Patricia’s brand in order to set it up for success, starting with a month of in-depth, brand soul-searching marketing work with Caroline. Through these intensive consultations, Caroline helped Patricia pinpoint and visualize her dream customers—an essential first step for figuring out ways to reach them. They also dug deep to uncover what sets Patricia’s products apart from her competitors’ and created a mission statement. Throughout our project, Patricia’s mission statement, unique selling proposition, and dream customer informed every part of the process, beginning with her brand’s new name.

We loved how quickly Patricia got on board about changing her brand’s name. Rather than looking at letting go of her old business name as a failure, she wisely approached it as a chance to start anew, learn, and grow.

“It is enlightening to get outside feedback that my current business name may not be helping my business in the way I had thought: helping potential customers understand my brand and mission,” she said.

During business name brainstorming, Natalia was inspired by a personal anecdote Patricia shared. She paired this with the imagery of the burnt edges of wood in the shop’s engravings, and came up with Indigo Ember—a name with a very strong connection to Patricia and her products, but one that is also somewhat abstract with a romantic, rustic feel.

A new visual identity for Indigo Ember

No stone was left unturned for Indigo Ember’s rebranding. Inspired by Patricia’s hard work of narrowing in on her target market, as well as the origin story of the new name, Jess created a logo featuring a unique feather icon that is reminiscent of a branch with leaves, and a match with a flame.

Across cultures, the feather represents virtue, hope, and charity—three values that align so well with that of Indigo Ember’s dream customers. The typography choice is strong but not overly feminine, with slightly distressed letterforms for a rustic feel. A sloping ‘R’ at the end of “Ember” gives the mark a touch of romance.

“This logo is elegant and timeless and will speak to your new target demographic. It also pairs well with your variety of products. While it is unique and eye-catching, it will not overpower your designs.”

We heard from Patricia immediately with her first impression. “I’m without words because it’s perfect.”

Now, Indigo Ember had a foundation we could truly build upon with completely new marketing collateral, website design, photography direction, and copywriting. The brand’s before and after shows a stunning transformation—one that, while changing the direction of the brand, still stays true to all its most valuable assets as it elevates them to their fullest potential. The products themselves are still as beautiful as ever, but the previous branding was not strong enough to let them shine. That small difference between “almost right” and “right” was revolutionary. Even the smallest details are not small at all.

Trusting the process for the best possible outcome

We are so grateful that Patricia was enthusiastic to let us do what we do best: steer her brand’s ship towards success! When all was said and done, she reflected on our work together:

“After a thorough interview process, customers have to trust the process and expertise by turning over the ‘designer’ reins to Aeolidia. This isn’t a common approach and I value this because that demonstrates confidence and understanding the customer’s needs. Too many designers want the customer to be in the driver’s seat, although the customer hired them to do a particular job that he/she may not be skilled at.

I view Aeolidia as platinum-level graphics design services company. If you want a design company who has extensive expertise in brand development and creating a website to reflect your brand in the best light, hire them despite the price tag! They are worth every penny spent.”

Visit Indigo Ember’s new online home here.

View this project in our portfolio.

Do you think your business might need a complete rebrand to aim for success? We’re ready to create a step-by-step plan just for you. Learn more about our rates and services.