SOFTONIC

Designing process of the new brand.

CONTEXT

Softonic was growing and they wanted to redesign the company brand to reflect the new approach of the company, from the traditional single-product company to a modern multi-product enterprise.

DEFINING NEEDS AND OBJECTIVE

Softonic has evolved his business model and we wanted to reflect this “rebirth” with a new, modern, optimistic ad colorful brand that will help them to break with the past (bad reputation, ERE, Google penalty, etc) and, at the same time, establish the foundations of new objectives, new values, and a new spirit to face new challenges. Overall, renewing the team energy with fresh air.

This renovation also had to be reflected in the design of the interiors of the new offices: playful, happy, dynamic, and colorful environment to reflect the values of our new company. But we will come back to this a little later :)

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Such a big challenge needs to be faced in the correct order and set clear expectations, therefore the risk of failure is reduced. Since the process is a series of steps, so all we need to think about is how to improve it with each opportunity. I am a firm believer that the process is the secret weapon that separates you from all the designers that barely possess it.

So, first of all, we had the first meeting with the stakeholders to be sure we are all aligned and I have understood the pains and needs the are expecting to fulfill.

One other important thing is the inclusion of the stakeholders in the creative journey, where we gradually will work together through the anatomy of all the design process. This way we treat the work with respect, transparency, and professionalism.

Now, we created a design brief to focus on a more straightforward approach:

- Full description of the product
- Who is the customer, what needs do they that we are fulfilling? how are we fulfilling them?
- Where are the customers?
- What customers do I want to have?
- What solutions are they currently using and why would they switch to us?
- What is our audience's "language"?
- Who are the competitors? customer avatar
- What is my competitors’ brand position?
- What makes us the best to do this?
- What problem do we solve?
- Why would customers want to do this?
- What is my value proposition? Is it distinctive? Is it relevant to my customers?
- What is the business model?
- When people think about my company or product, what are the feelings and associations I want them to have? Are they unique? Can we “own” them?
- What are the functional benefits that we deliver to our customers?
- What are the emotional benefits that only we deliver to our customers?
- What kind of personality will my brand have?
- What's our story?
- What are 5 words that describe us?
- How do we interact with customers?
- Three messages your brand needs to communicate.

After the results get in, we’ll find that some answers are not good enough, or poorly written. So we got back to them and asked for more elaborate answers. Only when we were satisfied with the answers we proceed to the next step. Clarity is the focus here.

RESEARCH

We started doing a benchmark of competitors to find strengths and weaknesses.

And we got some conclusions:

Green and blue are the most used colors.
The visual style, in general, is very friendly.
Most logos have complicated shapes.
The look and feel of most logos don’t define their objectives in a clear way.
Customized typefaces help to identify brands.

In general, all of them take more care of their interfaces rather than the design of their logos.

This was a clear opportunity to differentiate.

Our new logo should be more actual and transmit these attributes:

Simplicity: Simplicity means trust, not complicated shapes helps to be perceived as something you can trust.
Clean and save
Discoverability
Download
Friendliness: nice shapes to be a closer firm. it also helps us to be perceived as trustful.

VALUES OF THE NEW BRAND

SHAPES WE STUDIED

SKETCHING

SHORTLIST

FINAL BRAND

NEW OFFICE

All these changes must be reflected in the new company's facilities. We design the new office according with the new look and feel we design for the brand and relationship with the products, the new offices had to respond to the new company culture and the needs of a type of business like ours, in which it is vital to promote productivity: open, agile and flexible to be able to have informal or quick meetings and to combine those areas with others of leisure to rest or disconnect in the same office. That would define the rest of the decisions:

No private offices - promote equality between employees and managers. Eliminate hierarchies and promote accessibility and dialogue between colleagues.
More small meeting rooms for quick meetings, calls, or for working in those moments people need to concentrate or privacy.
Fully modular furniture in common spaces to adapt them to different needs.
Game room with a table football, darts, and video games to rest or disconnect without the need of leaving the office.
One single floor - more accessible, easier to adapt teams or projects.
Outdoor spaces, more light, and a new environment - reflect our company's new approach.
Use of diagonals in the distribution of the interior space (more dynamism) and greater spatial integration of the teams to encourage everyone to work together.
Use of recycled elements - warmth, integration with the neighborhood, help the community working with neighborhood suppliers like L'Stoc.
Entrepreneurial ecosystem - in the new neighborhood we have technology companies closer to us, with which we can foster new relationships with companies that are related to us.
Prepare the ground to diversify the business and do new initiatives - a new framework encourages company evolution.

LEARNINGS

When you involve all the stakeholders into the whole process, things go smoother: they will feel they are an important part of the design process (and they are for sure) and you will do every step being backed by all the team.
Being the designer of a whole brand identity is one of the most exciting (and exhausted) projects I've ever been involved in. And it worth the whole journey.