This summer I initiated, instigated and completed a full re-brand of The Old Market, Hove. In retrospect, this process should probably have been allocated more than just 6 weeks; lesson learned for the future. In all, we changed the name (slightly), introduced a new logo, significantly upgraded the website and developed a new visual policy to ensure everything we produce is “on brand”.
I thought I’d share the results, as a before/after transformation series. You can, of course, see it live at theoldmarket.com too.
Developed by graphic designer Louise Richardson, our new logo is clearer, neater and more purposeful. “TOM” as a nickname has been removed from our headline branding, as we found customers were confused by the dual-naming. Louise’s logo was chosen as it conveys two primary messages: firstly, the font, layout and block colours convey the permanence and quality we feel is important to earning audience trust; secondly, there is an energy and immediacy to the logo, reflecting the vibrance of our event programme.
So far, the logo has proven infinitely more useable, both in our own publicity materials, and also those of third party companies, who now tend to display the logo proudly and more prominently in their own literature. A success in our book!
Previous event brochures were DL format, compressing show details into one column. Changing to an A5 format allowed the layout more space to breathe and, significantly, our most important shows were able to take full pages for a greater impact. Internal layout elements were reduced, and greater emphasis placed on ‘negative space’, making the browsing experience more pleasant.
Staying on wordpress platform, we switched to the new TheatreCMS event management plugin, which handles the all important what’s on listings and event calendar. This was coupled with flexible page layout plugin, Visual Composer, and a customised theme to overhaul the entire site both structurally and visually. In an effort to improve usability, we worked carefully to create a navigation bar which works for users. The navigation bar also serves as advertising, too, with offers like ‘Membership’ and ‘Venue Hire’ remaining prominent at all times throughout a user’s visit.
Using Mailchimp, we translated the branding style from our new website and brochure into emails. Once again, increased space is important, and the emphasis is on driving traffic towards our website. To that end, we added a ‘header bar’ to the top of any email, so if a reader wishes to ignore our email content and jump straight to the ‘What’s On’ page, they can do.
Our logo and colour scheme works much more effectively accross third party sites and social media. The nickname ‘TOM’ has been kept alive in this area, as our closest customers tend to like calling us TOM, and it permits a more friendly tone in social media interactions.
Hope you like it! theoldmarket.com
