Thinking About a Rebrand? This is What We Learned at Studio Lutalica

As an agency offering branding services, you might think maintaining our brand is just par for the course. But in reality, we didn’t undertake any major updates to our branding until we were nearly four years’ old.

Studio Lutalica has evolved significantly from the company our founder Cecilia set up with a handful of collaborators in their living room back in 2020. In 2024, in particular, we underwent several transformative changes. We set up fresh as a non-profit Community Interest Company (CIC) in March and completed this transition by the end of the summer. Throughout this period, we continued to grow and collaborate with more values-aligned organisations and individuals, furthering our mission of intersectional feminism and social justice.

As we celebrated our fourth birthday in October, it was clear that our brand needed to evolve alongside these changes. Here’s a peek into our rebranding journey and the lessons we picked up along the way.

Over the past four years, we’ve grown and evolved, and our old branding just didn’t cut it anymore. Our rebrand came on the heels of redefining our mission, vision, and values. We wanted our brand to shout about our commitment to intersectional feminism and social justice. It was time for our external image to catch up with our internal mission.

Rebranding isn’t just about picking new colours or designing a snazzy logo. It’s about digging deep into who you are and what you stand for. We asked ourselves some tough questions: Where will our brand be seen? How can we design with the future in mind? Does our brand resonate beyond personal taste? These reflections helped us craft a brand that truly represents us.

Our Founder and Creative Director, Cecilia Righini, along with our talented Studio Lutalica designers, crafted a visual identity that embodies our mission. We developed a colour palette with accessible pairings, chose legible typefaces, and designed a responsive logo. These elements ensure our brand is inclusive and recognisable across all platforms.

Our previous symbol, the butterfly, beautifully captured the essence of transformation, drawing parallels between the queer experience and the creative process. While its meaning still resonates with us, the aesthetics no longer aligned with our evolving identity.

In our rebranding journey, we experimented with various symbols, including chameleons, but ultimately embraced an abstract, amorphous shape. This new design features undulating lines and a gradient motif, symbolising our ever-shifting, ever-learning nature. It reflects our ability to adapt to diverse community needs, from accessibility to specialist knowledge.

Our new visual identity is a testament to our commitment to inclusivity and continuous growth, ensuring our brand remains true to our values and mission.

Putting Accessibility First

Accessibility is at the heart of our branding process. We believe a brand should be inclusive and consistent across all platforms. Our commitment to accessibility enhances brand recognition and reflects our dedication to inclusion, ensuring our message reaches a diverse audience.

Our rebranding journey naturally extended to our website, a crucial visual touchpoint for our brand. We realised it needed a refresh to align with our new identity. Rebranding involves updating across all platforms, ensuring consistency and recognition. It’s important to retain elements from your previous iteration that resonate with your audience, facilitating a smooth transition.

Rebranding well means collaborating with developers and UX/UI experts to ensure the new identity is seamlessly integrated into the digital experience. We’re fortunate to have all these skills in-house. Our talented team, including graphic designer Zoe Tang and UX Designer Federici Minini, worked tirelessly to apply our fresh brand concepts to the web. Their efforts ensure that our platform authentically reflects our mission and values, providing a cohesive and engaging experience for our audience.

Brand statements are like a compass for an organisation, helping to align every action and communication with its core values. They ensure consistency and clarity, making it easier for everyone to understand and embody the brand’s mission.

For example, part of our strategy exercise was turning values like intersectional feminism into communication guidelines. For us, this means ensuring our messaging is always inclusive, supportive, and fair.

We also focus on community empowerment, which translates into being collaborative and engaging in our interactions. By prioritising people over profit, we commit to transparency and ethical practices, building trust with our audience.

Lived experience guides us to be genuine and relatable, ensuring authenticity in our communications. Creativity and innovation keep us dynamic, allowing us to inspire and adapt to changing needs.

In essence, our brand strategy ensures that our values are lived out in every aspect of our work, creating a cohesive and meaningful brand experience.

As we wrap up the year, we’re grateful for the support of our clients, team, and collaborators. Our new branding marks our growth and commitment to empowerment, inclusivity, and social impact. Becoming a non-profit CIC has been an incredible journey, and our new look is a testament to the power of community and design coming together.

Rebranding is a journey of self-discovery and alignment. We’ve embraced this journey to create a brand that truly reflects who we are. If you’re considering a rebrand, we hope our experience provides valuable insights and inspiration. Explore our new brand guidelines and see how we’ve applied them across our platforms. Here’s to many more years of creativity and impact!