Ruby Rebranding: Art of Polishing Age-Old Traditions!
Polishing century-old successful brand values to be in possession of a fresh and refined visual identity for ones' clients and competitors is a must-do these days. "The Ruby Mills Ltd" aka "Ruby", rebranded in collaboration with Elephant Design, is a perfect example to follow.
Challenge
Ruby Mills has incorporated a century ago in the year of 1917 as a composite textile mill and still continues to grow its operations in manufacturing of cotton and blended fabrics.
With a track record of innovation and progressive business practices, Ruby Mills wanted to enter the next century with a clear brand positioning, well-defined values and a refreshed visual identity.
Solution
Ruby Mills teamed with Elephant, one of India's leading brand strategy and design firms to showcase its transformation with a new brand identity system.
Rebranding a legacy that has been a significant part of India's journey from fighting for #Swadeshi to proudly #MakeInIndia for over a century was a huge responsibility. Elephant was tasked with realigning the brand for today's progressive aspirations while keeping the heritage & dignity intact.
Elephant wanted to develop the existing visual equity of Ruby in a contemporary manner, keeping its visual language flexible enough for online & offline media and product representation.
Inputs from stakeholders, top management and business associates led the Elephant team to reiterate & articulate values for the company. Inspiration was drawn from the brand's core values of innovation, sustainability, ethical & responsible manufacturing and excellence in quality to build an ownable palette of icons for various communication needs.
Each icon was created with the same visual grammar and treatment as the logo symbol created for the brand. This was done in order to convey innovation and expertise of the brand and make it easier to adapt sub-brands and other business verticals.
The brand name connoted preciousness and worked as a solid foundation to work with. Using the structure of a Ruby, a dynamic and vibrant logo rooted in the brand's tradition, fused with a contemporary flair was designed.
The red heart in the logo denotes passion, one of the brand's core principles. An accent colour was added to show the brand's evolving and multifaceted nature.
The new brandmark consists only the name 'Ruby', doing away with the entire company name "The Ruby Mills Ltd" in the previous visual identity. The new typeface for the logo was made in uppercase, with an amalgamation of smooth and sharp edges.
Result
The variation of colours in the logo opened up a colour palette for designing the visual language. A library of graphics and visuals was created, entirely customizable with the brand's requirements. This made Ruby adaptable and gave them the flexibility to foray into newer areas and ventures in the future.
The new logo and visual language were launched in a trade show, where it received a phenomenal response from existing trade associates as well as potential ones. The new identity was found completely aligned to the Ruby legacy and its progressive future. The Ruby team is in the process of implementing the newly designed language throughout their portfolio and intends to complete it in 2018.
Client: Ruby Miils
Design Studio: Elephant Design
Solution: Rebranding, Visual-Identity Design
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