flatfair news

A look through the glasses of the flatfair rebranding

Ineke

Feb 03, 2021

Glasses looking through to flatfair's new rebrand

Why was a rebrand needed?

As flatfair is growing and expanding in the market there was a need for a rebrand.

The following points support our decision to do so:

Launching new products; As flatfair moved from a single to a portfolio of products, there was a need to create distinctive but complementary logos.

Results of our brand research; Having spoken to over +2500 potential customers via focus groups and validation surveys, we got insights from tenants, agents and landlords about our brand and our competitors. They liked the fact that we had an illustrative style, something a little bit different than the stock photos that most companies are using, which adds character to our brand. But the characters weren’t diverse enough and there were too many colours so our main brand colour palette wasn’t easy to recognise.

New tone of voice; The old style of illustrations wasn’t aligned with the new tone of voice. The illustrations were too playful, too colourful and too detailed. We wanted to create a branding that reflected the new tone of voice which is simple, modern and easy to use and customer focused.

Issues with old illustrations; The old illustrations were not vectorised which was a problem for scaling and making quick amendments. Because they had so much detail, producing new imagery was lengthy and slow. For the sake of efficiency and to give more flexibility, we chose to have vectorised illustrations. On top of that digital illustrations are also easier to animate.

Lack of consistency in our branding; different illustration styles, layouts and colours used throughout our website and collateral, meant our brand lacked clarity and wasn’t distinctive. (abstract, line drawings vs. detailed images)

Old homepage logo of tenant and agent shaking hands in front of a house

Old branding flatfair

New Homepage Illustration Animation with tenant and agent shaking hands in front of their new home

New branding flatfair

Creating a new brand

How to decide on a new colour palette, the look and feel of the illustration style and the layout of the branding in general?

ILLUSTRATION STYLE

The insight

Uber, Dropbox, Slack, Airbnb and many other respectable companies bet on illustrations. The reason? They all believe that an illustration is not only an adornment to a product. It’s also a powerful tool that can help increase vital business metrics, eg. conversion rates and can cultivate a relationship that is more emotional, rather than just professional.

Well-designed illustrations can enhance your brand experience and help you to create a very personal connection with your users whilst distinguishing yourself from the crowd.

Illustrations are perceived faster than text so users may cover the key message quickly. That’s why illustrations can be good for landing pages, onboarding and tutorials.

The solution

We chose a minimal/simple style, something easy to understand that reflects what our customer needs; a transparent, clear product that is straightforward and educates. The illustrations have a minimal amount of colours to give it a contemporary and clean look that can attract all different types of customers.

Movement of images can be visual in the lines. This style is easy to produce and can be very effective for animations.

Stand out from other brand illustrations with unique elements – get the message through illustrations and typography.

Tenant shaking hands with their agent
A new style that can attract a broad audience

COLOUR PALETTE

The insight

According to some studies, surprisingly, 84.7% of consumers say that “colour” is their primary reason for buying a specific product. That means companies choosing their brand colour palette have a big decision on their hands.

The solution

After some colour and brand research we chose blue/dark blue and orange/yellow as our main brand colours. Orange is a naturally invigorating and playful shade that conveys excitement, often used by companies that want to stand out from the crowd. Blue is a fantastic addition to any brand colour palette. Appearing in many of the most popular colour palettes, blue conveys professionalism, authenticity, and trustworthiness.

Colours Connotations
The meaning of different colours

LAYOUT OF BRANDING

The insight: Branded House vs. House of Brands

A Branded House is the most common form of brand architecture. Major brands like Google and Apple are exemplary models of this style, wherein both have smaller sub-brands, but all are marketed and operated under the umbrella of the parent brand. For instance, you might check for appointments in your Google Calendar. Later, you write a message in Gmail. Tomorrow, you’ll complete a budget in Sheets. Each of these products is a sub-brand of the parent company, but they do not operate independently of one another, and they never overshadow the primary brand.

A House of Brands is the exact opposite of a Branded House. Whereas a Branded House maintains the focus on a single, well-known and consistent brand, a House of Brands is home to numerous brands, each independent of one another, and each with its own audience, marketing, look and feel. P&G and Unilever are great examples of a House of Brands.

The solution

flatfair’s new products fall under a Branded House architecture. flatfair acts as the primary brand and the new products (flatfair Boost and flatfair No Deposit) are sub-brands.

Flatfair Branded House with No Deposit and Boost
flatfair Branded House structure

To visualise the difference in both products we made use of different colours. Yellow is the primary colour for Boost and blue for No Deposit. This is translated in the benefit icons, graphic elements and logos.

flatfair's benefit Icons
flatfair benefit icons for Boost and No Deposit