The story behind EL Passion’s refreshed branding. Told by its architect & EL Passion's Head of Design, Tom Koszyk.
Patrycja Paterska: What were the reasons behind the branding’s refresh?
Tom Koszyk: Yep, at first we have to state that it wasn’t a full redesign. It’s not like we’ve twisted everything around and are a completely different company now. The reasons behind this refresh were very pragmatic and business-focused. Back in 2020, we reestablished our target group industries, and the new branding corresponds more with our organizational focus on digital health and digital entertainment solutions.
The second reason is that the old EL Passion colors were limiting for our designers. There were no complementary colors, and the primary ones began to look old and outdated. Keeping the designs fresh with the old branding - that was a real struggle both business- and design-wise.
With the refreshed one, we enhanced our main palette with additional colors: yellow, navy, purple, so we can operate with our visual identity regardless of the setting. To put it simply, we finally have more possibilities to show off our design skills, and can have some fun while we’re at it.
Did a full redesign ever cross your mind during the process?
Maybe it’s interesting to mention that we did go through the full-chaos phase. We experimented a lot, and at one point even thought to ourselves “why green? Why not red?”. It’s the color you instantly associate with passion, right? But we came back to green quite quickly. Red is not our color, you know?
At this point, it’s good to mention the branding refresh was done completely internally.
Yes, we did it internally, but there are a couple of reasons for it. First of all, we have a talented and amazing design team able to deliver usable and stunning designs. Second of all, our branding, along with our website, can be the first thing our clients see, so we should show off what we can actually do. It seemed fitting and natural to do it internally.
The branding change is very much connected to the launch of our new website. Was this one of those “it’s now or never” moments?
Yeah, kind of. The website redesign and our brand’s refresh were somewhat interconnected. We started designing our new website before the pandemic, but the process was stopped for a couple of months. Since then, EL Passion has changed as a company, and we sat down around the project once again to see what could be improved to fit our rebuilt identity.
The earlier process of designing the website was our testing ground - we realized what’s missing, and what we actually need to succeed. There were a couple of crucial website elements not sitting right with the old branding; some elements weren't distinct enough or memorable enough, something was off. This is how we realized it’s time for a branding refresh.
And we have arrived, at last. Are you happy?
Yes. It’s a great feeling, considering how much effort was put into it. But also, when you’re designing something, especially for yourself or, like in this case, for a company that’s close to your heart, you always have this urge to make it better, and better, and better. With experience, you start to realize that “better” does not really exist. By that I mean that you get to the point when “better” does not significantly influence your business results, so you kind of learn when to stop and admire what you’ve done. For now, you know? Let’s stay agile.
Finishing the new EL Passion website would not be possible without some of the people involved in the project from the start. Special thanks to Piotr Kmita, Paweł Pariaszewski & Michał Mazur for their hard work.
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