Last month, we received an email from Germany—Geber’s brand rebranding project had won the 2025 German Red Dot Award for Brand Design & Identity.

While we’re thrilled about this international design recognition, what matters more is that this experience validated our complete design thinking process from concept to application. Brand consultants spend their days helping clients clarify positioning and reshape images, but when it’s our turn, we discovered the hardest part is honestly facing the question: “Who are we?”

Brand Rebranding Starts with a Mirror

Like the perpetually disheveled heroine in those mobile game ads, the first step in rebranding is definitely not picking out lipstick—it’s recognizing you need a good bath first. Nobody wakes up one morning and suddenly declares, “I think my brand needs an update!” (wouldn’t that be nice). Brand rebranding usually begins with an awareness of inadequacy.

Speaking of being disheveled, nobody was actually complaining about us. It’s just that behind 15 years of busy brand consulting experience, there was a mirror we hadn’t looked into for too long. As our team expanded and services evolved, we realized our past visual identity, though elegant and professional, had developed a hint of staleness over time, becoming disconnected from our team’s vibrant image and core value of “where strategic thinking meets creative expression.”

And so, our brand rebranding workshop began.

From “Making It Look Good”
to “Thinking It Through”

We found that most people, when discussing brands, easily fall into the mindset of “how to make it look good.” But truly valuable brand work should be about “how to think it through”—clearly knowing what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and what results it brings.

Through internal workshop discussions, we found our thread: brand work shouldn’t just make companies “look good,” but help them “truly become better.”

This thinking gave birth to our brand tagline “Grow Beyond Brands“—brands aren’t endpoints, but starting points for growth.

Translating Concepts into Forms

How do you make abstract concepts like “Grow Beyond Brands” and “strategic thinking” concrete? Visual communication is a powerful cross-cultural mode. We wanted to find ourselves a distinctive face, so when clients see our brand, they can sense our team’s character without explanation.

We discovered that rather than creating entirely new visual language, we should find answers in our existing work rhythm. In every project, we go through cycles of analysis, insight, and strategy formulation—this process itself is the best visual metaphor.

Expanding Brand Design Logic

When designing the Geber logo, we embedded three core symbols: the arrow shape of letter G symbolizes strategic guidance, the ellipse in letter b represents focused observation, and the small square dot at the end symbolizes foundational structure.

Whether displayed horizontally or vertically, the entire logo guides you through a journey: first understanding things down to their finest dimensions (■), then discovering insights from within (b), and developing them into systematic strategy (G)—this is the complete cycle of integrated brand thinking.

For colors, we wanted to convey our usual work attitude: precise without being rigid, professional while maintaining warmth.

We kept our brand’s original red tone—representing clear decisiveness—while increasing its brightness and saturation, making our brand more visible and memorable. Meanwhile, large areas of dark brown give us space to express stability and rationality, while gentle pink brings human texture to the brand. At this point, warm light gray and white serve well as mediators between the three striking main colors, harmonizing the overall tone.

Soon, we also developed a dynamic logo (Logo Motion). Through animation, we enhanced the vitality and dimensionality of our brand image. Some brands might consider dynamic logos a secondary need, but for the new generation increasingly accustomed to video content, a brand’s “motion design” has become an important opportunity to seize.

The Reality Test of Usability

After completing our Corporate Identity System (CIS), when moving into communication system design, we focused on one crucial thing: it must be “usable.” Not just looking good in our own applications (that’s essential), but functioning effectively across various communication contexts. From websites to presentations, from social media to print materials, every touchpoint must convey clear, consistent brand concepts while maintaining sufficient flexibility.

This actually reflects our basic requirement for brand work: all strategic and design decisions must withstand the test of real communication contexts.

Brand Fluidity in the Digital Age

In this rapidly changing era, solid brand thinking can no longer keep up with the liquidity of modern life. We often educate clients that truly lasting brand influence comes from consistent persistence: letting your brand identity maintain clear, stable messaging and imagery across various contexts. However, consistency needn’t become a creative limitation—it should be constantly refreshed within existing frameworks to build long-term trust, clarity, and intention.

Brand systems must have stable DNA while flowing with the changing landscape.

Brand Touchpoint Application Design

◼︎ Website Overhaul | From Display to Dialogue

Websites are often the first touchpoint for dialogue with potential clients. After the visual refresh, Geber’s official website underwent a complete makeover. We developed our brand identity through UX and UI interaction thinking while repositioning the website’s functional role.

The new website emphasizes our thinking processes and working methods more, allowing visitors to understand our service value more directly.

◼︎ Social Applications | Engaging Different Communities with the Same Heart

From Instagram stories to LinkedIn professional posts, from client presentations to holiday campaigns, every touchpoint tests brand adaptability. Our symbol system shows different “expressions” across platforms, but the core spirit remains consistent.

For Instagram and Threads, we often speak with a more lively tone on these Meta platforms, while professional knowledge output becomes the main theme in our LinkedIn management.

◼︎ Presentation Proposals | Clarifying Information Hierarchy

The biggest change happened during client presentations. We completely updated our presentation templates, including Sales Kits, marketing annual and monthly report templates, strategy reports, and workshop presentation templates, ensuring font usage complies with brand guidelines while making visual hierarchy clearer.

This adjustment received positive feedback from some existing clients. Not only did presentations become “better looking” and “more youthful,” but they also began noticing our attention to information organization and visual guidance. Information design has always been one of our work focuses. Through clearer corporate template design, team members can more easily present various tiered information to clients across projects, establishing awareness of primary and secondary importance among multiple tasks.。

Brand’s Liquid Modernity

Today, “Grow Beyond Brands” is the spirit we practice daily. This rebranding made us rethink the boundaries of brand work. We don’t just shape brand appearance—we focus more on how it moves, adapts, and builds relevance over time.

While Red Dot Award recognition is certainly gratifying, the real sense of achievement comes from seeing this system work in daily operations and watching clients begin thinking about brand problems using our language. We believe brand management and building should possess the adaptive intelligence to navigate changing times—knowing what your core is while knowing how to find the most suitable posture in change.

Every brand needs to look in the mirror regularly and take a proper refresh. Often in this process, you’ll better understand the direction forward and the style and appearance that suits your brand best.

If you’re curious about how brand consultants work and want to find an opportunity to properly examine your enterprise and brand, we’d love to chat over coffee.