Toward the end of 2022, it became apparent that ClearCorrect’s brand identity no longer matched its offering. The company had invested so much, grown so much, and had so much more to offer customers, it simply outgrew its previous branding.
We determined that we needed to make a radical shift in the brand visuals to communicate the equally radical shift in our company’s capabilities and offerings.
More about my time at ClearCorrectIf you're a fan of context, you can learn more about ClearCorrect and my career there at the link above.
Toward the end of 2022, it became apparent that ClearCorrect’s brand identity no longer matched its offering. The company had invested so much, grown so much, and had so much more to offer customers, it simply outgrew its previous branding.
We determined that we needed to make a radical shift in the brand visuals to communicate the equally radical shift in our company’s capabilities and offerings.
To work more quickly, and to coincide with the branding project already underway with the parent company, Straumann Group, our team worked in step with Conran Design Group in the UK to establish the new brand's core traits in under four months. For the next six months following that, we brought in many more creative resources: A 3D artist to render our product precisely; a separate 3D agency to create dozens of educational animations; a digital agency to assist with semi-annual sales events; a general purpose agency to update forms; educational documents, and presentations; software teams and UI designers to update the look and feel of current platforms; and, of course, my two-person internal team to help lead projects and create assets that required more attention.
5x agencies, including the Conran branding team
1x Senior Designer (Ariel Elliott)
1x Video Editor (Richard Hirsch)
4x External individual Contributors
Creative briefs · Vendor management · Budget review · Staging & routing of work · Review & critique of assets · Messaging · Editing for individual assets · Final design of various assets · Copywriting · Video production, editing, voice over
Even before we committed to fully rebranding, we examined our Unique Selling Propositions and arranged them into brand messaging pillars. These were crucial to the process of writing our complete messaging, which could then be rolled out to the regions. I collaborated with the head of marketing, marketing director, and various product managers to create the messaging itself, and maintained a source of truth document, updating it each time we released new products or added features to existing ones.
In similar fashion to the 2019 brand, the 2023 branding turned every piece of the brand experience on its head, from color, to type, to graphic language and imagery.
The ClearCorrect logo became more calm and precise: the font weight decreased while tracking increased, and the smiley mark shrank to fit optically with the x-height of the characters while losing its additional color. This resulted in a more refined feel while also becoming easier to use.
We changed the brand colors to be primarily neutral to communicate a clinical, scientific feel. Careful use of our new aqua color helped keep things fresh and somewhat energetic, while the purple color was reserved for use in small doses, generally as a spot color for calls to action.
We wanted to maintain a feeling of lightness and clarity in as many places as possible, so we introduced a "glass element" as a container. This allowed us to keep key images large while still allowing room for typography, while also introducing a sense of depth to our compositions.
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To provide more distinction between us and other brands in the Straumann Group, we introduced Maven Pro for headings. This helped compliment our scientific and technical vibe.
All of our imagery was re-worked to be lighter, clearer, and cleaner than ever before. I worked with our 3D artist to develop brand new lighting and textures that struck a balance between invisible and visible.
To meet the needs of our sales forces in 60+ countries, we carefully selected our image world to be as diverse as possible, while remaining consistent in setting, lighting, and color balance.
In similar fashion to the 2019 brand, the 2023 branding turned every piece of the brand experience on its head, from color, to type, to graphic language and imagery.
The ClearCorrect logo became more calm and precise: the font weight decreased while tracking increased, and the smiley mark shrank to fit optically with the x-height of the characters while losing its additional color. This resulted in a more refined feel while also becoming easier to use.
We changed the brand colors to be primarily neutral to communicate a clinical, scientific feel. Careful use of our new aqua color helped keep things fresh and somewhat energetic, while the purple color was reserved a small spot color for calls to action.
We wanted to maintain a feeling of lightness and clarity in as many places as possible, so we introduced a "glass element" as a container. This allowed us to keep key images large while still allowing room for typography, while also introducing a sense of depth to our compositions.
To provide more distinction between us and other brands in the Straumann Group, we introduced Maven Pro for headings. This helped compliment our scientific and technical vibe.
All of our imagery was re-worked to be lighter, clearer, and cleaner than ever before. I worked with our 3D artist to develop brand new lighting and textures that struck a balance between invisible and visible.
To meet the needs of our sales forces in 60+ countries, we carefully selected our image world to be as diverse as possible, while remaining consistent in setting, lighting, and color balance.
In similar fashion to the 2019 brand, the 2023 branding turned every piece of the brand experience on its head, from color, to type, to graphic language and imagery.
The ClearCorrect logo became more calm and precise: the font weight decreased while tracking increased, and the smiley mark shrank to fit optically with the x-height of the characters while losing its additional color. This resulted in a more refined feel while also becoming easier to use.
We changed the brand colors to be primarily neutral to communicate a clinical, scientific feel. Careful use of our new aqua color helped keep things fresh and somewhat energetic, while the purple color was reserved a small spot color for calls to action.
We wanted to maintain a feeling of lightness and clarity in as many places as possible, so we introduced a "glass element" as a container. This allowed us to keep key images large while still allowing room for typography, while also introducing a sense of depth to our compositions.
To provide more distinction between us and other brands in the Straumann Group, we introduced Maven Pro for headings. This helped compliment our scientific and technical vibe.
All of our imagery was re-worked to be lighter, clearer, and cleaner than ever before. I worked with our 3D artist to develop brand new lighting and textures that struck a balance between invisible and visible.
To meet the needs of our sales forces in 60+ countries, we carefully selected our image world to be as diverse as possible, while remaining consistent in setting, lighting, and color balance.
After weeks of discussion around what unique and apparent features ClearCorrect could boast, we determined that what resonated most was the idea of "partnership" with our customers. Dentists and Orthodontists are clinicians who must act as business owners, and for many, that fact is either uninteresting, daunting, or both. Across the board each clinician requires competence, quality, and cooperation—a partnership they can rely on to give them more than great products, but strong support as well. ClearCorrect already had a long history of excellent, attentive service; combining with Straumann's investment into a large in-person sales force, we determined that ClearCorrect could offer a partnership that could all but ensure our customers' success.
For printed materials, the new branding functioned on a totally different design system from the previous brand: grids became less complex, layouts more simplified and spacious, with more full-bleed images used. This helped reinforce the brand as light, optimistic, and science-oriented.
In the first year of the new brand's launch, I oversaw and contributed in various ways to the production of:
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Having learned a lot from the 2019 brand rollout, we resolved to do several things very differently in this one. First, we developed a broader array of initial materials and distributed them as a set, all at once. Second, our brand guide moved from a digital PDF to a website featuring downloadable brand elements. Finally, we conducted extensive brand training with our regional sales and marketing teams so that they could understand not only how the brand worked, but also why ClearCorrect needed to rebrand at this point in time.
From the CEO on down, all stakeholders were thrilled with the launch of this brand. Alongside the new branding from the parent company, confidence in the science and prestige of our brand was at an all-time high.
