⏰ Do Now — Start Here
Think of a brand whose logo you think looks outdated. What specifically makes it feel old?
🎯 Today's Big Question
- How do we give an outdated brand a fresh redesign while keeping its recognizable identity?
📈 By the End of Today, You Will Be Able To
- Analyze an existing (fictional or real, outdated) brand's logo and identity.
- Apply the design process to propose a rebrand direction.
- Present a before/after comparison justifying design choices.
🧰 What You'll Need
- A sample outdated logo/brand identity (teacher-provided)
- Computer with Illustrator or Photoshop
- Paper for sketching
📋 Your Plan for Today
Day 1: Analyze & Ideate
- Do Now (5 min, above).
- Mini-lesson (10 min): what makes a successful rebrand (what to keep, what to change).
- Independent analysis & ideation (25 min): analyze the assigned brand and sketch 3 rebrand directions.
- Share (5 min).
Day 2: Build & Present
- Do Now (5 min): which direction are you building, and why? Independent build (35 min): build the strongest rebrand direction digitally.
- Present before/after (5 min).
📚 Key Words
- Rebrand
- Redesigning a company's visual identity while keeping enough of its recognizable elements that customers still know who it is.
- Brand Recognition
- How easily and quickly people identify a brand from its visual identity alone.
✅ What Your Finished Work Should Include
Rebrand scored with a rubric: keeps recognizable brand elements, clear improvement, well-justified choices.
Exit Ticket: What is one element of the original brand you deliberately kept, and why?
📊 Before You Leave
Quick, anonymous class check-in -- takes less than a minute.
🎓 ACP Exam Prep
This lesson connects to the Photoshop Adobe Certified Professional exam: Domain 1: Working in the Design Industry · Domain 4: Creating and Modifying Visual Elements
🔗 Want to Learn More?
- No extra links for this lesson.
🚀 The Extra Mile
Cross-Class Connection: A direct Business class exercise in modernizing an outdated brand.
Career Connection: Rebranding work is steady, real income inside Advertising & Marketing.
Go further -- turn this into a portfolio piece:
- Rebrand a real, genuinely outdated local business or old school club logo, and consider actually showing them the result. Start here: photograph the actual current logo and list three specific things that date it before you sketch anything new.
- Present the rebrand as a before/after case study explaining exactly what changed and why it serves the brand better. Start here: place the old and new logos side by side and write one sentence for each specific change before writing the rest of the case study.