Focus Lab

"Without [strategy] I don't think the design matters." - Marissa Homère, VP of Marketing at Irwin 💥 A hot take that we couldn't agree with more. If your rebrand is not rooted in a strong, intentional strategy — it will (likely) fail. Shout out to Marissa and the team at Irwin for recognizing the importance of strategy as they approached their brand refresh — and for joining us on the podcast in our latest episode. 🙏 Tune in to the full episode for even more insights, such as: 👉 Verbalizing the importance of a rebrand to the larger team 👉 How brand archetypes started their brand project off on a high-note 👉 Quantifying the ROI of the rebrand after just a few months It's live now, go check it out → https://hubs.la/Q02RKP1t0 #brandrefresh #b2bbranding #investorrelations

Odi highlight incoming 💥 Our early-stage agency crushed a rebrand alongside their awesome partners at Formance last month. Formance builds and operates companies’ payment solutions through their Open Source Financial Core approach. With advanced capabilities to express sophisticated flows of funds, Formance empowers businesses to innovate and stay ahead. The brand offers enormous value to its audiences, and it needed a new identity to better communicate that value. Scope of Work: → Visual Identity → Web Design Huge kudos to both the Odi and Formance teams for building an identity that conveyed the breadth of their vision and clients — we're so excited your hard work out in the world. 👏 Want to stay up-to-date on all things early-stage branding? → Give the Odi LinkedIn page a follow → Subscribe to the newsletter: https://hubs.ly/Q02MTwv20

More than a tool, Surfe is the modern company for the next wave of revenue teams. 🌊 When we began our work with the Surfe team, the goal was clear: to evolve from being seen as "just a tool" to becoming a brand that earns the attention of high-growth and first-gen tech companies—without losing the perfect balance of premium and playfulness. Anything corporate just didn't fit the brand. 🚫 So we explored various ways to convey playfulness and joy while not leaning kitsch: 🌈 Colors are exuberant 😎 Photography has an undertone of summer vibes 🏄♂️ Imagery + graphic components are inspired by the tail shape of various surfboards And we'd be remiss if we didn't mention Maria Mileńko's illustrations that bring the theme of “moving freely” to life, adding a layer of humanity and personality to the brand. Catch the full case study to see how helped bring Surfe’s vision to life: https://hubs.la/Q02Rq7cG0

Salesloft was born out of the idea of adding sincerity to sales. The company is a passionate, vibrant, diverse, and inclusive organization that cares for its people and customers. 💚 We worked with the Salesloft team to identify their brand attributes as sincere, energetic, and best-in-class. Although "winning" is an important outcome for sales, we focused on "best-in-class" for the visual strategy to avoid coming off as insincere. → “Best-in-class” is the attribute that guides our choices → “Winning” is the outcome that is conveyed through verbal identity In addition to the brand attributes, it was clear that Salesloft was built on a foundation of both passion and expertise — a balance that creates enduring relationships and measurable results. The incredible care that Salesloft extends to partners and buyers was so apparent, and we wanted to convey that next-level service in the new brand identity. Check out the full project: https://hubs.la/Q02QtKYB0 📸 Photo Credit: Lauren Jones

It's always a pleasure watching the talented team at Rows.com continue to crush it and flex their brand identity in new ways. 💥

🔄✨💻 To help the Irwin team bring their rebrand to life, we completed a re-skin of their existing site — keeping the same structure but using the new visual elements. In line with our brand strategy, we worked to make their website feel more mature and match their innovative services. A few of the changes included: → Streamlining the user experience by reducing competing icons and buttons → Removing redundant sections → Using cream and grays to break up content without feeling visually overwhelming Get the full scoop: https://hubs.la/Q02MNPG_0

