Refresh vs ReDesign: Know the Difference

You can waste time and money by not knowing what you’re asking for – a redesign or a design refresh.

Understanding the difference is crucial when it comes to your creative work. Often the terms are used interchangeably by clients which can cause confusion – and even disappointment – when delivering a project. Let’s see if we can sort it out.

Refresh

Think of this as refinement. A polish, if you will. You’re leaving the base as is and working within the structure of the existing piece. More of a face lift than a new face. 😊 We will work with the brand colors, but clean up spacing, imagery, font treatments or even adding a new secondary color to the existing pallet. With a refresh you accomplish a strengthening of the brand that has maybe gotten a little loose or messy over time.

Redesign

This is your new face. 😁 You get the full treatment from navigation and functionality changes to colors, potential logo and overall style. Your brand identity is reviewed from messaging and tone to brand guide and execution in some cases. Here we’re looking to influence the user experience or audience engagement with the brand, not just update the aesthetics. With a redesign you’re reimaging and streamlining experiences from the user and your internal team to create a new presentation of the brand.

Why it matters?
Your scope, investment and deliverables vary with each. To get what you’re expecting, you need to understand what you’re asking for. To understand what you’re asking for, you need to understand the reasons for the change. We can help with that too. What is it that you’re looking to solve? What is it that you want to see or experience at the end of the project?