By Tom, Graphic Designer
When the team first approached me about rebranding Broadplace after 21 years, my initial reaction was equal parts excitement and pressure. How do you visually capture two decades of evolution whilst signalling where a company is heading next? As it turns out, you start by listening.
Discovery: Understanding Before Creating
The worst thing a designer can do is jump straight into Illustrator without understanding what they’re actually designing for. So I didn’t.
We spent weeks running workshops with everyone across the business—from senior leadership to developers. The questions weren’t just “what do you want it to look like?” but deeper: What makes us different? Where are we going? What should clients feel when they interact with our brand?
The existing brand had served us well, but it felt stuck in an earlier era. The team wanted something innovative without losing approachability, professional without being corporate, bold without being aggressive.
Meanwhile, I analysed competitors. Everyone was either hyper-minimal (boring) or maximalist chaos (exhausting). There was an opportunity to land somewhere more interesting: confident, energetic, but still clean and usable.
Strategy First: Words Before Visuals
Before touching any design software, we needed to nail down what this brand actually stood for.
Working with senior leadership, we developed positioning around our new tagline: “Digital Success Amplified.” We established four key attributes: modern, vibrant, approachable, and professional. These became a filter for every design decision.
Visual Identity: Where Strategy Becomes Design
The Logo System
I developed a refreshed logo that maintains recognition whilst feeling completely contemporary. It needed to work everywhere—from tiny social media avatars to large event banners. Versatility was non-negotiable.
The Colour Palette
Bold, modern tones that convey innovation and energy without screaming. The palette walks the line between energetic and professional—vibrant enough to feel dynamic, restrained enough to feel credible.
The Abstract Gradient Backgrounds
This became my favourite element. I created abstract, grainy gradient backgrounds as a core visual signature. They add movement and energy without being distracting, work across all applications, and feel contemporary without being trendy.
The grain texture adds a tactile quality that prevents the identity from feeling too digital or sterile. These backgrounds became the unifying element across everything—presentations, digital ads, social media, and the website.
Typography
I selected typefaces that balance professionalism with contemporary feel—clean and highly legible, but with enough personality to feel distinctive.
Applications: Making It Real
A brand identity is only as good as its application. I applied the new branding to presentations, digital ads, reports, internal documents, and social media templates.
Each application required thinking through specific use cases. How do you make a data-heavy report visually interesting without overwhelming content? The goal wasn’t to constrain creativity—it was to provide a foundation that makes it easier for the team to create on-brand content quickly.
I also created iconography and graphical elements to support marketing materials, all cohesive with the overall identity.
Testing & Refinement
I shared initial designs with the team and watched how they reacted. Some elements resonated immediately. Others needed adjustment. The gradient backgrounds, for instance, went through several iterations before we landed on the right balance of bold and subtle.
I tested the identity in real-world scenarios. How does the colour palette work in print? How do gradients render across different screens? Does typography remain legible at small sizes on mobile?
Brand Guidelines: Empowering the Team
A brand identity is useless if no one knows how to use it. I produced comprehensive guidelines covering logo usage, colours, typography, imagery style, and design principles.
But guidelines alone aren’t enough. I provided ready-to-use templates, asset libraries, practical examples, and ongoing design support. The goal was to democratise good design—not everyone needs to be a designer, but everyone should be able to create on-brand content confidently.
The Design Philosophy
Every visual decision came back to “Digital Success Amplified.” The visual identity needed to reflect strategic enhancement through:
- Clarity: Bold colours and clean layouts that don’t compete with content
- Consistency: A cohesive system that builds brand recognition
- Flexibility: Templates that empower the team to create
- Distinction: Visual signatures that make us recognisable
What I Learned
This rebrand reinforced something I believe deeply: design isn’t decoration. It’s problem-solving.
Every colour choice, every gradient, every typographic decision solved specific challenges: How do we look modern without being trendy? How do we feel energetic without being chaotic? How do we maintain consistency whilst allowing creativity?
The best design makes these solutions feel effortless. You don’t notice the problem-solving—you just notice that it works.
Seeing It Come to Life
The most rewarding part has been watching the rebrand come to life across the business. Seeing the team use templates with confidence, client reactions to new pitch decks, and our social media feeling cohesive and intentional.
A rebrand isn’t finished when the designer delivers files. It’s finished when it becomes part of the company’s daily reality—when it stops feeling new and starts feeling like who you are.
After months of work, we’re there. And I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve built together.
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