A consistent brand identity ties everything together, from the company logo and colours to the language used in communications. When people experience a brand and everything feels consistent and familiar, it strengthens their trust in that organisation.
At Zafire, our brand identity has always been central to how customers perceive us. However, after ten years and a significant acquisition, it became clear that our old branding no longer reflected our forward-thinking values and vision for the future.
It was time for a change.
This article is the first in a new series, “Behind the Scenes.” In this series, we’ll explore our latest innovations and how they come together. Since we’ve just completed a major rebrand, it’s a fitting place to start.
Whether you’re considering a rebrand or curious about the process, we hope this offers some useful insights.
Identifying When to Rebrand
There are different reasons why a company might rebrand – addressing a need or pursuing a benefit. In some cases, a company may need to change due to negative associations or legal requirements. The more common and preferable situation is when a rebranding is done to modernise, improve recognition, or differentiate from competitors.
At Zafire, the decision was driven by the opportunity to modernise and align with industry trends. There were also practical considerations. We wanted to make our website more powerful and accessible, which required a complete rebuild anyway. Therefore, it made sense to coordinate the two projects.
Taking Stock and Finding Inspiration
Before starting, it’s important to assess what’s working and what’s outdated. A successful rebrand doesn’t always mean starting from scratch. For Zafire, we decided to keep our logotype approach and the use of bright colours, but moved away from bold, stark fonts to a softer, more modern look.
Inspiration can come from anywhere, but, when reimagining a brand, designers don’t have the luxury of waiting for inspiration to come to them. It must be a deliberate, pro-active endeavour. A great way for a software company to seek inspiration is to look to their industry, customers and products to identify themes. Do some research, build a mood-board, check out what competitors are doing and perhaps ask yourself a few questions, like:
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“What is visually interesting in the industry in which you operate?”
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“What colours or shapes hold significance to those who work with your products?”
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“What in the product is unique, stands out or is recognisable?”
We drew heavily from the industries we serve, especially aviation. Our products support aircraft turnaround processes, so the airside environment served as a strong source of inspiration. The new logo, for example, was influenced by the parallel lines and angles found around the airport tarmac.
Concept Development and Honing
Developing a brand involves both creativity and strategy. We explored more than 30 different logo concepts, which ranged from an evolution of our old branding to radical departures – with each iteration bringing us closer to the perfect design.
Simple sketches on paper led to a refined final concept that incorporated airside themes and a more dynamic colour palette.
After settling on a design, we continued refining it through multiple iterations. The goal was to ensure that it not only looked great but resonated with everyone involved.
Collaboration and Feedback
Involving key stakeholders is essential for a successful rebrand. At Zafire, we gathered input from across the business – Customer Success, Business Development, Marketing, Product, Senior Leadership and more. This process helped us identify potential blind spots and build broader buy-in within our team.
A diverse group provides fresh perspectives. They’ll often catch details the core team might miss and, as they have different priorities, they’ll help ensure the design resonates with customers, partners, shareholders and more. Not every suggestion can be actioned, but it’s important to listen and adapt where necessary.
Deploying the Rebrand
Deploying a rebrand is often just as challenging as creating one. There are two main approaches.
- A “Big Bang” launch, where everything changes in a single day.
- A phased approach.
We opted for the latter, introducing the new logo on social media and communications while gradually rolling out changes across the website and events.
This staggered approach gave us the flexibility to make adjustments and strengthen the brand throughout the process, ensuring that it was well-received.
The New Zafire
Now, let’s take a closer look at some of the key elements of our new branding:
New Logo
Our old logo was simple, but no longer aligned with who we are today.
For our new logo, we softened the design by removing serifs and introducing curved edges – giving it a friendlier, more approachable feel.
The ‘A’ sits within the ‘Z,’ inspired by the parallel lines on runways and taxiways. The ‘i’ breaks the pattern, as it is the only lower-case letter, and the dot above the ‘i’ is cut to continue the parallel line of the bar below. This creates a circular ident, which has a simple but unique look. We often use this as an identifiable logomark in our materials to add colour and character to documentation.
This ident also offers the opportunity to separate the logo into two colours – something inspired by the old logo, but with a softer implementation. This makes the logo more flexible, as it can be presented in many different variations and in different situations.
The new logo is easier to read, more accessible and more aligned to our company’s mission of building state-of-the-art SaaS business solutions.
Colours and Typography
We’ve moved away from a single bright hero colour, opting instead for a more versatile palette of complimentary colours. Different tones of green and blue contrast against oranges and yellows, for example. This gives us the flexibility to present the company in lighter or darker settings, alongside photography or illustrations.
In terms of typography, we transitioned from classic serif fonts to modern sans-serif typefaces, conveying innovation and forward-thinking values, which better align with Zafire’s vision for the future.
Tone of Voice
People often conflate brand with the visual look of a business – and while that’s an important part of it, there are other elements too. Sometimes overlooked is ‘Tone of Voice’. This is important – and is basically the way your business would speak, if it could talk. Our tone of voice reflects values of respect, approachability, and clarity. These values guide all our communications, ensuring we maintain a clear, respectful tone that aligns with our commitment to transparency and service.
Consistency
Consistency is key to maintaining brand integrity. Once customers become familiar with the brand, they expect to see it applied consistently across all materials. Inconsistent use can create confusion or even alienate your audience.
To ensure consistency, we created detailed brand guidelines that serve as a resource for our team. There are many tools available which allow for the simple storage and distribution of branding assets amongst your team – and even partners or customers. You can use a dedicated tool like Brandfolder, or build you own with some other systems, like monday.com. Either way, this allows you to distribute the most up to date versions of all your brand materials easily. This empowers your team to customise their communications, while staying within the brand guidelines – and not spending hours designing assets themselves.
Training and Workshops
Some team members will get a lot of value from internal training and guidance on how best to represent your new branding. You could set up a workshop to go through the materials and share examples of how to use them – or perhaps create a self-paced training lesson in a few clicks with a tool like scribe.
Final Thoughts
Rebranding is a complex but rewarding process, and we’re already seeing positive effects in customer engagement and market recognition. The new Zafire brand is more than just a visual update – it represents our ongoing commitment to innovation and building stronger relationships with our customers and partners.
We hope you find the new branding more inviting, accessible and modern. We’re always open to your feedback.
We also hope you’ve found this article an interesting read and, perhaps, food for thought, if you are considering a rebrand for your business soon.
We’re planning more “Behind the Scenes” pieces, so stay tuned.
Charlie McFarlane, Head of Marketing, has been working with Zafire since their acquisition by Valsoft in 2023. If you would like to know more about Zafire’s products and services, or book a demo, get in touch.
