Introduction
MeetApp—a mobile app company focused on enriching event experiences—was expanding their marketing efforts in preparation for serious growth and needed many new assets to support multiple initiatives. Although I handled the visual design of these individual projects for them, this case study will cover my approach to rebranding the company.
The Company
Started by a group of colleagues-turned-friends, MeetApp created a mobile application to serve as an event-management and experience tool. Its purpose was to increase attendee engagement through interaction and socialization features, while also offering management tools for hosts.
MeetApp was an international company, so I’d be dealing with some time challenges as their marketing team was based in Stockholm, Sweden, while my main contact was based in Chicago.
Before: MeetApp’s previous website (2016)
The Challenges
MeetApp didn’t have a marketing designer on staff nor did they have an agency budget to push their brand to the next level. They needed a fresh take on how they messaged & presented themselves as a company which meant their challenges crossed a few areas:
- Their main brand color failed an ADA compliance check for contrast against white.
- Although they were an app company, they didn't have an icon that visually conveyed who they were as a company.
- They had a very bold, in-your-face logotype which although clear and simple, presented some legibility challenges.
- MeetApp’s website was optimized for information sharing and not for marketing.
The Hypothesis
Creating a more accessible & professional visual identity—and ultimately, a more lead-gen focused website—would increase MeetApp’s market presence and optimize their marketing efforts.
The Process
Early in our discovery process, I quickly learned that breaking down the problem into individual steps would help everyone focus on one area at a time, so we could keep moving forward without delays or confusion.
Also, dealing with an international team meant I had to prioritize working with them in a clear manner without “being in the room”, so-to-say. Unlike the quick-and-dirty approach I took with Ceralytics—where we prioritized speed-to-market by combining some of the traditional design steps—MeetApp and I followed a more agency-style, step-by-step approach.
- Create a new, modern-looking logo that was more legible & easier to read in multiple languages. It also needed to include a softer, more friendly logotype and a new icon that would visually convey who they were as a company while serving as an app icon.
- Complete a full color study exercise by creating color palettes for exploration & applying them to existing assets. This way, MeetApp could get a full in-context view of how their new palette would feel.
- Solidify MeetApp’s new brand personality by selecting a fresh typeface that works well on websites, apps, and advertising use cases.
- Redesign the MeetApp website with the brand’s new visual identity.
Step 1: A New Logo
I created a brand-new logo and icon to better represent MeetApp’s personality.
Abba? Okay, MeetApp—let’s try it!
Their marketing director was based in Sweden and had an affinity for the Europop group, Abba. Once we got through the first couple rounds of more friendly, modernized logo concepts, she expressed an interest in exploring ways we could incorporate some type of treatment similar to the band’s logo (“ABBA”, with the first B flipped horizontally) into the MeetApp icon.
Right on; challenge accepted, MeetApp! I’ll even do ’ya one better—how about we do both and still try to convey aspects of your product’s solution into the icon?
round three color study option A
round three color study option B
Step 2: A New Color Palette
Understanding color theory and how colors work together is extremely important when creating a new visual identity.
I completed a full color study exercise by creating color palettes for exploration & applying them to existing assets. This way, MeetApp could get a full in-context view of how their new palette would represent their brand. Even though it might seem like a lot of work, exploring how different colors work together right away helps accelerate the overall process by taking the guesswork out of the scenario. I like to include the principle of work smart to streamline processes when I can, so I often take advantage of free tools to help me get started with overall palettes, make sure the palettes I develop pass a quick accessibility check, and then quickly verify individual color contrast compliance as I work through final iterations.
If I happen to be developing a new palette that will be used for data visualizations, I like to run a color blindness check, too, so we can either tweak colors as-needed or define rules for use.
We completed 4 rounds of color study explorations which led us to our final result; a friendly primary teal color with 7 supporting colors.
Step 3: A New Brand Typeface & Guidelines for Color Use.
MeetApp needed a modern and friendly typeface that was easy to read across any device & at any (reasonable) size.
I always recommend fonts with large x-heights for digital use—especially for websites and apps—where you don’t have any control over a user’s personal device settings & preferences.
We explored three different typefaces and assessed their fit to the new logo and to the overall feel of their new brand colors. Each typeface was placed into a mockup so they could be fairly evaluated in a real-world use case—just like how we chose the new color palette.
Bringing it All Together to Launch a Fresh, New Brand!
Main A
Text
Accent
Accent
Accent
Accent
Accent
Accent
Step 4: Ship It!
Apply the new branding to the Meetapp website for a product-first (and conversion-focused) redesign.
MeetApp’s website redesign could easily fill a separate case study all on its own! In summary, MeetApp wanted to modernize the overall look & feel of their existing Wordpress site, and I also wanted to make sure their new branding was both functional and representative of the company’s personality.
This step concluded the company’s rebranding by serving three main purposes:
- Improve marketing conversion rates with more direct/less general CTAs and better overall communication of the MeetApp product.
- Improve organic SEO ranking to decrease their existing AdWords spend.
- Serve as a final “form-follows-function” check on the new assets; essentially, allowing us one last chance for refinement/tweaking of colors, logo placement, typography rules, & etc.
A product-first approach » because less is more.
I created a streamlined homepage with more direct and minimal language than what they had on the existing site. At first, it was a battle to get MeetApp to agree to less words “above the fold”, but eventually they came around and we secured a more simplified homepage.
A product-first approach » to give Google the correct signals.
This was the biggest content shift of the entire website project. The new site contained multiple “feature pages” in lieu of the single (and very, very long) list of features they currently had on a single page.
This allowed us to better communicate the product, utilize better CTAs right at the top of all pages, and above all, include H1 and title tags that told Google exactly what MeetApp needed to say.
A product-first approach » to improve conversion rates.
Creating individual feature-focused pages allowed us to embed testimonials and lead forms right into each page. This allowed MeetApp to continuously test and refine their marketing content in these areas to optimize conversions for specific features.
The Results
The immediate impact of their rebranding was positive for both brand recognition and marketing efforts. However, down the road, COVID brought on a series of challenges for an in-person event app. Due to their own innovative thinking, MeetApp survived the pandemic by capitalizing on the virtual features they had already begun implementing and rebranded yet again as a full-service event solution, Ventla, in 2022.
My Takeaway
Collaborating internationally can be a challenge, which is why in this scenario, I took a much more presentation based/detailed approach than a project for someone like Ceralytics, whom I could just pick up a phone and call at any time.
Overall, I’d call this project (rather, series of projects!) a success, simply due to the breadth of work that was included, overall client satisfaction, and the chance to truly refine my overall communication & presentation skills.
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