What happens when multiple acquisitions leave a brand’s identity diluted? It starts with the right brand architecture—here’s how we solved it with our partners at Perion Network. ✅ Perion, a publicly traded holding company with several well-known brands, faced challenges after a series of acquisitions left its portfolio distant and diluted. Awareness and capital growth were suffering. We reached a point of clarity when we zeroed in on: → Commonalities between their brand audiences → Shared internal methodologies → A compelling gap among competitors in the market We were ready to send the message that Perion was new and better than ever, and brand architecture allowed us to make that message loud and clear. 📣 The Solution: → We created a style in the sub-branded house architecture → Existing brands are now extensions of the larger Perion brand, adopting its new brand identity → We systemized how Perion will continue adding to its portfolio through future M&As, expansions, and technology advancement Our brand architecture solution gave Perion the room to grow in recognition and portfolio strengths as the companies work diligently to bring their tech products and teams into coexistence. Head to the Perion case study for the full scoop: https://hubs.la/Q02QBswX0 #brandstrategy #brandarchitecture #b2b

Brand Architecture: Your Messy Reality or Unlocked Future? 🏚️↔️🏡 If your company offers more than one type of service/product, brand architecture is essential. Let's break down the basics: 📌 Approach #1: Branded House A parent brand takes the lead with sub-brands/extensions sharing its identity. A branded house simplifies your overall brand management and unifies marketing touchpoints, but a bad experience with one brand can impact all brands. The two main classifications for a branded house are: Monolithic (ex. FedEx) → Parent brand encapsulates all offerings → Seamless experience powered by parent brand equity Sub-Brand (ex. Apple) → Extensions share parent’s name, typeface, and tone → Faster trust and adoption 📌 Approach #2: House of Brands The sub-brands operate independently of the parent. While there is a higher level of investment required for a house of brands approach, there is more flexibility to expand or experiment with less risk. The two main classifications for a house of brands are: Endorsed (ex. Intuit) → Sub-brands have their own identity, backed by parent → Flexibility with added brand authority Freestanding (ex. Unilever) → Sub-brands with no obvious parent connection → Freedom to explore diverse markets --- ♻️ Reshare if you found this valuable, we'd love to hear your thoughts! 💥 Smash the follow button to have more Focus Lab brand knowledge hit your feed. #b2b #brandstrategy #brandarchitecture

Founded in 2021 👉 Rebrand in 2023 👉 Acquired by Zapier July 2024 💥 NoCodeOps (acquired by Zapier) started with a mission to support no-coders at companies through their community. Unlike many SaaS companies, the NoCodeOps community came first. Next, they built Switchboard (later renamed Operator), a dashboard that allows people to have visibility into their no-code stack from one place. As a result, they had two distinct brands: the community and the product. They originally approached us to rebrand Switchboard, but we challenged them to consider their eventual goal: to be a pioneer in the no-code space. NoCodeOps needed branding experts to help them better define the brand architecture between community, company, and product. Project Scope: → Brand Strategy → Verbal Identity → Visual Identity → Web Design → Brand Support 🚨 Full case study live now: https://hubs.la/Q02P-KMb0 #brandstrategy #b2b #acquisition

Raise your hand if you can relate to these thoughts before attending a creative conference or networking event. ✋👇 “I won't know anyone. Going alone is terrifying.” “I suck at networking. I'm so awkward.” “I'm an introvert, it's hard to put myself out there.” “So many talented people will be there. I’ll feel like an imposter.”   Here’s the secret: You're not alone.    Even the most confident among us — people with a hundred thousand followers, the designer with the big name clients — show up with these same fears. The important thing is to show up, be yourself, and be open to new people and new experiences — even if it means just breaking out of your normal routine for a day. Because that's how we build this community — one brave hello at a time. 👋 This is an excerpt written by Natalie Kent, Creative Director at Focus Lab, as she reflected on this topic in our latest newsletter. Along with Natalie's astute insights, we highlighted topics such as: → Iconic brand guidelines of the 60s, 70s, and 80s → Andy J. Pizza's podcast, Creative Pep Talk → Creative job openings from our trusted rebrand partners And so much more! Check out our past newsletters and subscribe below. 💥 https://hubs.la/Q02N3rsn0