Expanding the Brand: RAVE Sports' Transformation from Logo to Full Brand Suite
When designing a brand refresh, a guiding principle I try to keep in mind is to honor where the brand has been, and honor where they are going.
This principle, without a doubt, perfectly describes RAVE Sports' brand refresh that I had the absolute honor and privilege of designing.
If “RAVE Sports” doesn’t ring a bell, their water trampolines might look familiar. RAVE is the market leader for water recreation, with their blue and yellow trampolines being the best-known product. You’ve probably seen their products out on the lake or at a summer camp!
Photo courtesy of RAVE Sports
The marketing team at RAVE reached out to me with interest in a brand refresh for the next stage of their business growth. They liked their current logo, but if felt a little dated and they didn't have a full visual brand identity. There was no set color palette, no defined logo suite, and a lack of brand guidelines, which left their customer touchpoints and products feeling super disjointed when it came to visual brand consistency.
OLD LOGOS:
RAVE experienced a lot of growth over recent years and was continuing to expand their product line. It became evident that they needed more consistency and appeal across the board to successfully scale the brand. To quote their inquiry…
“We need one logo, one brand, one voice across all our markets.”
I know RAVE needed not only a brand refresh but a brand expansion that could allow its marketing team and product design team to create a cohesive branding experience that really sold the lake lifestyle of water recreation, not just a recreation product.
After all, that’s what good branding does, right? It speaks further than the product or service and resonates with its ideal audience through values, lifestyle, and mission!
GETTING STARTED
Brand Discovery Phase
To get the project rolling, the team at RAVE completed their Branding Workbook, the first step in the brand discovery process.
In this workbook and during our kickoff call, I guided them in gaining more clarity around what their brand would be built off of by asking “business soul-searching” questions and leading them through some brand strategy exercises.
From there, I assembled a Brand Discovery document that summarized everything we discussed within a Creative Brief, an outline of RAVE’s values, a brand vision statement and a proposed visual direction for their brand.
Brand Vision statement
RAVE Sports is a designer, manufacturer and provider of water recreation products that promote escaping the daily grind and connecting with others and nature while creating fun and lasting memories.
The Design Phase
After the brand discovery phase, I wanted to move forward with their two brand design concepts a little differently than most of my projects. With my philosophy of “honoring where you’ve been and honoring where you’re going,” in mind, I decided to direct one concept as a brand refresh, while the second concept presented a more rebrand direction.
CONCEPT #1
The first concept used the original brand logo lettering as a baseline, but with new life breathed into it, with new colors, new logo marks, new brand patterns, and an expanded logo suite.
The original logo font was bold and sporty, so I knew keeping it the same was a good nod at the brand’s original roots. It also had an innovative vibe to it that sparked lots of conversations among the marketing and product design team about where they see RAVE moving in the future, just going to show that branding goes beyond the visuals.
Branding provokes deeper questions that really help brands like RAVE decide what they want to communicate visually as a brand.
CONCEPT #2
The second brand concept went a slightly different direction. This concept had more of a relaxed look, playing into their signature trampoline shape, water, and sunset themes of the lake lifestyle.
This brand concept felt a lot more relaxed, as opposed to the edgy and innovative vibe in the first brand concept. At the end of the concept process, we ended up moving forward with the first concept. The team at RAVE loved the idea of keeping their bold logo lettering as their recognizable logo mark would communicate the innovation and sporty vibe better than the second concept.
Check out the concepts:
ORIGINAL CONCEPT #1
ORIGINAL CONCEPT #2
After much discussion and evaluating the options…the RAVE team decided to move forward in the direction of the first concept.
While the design went through some revisions — primarily with the style and placement of the wave symbol and an impactful adjustment to one of their colors — the first concept felt so fitting to honor where RAVE has been and where they saw their company moving to in the future.
The Final Design
The final design kept the original logo lettering with the "A" and "V" overlapping for a fresh new look. We also brought in a gentler (yet bolder) wave symbol that could be incorporated into the full logo typography or stand alongside the R in the brand mark as a recognizable icon.
RAVE’s new wave motif not only reflects the fresh water lifestyle they wanted to convey — it also gave them a recognizable icon that could give them the brand recognition and consistency they were looking for.
The medium blue (far left) was adjusted to resemble more of a freshwater blue, as opposed to a saltwater “seafoam” color. This change tied their whole brand personality and messaging together, and further differentiated RAVE from some of their competitors.
We included a classic circular submark that highlights MAKE WAVES, their new tagline that was formed during our process.
And we incorporated two signature brand patterns, one featuring their brand mark and one illustrative option that features their products. These elements not only provided consistency for touch points like print materials, packaging, or website banners, but also gave a little more playfulness to the previously sport-heavy brand image.
Considering Product Placement
A key deciding factor in this brand refresh was product placement. The direction we chose was based on the original logo so the brand wouldn’t seem unfamiliar to their loyal customers and partners, but still fresh and new so that the brand could take strides in its next stage of business growth. While this brand concept leaned more on the edgy side, RAVE's new cohesive brand styling created a new "lifestyle feel" for the brand that wasn’t there previously.
RAVE has a wonderful product design team that will be dreaming up new designs with their refreshed logo and branding! Below are a few mock-ups I put together during our process, so they could envision how everything would look on their products.
Photos courtesy of RAVE Sports
Brand Guidelines
A critical piece of RAVE's brand refresh was the brand guidelines.
Brand guidelines essentially act as a style guide that the marketing and product design team can use to ensure they honor the integrity of their visual identity as they implement it across all customer touch points.
Having these guidelines in place ensures the consistency the team was looking for when they first came to me.
Implement + Grow
I also had the opportunity to help RAVE in the implementation of their new brand guidelines, so they could roll out their new brand more quickly and efficiently… and start building brand recognition with their new look!
First, I designed a homepage web design layout for RAVE’s web developer, so they can easily refresh their website with their new logos, colors, font system and design elements.
Look at the transformation below!
On the new homepage design, the layout and copy stayed the same, with RAVE’s new colors, font system, logos, and styling. This side-by-side comparison really highlights the warmth and friendliness of RAVE’s newly expanded and refreshed brand.
Their new visual identity has truly transitioned them from being purely a sporty brand to a lifestyle brand that resonates with their audience. RAVE is about so much more than selling water trampolines…. and now their visual brand reflects that!
BEFORE (old homepage)
AFTER (new homepage)
I also designed a set of eye-catching and versatile social media graphic templates with RAVE’s new visual brand, so they could start marketing themselves on social media with ease. And finally, I designed an initial layout concept for their seasonal catalog that’s designed in-house, so they could hit the ground running and publish their next issue fully rebranded!
Check out this video from RAVE
This really captures their refreshed messaging and how they’re now connecting with their customers.
Branding is a powerful thing!
RAVE’s brand refresh built upon and honored where they came from, while also setting them up for success as they set out to reach their company goals. This expansion of their brand allowed them to maintain their sporty image while leaning into a more lifestyle-centered mission, which allows them to expand their brand confidently to B2B and B2C customers alike.
Here’s what RAVE had to say about their branding experience:
“Before working with Allison, we were a bit like an awkward teenager going through a growth spurt. We didn't know where we fit in, where to focus, or what we wanted to look like. Now, we are grown up!
Our new brand style has elevated our brand as a whole, so that we are in a stronger position in the marketplace. We are taking market share from our competitors and growing our business, and our new visual brand with consistent logo placements, colors, fonts, and graphic direction has played a large role in that growth.
Allison doesn't take shortcuts in her process. This forced us to work through some difficult decisions and challenged us to really think hard about who we are as a business and what we wanted to achieve. In the end, the results are worth it.”
Tana Deboer
Marketing Director, RAVE Sports
Ready to expand + refresh your brand?
My holistic and collaborative branding process is designed for mission-driven businesses who want to create a timeless visual brand that conveys your story, shines a light on who you are and meaningfully connects with your community.
If you’re feeling a tug, it may be time… I’d love to chat more about how we can reach your branding and marketing goals!
