4 min read
Apr 15, 2020
Rebranding is always a tough decision. Especially when you’re about to replace your logo after showing it to millions of users over 10 years. Eventually, we decided to go through with it. Here’s why and how.
This is another step that is a part of a bigger design change. Last year we introduced a new style of graphics for our websites. That black-and-yellow-ish sketchy theme you see. Now it’s time for our product logos to catch up.
Why it was time for a change
- We’re still growing and exploring new opportunities. But we’re also not a one-product company anymore. All our products had different logos but otherwise worked well together. We needed a common design language to emphasize compatibility between them and to show that they all are made by one team. Right now, we have four products: LiveChat, ChatBot, HelpDesk, and KnowledgeBase. We also have our Developers Program and Partners Program.
- We’ve changed a lot – from a small garage team into a 200-person strong company with a variety of products. Everything has changed with that evolution. We felt that our old logos, especially the LiveChat logo, didn’t fit what our company represents today. The logos weren’t consistent with each other either. The HelpDesk logo was saying too much, while the ChatBot logo was totally abstract, for example. This couldn't go on. We’re serious about what we do and serious about how people perceive us. We make a world-class product, and we want the brand to express that.
- The old LiveChat logo didn’t fit the digital spaces where it needed to be used. It was disproportional, and there were too many details. It was hard to come up with a compact icon based on it and something that would work in any size and on any device.
We needed a flexible visual brand identity to support us in the creation of new products in the future.
The Process
We thought about hiring a top branding agency to do a comprehensive analysis and rebranding. We even invited several companies to present what they could do for us. But as a bootstrapped company, we had no pressure from the outside to hire any contractor. Finally, we decided to do it ourselves like we usually do.
We started the project by listening. We conducted several interviews to find out where the company is and where it’s heading. We collected a lot of information and came out with one main insight: our core values are simplicity, reliability, and a human approach.
Next, we arranged one room to become the LiveChat Brand Studio so that we could simply stick our findings and inspirations on the wall. Then, it was time to translate it all into something simple – the logo.
We want our brand to stay relevant over time. We didn’t want to overcomplicate things for the sake of looking fresh and up to date. The idea was to make something so simple that it would be good for the long term. We sketched and sketched until the final idea took shape.
Our new set of logos reflects our values – simplicity and keeping it real.
Our product naming convention is straightforward – ChatBot, HelpDesk, KnowledgeBase, and, of course, LiveChat. But more so, our products stand for what they really are. LiveChat offers live chat. So its logo is a classic chat bubble symbol. Other products follow that rule.
Jedrzej Rayski, Graphic Designer at LiveChat
We’re looking forward to the future while also respecting our roots. The new logo is actually a transformation of the old one. We took the word outside of the bubble and kept a similar roundness for an outline-based shape. The font stayed the same, as did the color convention – orange and black. That was a starting point for our other logos.
Our products are evolving quickly. They work together to offer more and more capabilities to our customers. Now our visual branding captures that.
