Welcome to the new Klook! How's our new look? We launched our brand refresh on the 1st of March with whole new visuals, new colors, but most importantly, a renewed brand purpose. And if you’ve browsed through our careers website and our platform, you might realize just how big those changes are.
So why did we change our look as part of this rebrand? We sat down with Xinting Zheng and Michelle Lam from the Global Creative team to get into the process and understand more about our rebrand from a creative perspective.
The rebrand - two years in the making!
While we only uncovered our new brand this month, the process itself actually started two years ago. Rebranding can be a long and gradual process, but it was even more complex thanks to the pandemic.
"I think it was in the plans since 2019, but when the process started, Covid happened," said Michelle. "But yeah, the process was really long because we need to test our concept and then retest it again, to make sure that all the elements work with all the different needs."
Our team worked together with a branding agency to create and refine all the creative concepts of the rebrand, based on the brand positioning that the agency proposed. The creative team had to translate the new brand purpose into a visual concept that still holds our identity, while making sure it could be adapted to all the company needs.
Our app got a new look!
"I would say our new art direction was a co-create kind of style because Superunion (our brand agency partner) actually proposed a lot of different styles that would suit the new direction, which is JOY. From what they proposed, we tried to see what we could adapt from there and to expand into what we think would work," said Michelle.
"We have our own illustrations from a few years ago and those have been Klook's identity. So I think from there, our team tried to elevate from the existing illustrations in terms of styles and elements. Because the most important thing is to make sure the illustration is more dynamic and translates into more joy to the audience."
And there's also the challenge of working remotely during the whole process of rebranding. Our Global Creative team, with members based in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia, needed to come up with all the concepts while coordinating remotely. They also had to work together with designers from all the local teams at Klook, from China to ANZ.
"We always encourage communication across the team, just to make sure that nothing gets lost in translation. And then for the local aspect of things, we set up a framework to make sure that this is something that we do to set ourselves up for success. We have a monthly catch-up with the local designers to provide them updates on where we are and what are some of the things they can start working on," explains Xinting.
"At the same time, it is definitely a collaborative effort. Even in the conceptualization stage of our rebranding, we do a lot of tests. These tests also include local designers to make sure that these designs don't only function from a global perspective, but also on a domestic level. Like the local nuances, or even the kind of copy they have for the local markets."
Dare to make a (big) change
With changes on all fronts of our visual style – logo, color palette, illustration – one might wonder why Klook is so bold to make such massive changes. Was there any concern about the impact of these changes on our brand identity?
"To be fair, right from the start, people might think, 'What’s this? Is this a new company or a new brand?' But, that is a good thing to have because people will take note and see what’s going on. They’ll be curious to know whatever this new logo or branding is about," says Xinting.
"I also think that it's good to experiment. To know how people take to the changes and how they will react, whether it's good or bad. As long as people respond to the change, I think it's a good thing because they actually recognize and know that Klook exists," added Michelle.
There's also a feeling that the changes themselves are not a complete overhaul of what we've been doing in the past 7 years. According to Xinting, they are essentially just building on what Klook already has and what they used to do before. The difference is that Klook is trying to be more human-centric and dynamic.
For example, as Michelle stated above, we already had our illustration style for a long time. But now it's leveled up to be even more dynamic and joyful. We also use purple and cyan to complement our iconic orange.
Look how the new style is incorporated into Klook website. Isn't it more joyful?
But the biggest change of all is the logo. People might have been used to seeing a Klook orange text logo that has been around for more than 5 years. Now, we have a "Joysplash".
"The process (to create the logo) is very interesting. We had to express joy visually in the logo, right? So what we did was pulling keywords and sketches that we think relate to joy and what brings us joy. One of the concepts was confetti-like fireworks and splashes, because people always have confetti when they have parties or celebrations. After that, the team spent time on different sketches of how to represent fireworks and confetti," explained Michelle.
"Another thing we wanted to explore is a negative space. It's not easy to create it because if it doesn't make sense, it wouldn't work. So we tried to incorporate the confetti and negative space into this new logo because we wanted that kind of surprise for the audience. Because at first glance, you wouldn't really recognize the K within the confetti shape."
Wait, there's a letter K in the joysplash?! Try and look closely.
It's only the beginning
Was the launch the final step of Klook's brand refresh process? No, not at all. Apart from the collaterals and templates that still need to be updated, Xinting believes that what we are seeing now is just the beginning.
"I guess for myself, the vision is really that whatever we are doing now is just 1.0," she says. "Right now, there's a link back to our original brand. But I think we’ll see a transition into even more vibrancy or even more dynamic in the future."
Nonetheless, Michelle and Xinting are very excited that their hard work can finally be shown off to the whole world.
"I think as a creative myself, the most important thing is to see it live and to make sure we have great feedback and hopefully everyone enjoys it. I think that's the ultimate goal that all the creators want to see, right?" concluded Michelle.
"We’re definitely excited, given that we worked on this for more than two years," added Xinting. "Hopefully, this rebrand can touch different lives in different ways. It's definitely an interesting time to be in Klook!"
Interested to join our Global Creative team?
We're looking for a Creative Program, Associate Manager!
Posted by Klook Careers. Interview by Rezky Agustyananto & Jessica Zapata
- Behind the Scenes
- Brand Refresh
- Creative Team
- Your World of Joy
