Last year we had a very public debate over two council organisations rebranding efforts; Auckland City Council and Metrowater. Looking at these two efforts is a very interesting case study in how to approach branding. A branding project is a very political process filled with many different opinions. It’s also a very expensive process, not just in the cost of the design but the time consumed and the cost of rolling out the new design. However it's a vital element in creating value for your business and can be a very positive process if managed well.
Auckland City Council
The Old Logo.
I believe their old logo was quite strong. Clear reference to sailing and Auckland's volcanic landscape, it has a newness and strength. Perhaps it could be criticised for being too conservative and lacking personality? My opinion would be that there isn’t a strong need to move away from this to a new logo.
The New Logo.
The new design is interesting, it’s more abstract and bolder than the previous design. It’s also quite a revolutionary approach with little to link it back to the previous design. The symbol a triangle flag design is very abstract but you could argue that it has elements of water, volcanos and sales in there somewhere! The typography has an almost epic movie quality to it – with the A & D at the beginning and end of Auckland bookending the design.
Opinion. It’s really hard to judge a logo without seeing the brief that the designers were given. If they were asked to come up with something different, without reference to the original logo and something that was bolder perhaps to be a champion and cheerleader for the city, then I would say the logo meets it’s brief. There are parts of it I like, but I do think it could it be better, and I’m not convinced it was really necessary.
Metrowater
The Old Logo.
This a bit of a classic really. I’m not sure when it would have been designed but I’m sure it would have been 10 to 20 years ago. Two fonts, hand drawn; it really doesn’t portray a large efficient modern organisation. So it’s pretty clear just looking at the logo that there’s a need to update the organisation’s image.
The New Logo.
Now here is an organisation that has been doing some thinking. And it seems taking a strategic approach to its marketing and branding. The new logo is clean, it is modern, it uses a font style from the old logo so has some linkage. It has a positioning element – “water for life”. Now this is lifting the identity up and making it more than just a logo. It now is positioning Metrowater as an essential service and I’m sure this has a strong internal communication element here too. Lastly the tap has been replaced with a circle of drips which looks good.
Opinion. Overall a pretty strong effort. There is a lot that I like about this logo and I think the team has done a good job. It’s modern, its got meaning and from a production point of view it’s only two colour so it will be cheaper to produce.
Overall
So I'd have to say we have two quite different stories here. Metrowater is a good development on their previous identity and I can see the value in. The Auckland City Council logo is a different story, yes it’s different but I don’t quite see the need. To me there are some unanswered questions and perhaps missed opportunities to do something more powerful.
Developing a new logo is an expensive and time consuming process. You need to be very clear about why you need to do it and what you want to achieve out of the process. Most importantly you need to have a very strong commitment to the process and make sure that people feel they have contributed to the brief and agree about what makes up the essence of your brand, before you get any designer to start work.
The process of developing a new brand can add real value to any organisation; the discussions around what we really do, what’s important to us, what are our values and what outcomes do we deliver. These discussions are important and have value in themselves, they build a common understanding within your organisation about where you're going. The brand then can be designed to reflect this. Without the discussion you’ll only ever design a logo.
Make sure you build a brand.