What OVERW8 did
The Situation
OVERW8 Owner Kristin Reinbach has had her own blog for quite a while, but with OVERW8 keeping her busy and a lockdown on top it was a little neglected. In early summer 2020 and motivated by the digital initiative “Levelup” the core- and leverage-team at that time suggested: The blog and personal branding of the owner should get a makeover and more authority.
Clarity wins
The Working Process
Interestingly, at first the temptation was big, to not stick to the usual process “because we know what we’re doing“. Of course that’s nonsense and only led to unnecessary loops.
The Conceptional Foundation
What are the basics of the brand supposed to be? What are the explicit and implicit messages? Not that easy for Creative Director Kristin Reinbach to moderate this process as usual, while at the same time being the subject.
The true Line
Mindset and Comfort Zone
Contrary to customer budgets, there was no real limit in terms of money and time, since the work was done internally. This went to show that it was not so much about what was possible in terms of design and technology, but more about moving out of your own comfort zone.
“Also and maybe because I work in marketing, I typically perceive a certain reluctance as positive. At the same time, with the fast transition to digital that we saw this year, it is crystal clear that reluctance isn’t the solution. So I had to open myself up to making decisions the way I would have advised a customer to do.”
– Kristin Reinbach
Efficiency kicked back in, when we dared to go through the work process exactly the way we would have done it for a customer.
Solid.
Step by Step.
Building a base from the bottom up.
Laying the Foundation
The Brand Message
So we took a step back to set the positions and messages. By the way, real teamwork with input from the whole team and finally filtered by the o8 owner herself.
And voila: Now it quickly went in the right direction.
New Tools, new Luck
Online as creative as in person
This brand design process was the first time we used the online tool MIRO to support a creative process. Since it was an in-house project, we could experiment free of risk.
Shortly before, we alarmingly noticed, that the solely remote situation that Corona put us in, had taken away the opportunity to sit down together in person from time to time when critical, strategic or creative topics could use that.
With MIRO the process finally became as intuitive and especially as fast as before again. If not even faster.
“Thanks to the changed procedure our brand design was about 30% faster and on point quicker than before.”
– Kristin Reinbach
Then after all
A new name
It was interesting to see how the new look came together quite quickly but something seemed to be missing. The right bracket. That certain something. And – just like with a customer – it became clear: That name, it’s just not IT. It needs to change or everything else would have been for nothing.
WordPress Lego
Website Makeover
Based on a fitting template and the existing brand elements such as fonts, colors and imagery, the website was up to date within a few days:
SoooKristin
New Brand Identity
“Thank you to my team! Without their friendly nudges, I would have gotten stuck in my pseudo humbleness for way too long. I am happy that someone kicked my ass. It is important to know when to listen to others. The fact that it felt uncomfortable, was definitely a good sign.”
– Kristin Reinbach
Consistent
Social Media
The Kristin Reinbach Instagram channel was renamed, the equivalent Facebook page set up (necessary especially for technical reasons) and a set of Canva templates for the Social Media posts was developed.
New clarity, a new look for a next level.
