By Mehdi HassanShould you rebrand and redesign your website at the same time?
You should plan the rebrand and the website redesign together, but run them in sequence: brand decisions first, website design second, launch together. Doing both at once without an order is how teams end up redesigning pages because the logo, color or message changed in week three.
The website is where most people will meet the new brand, so the two projects can't be separated for long. What matters is that the website team starts from settled brand decisions rather than guesses. This article covers the order of work, what the website needs from the brand, and how to keep SEO intact. For the wider redesign process, see our website redesign guide.
What order should brand and website work happen in?
Brand and website work should follow a clear order where each step locks a decision the next one depends on. Positioning comes first because it shapes both the words and the visual direction.
Positioning and message
Who you're for, the problem you solve, why you over the alternatives, and the one-line description you'll use everywhere.
Name and verbal identity
Confirm the name, tagline and tone of voice. A name change also affects the domain and email.
Core visual identity
Logo, type, color and the basic graphic language, tested on real screens, not only on a moodboard.
Website explorations
Apply the identity to a few key pages, such as the homepage and pricing, to prove it works in a real layout.
Website copy and design
Write and design the full sitemap from the approved identity and message.
Build, QA and launch
Build the site, test it with the redirect map and tracking, and launch the brand and site together.
Steps 3 and 4 overlap on purpose. Seeing the identity on a real homepage often changes a decision about type size or color contrast, and it's far cheaper to change it then than after twelve pages are designed.
What does a website redesign after a rebrand need from the brand work?
A website redesign after a rebrand needs brand outputs that a designer and developer can use directly, not only a logo file and a mood. Ask for these before the website design starts.
Brand output | How the website uses it |
|---|---|
Positioning statement and key messages | Homepage hero, product page structure, meta descriptions |
Tone of voice | Every headline, button and error message |
Logo in web formats | Navigation, favicon, social sharing images |
Type families and scale | Headings, body text, line lengths, mobile sizes |
Color palette with contrast checks | Buttons, links, backgrounds, accessible text colors |
Graphic language | Illustrations, icons, section backgrounds, motion style |
Example layouts | Starting point for website components and templates |
The most common gap is contrast. A palette chosen for print or social posts often fails accessibility checks as text on screen, so test the colors as text and buttons during the brand work, not after.
How does a $3,000 brand sprint feed the website build?
A brand sprint feeds the website build by producing the brand decisions and website explorations in one fixed-scope project, so the build starts from approved designs instead of a blank page. Ours is set up for exactly that handoff, with the same team carrying on into the site.
- Designify brand and design sprint, fixed price
- $3,000
- Website or product explorations included in the sprint
- 10
- Website package for up to 6 pages, +$500 per extra page
- $8,000
The sprint covers a brand refresh or redesign plus 10 website or product explorations, delivered as Figma files. It's design only, which is the point: you get the identity and see it on real pages before committing to a build. When you're ready, the website package turns those explorations into a Next.js site with a CMS, written, designed and built by the same team. Our guide to turning a brand sprint into a website covers that step in detail.
When should you run the rebrand and redesign together, and when should you split them?
Run them as one sequenced project when the website is your main sales channel and the old site would clash with the new brand. Split them when the rebrand is still uncertain or the site's real problems are technical.
Pros
- One launch moment for the new brand and site
- The brand is tested on real pages early
- No period where the site contradicts the brand
- One team can carry decisions from brand to build
Cons
- A bigger single commitment of budget and attention
- Delays in brand approval push the website date
- Higher launch risk if the domain or name also changes
- Less useful if the site's problems are platform or CMS issues
What should you keep from the old site during a rebrand?
Keep the search value of the old site even when everything visible changes: the URLs that rank, the content that answers searchers' questions, and the links pointing at them. A rebrand changes how you look and sound, not what people search for.
- URLs that rank or have backlinks, unchanged where possible, or redirected one to one. Our guide to building a redirect map shows how.
- Content depth on ranking pages, rewritten in the new voice but still answering the same questions.
- Old brand name references, kept in an about page or FAQ for a while so people searching the old name still find you.
- Tracking continuity, so the post-launch comparison is fair.
If the name and domain change too
A name change often brings a new domain. That turns the redesign into a domain migration, which adds steps: redirecting every old URL to its new-domain match, verifying the new domain in Search Console, using the change of address tool, updating email and third-party profiles, and keeping the old domain renewed and redirecting for the long term.
It's worth treating this as its own workstream with its own owner. Migration work is scoped on the intro call, and we include redirects and SEO checks in any migration we take on.
How do you launch a rebrand and a new website together?
Launch a rebrand and a new website together by putting the site live a few days before the public announcement, checking it, then announcing. That gives you a quiet window to fix redirects, tracking and small bugs before the most attention arrives.
Prepare the rest of the brand surfaces for the same day: social profiles, email signatures, product login screens, sales decks and documentation. Our guide to what to ship on rebrand day has the full list, and our article on what happens after your website launches covers the first 90 days.
