Your brand evolves as you build your business. However, instinct and improvisation only take you so far.

Riipen had reached that breaking point.

Their mission as an edtech platform connecting educators and employers to help end underemployment for college and university students was clear. But they didn't have the basic foundations and design systems to capture the essence of their brand, ensure consistency, streamline production and, most of all, engage audiences.

Sound familiar? Creative Account Lead Carolina Peixoto and Associate Creative Director Stephanie Hunter were no strangers to these types of brand challenges either. Their solution started with building a strong strategic base.

Find out how they approached Riipen's rebrand and created an outstandingly distinct, modern and extendable identity—and tackle your next rebranding project with the strategic insights you need to succeed, too.

In this article

• The Brief: Modernizing a Brand
• Beyond the Brief: A Lesson in Rebranding Strategy
• 5 Rebranding Project Takeaways

The Brief: Modernizing a Brand

"We always 100% recommend starting with a good strategic base. Having a really solid strategy as well as a golden thread idea is what informs every decision you make."

— Stephanie Hunter, Associate Creative Director, DolFinContent

Riipen wanted to refresh its brand—making it more human, aspirational and modern.

As an edtech leader, Riipen had a solid sense of its core values. Where they needed the most help was capturing this knowledge and translating it into an easily communicated, standout brand.

The most crucial aspect of delivering on this rebranding project—a strong focus on strategy.

Beyond the Brief: A Lesson in Rebranding Strategy

"People don’t sign up to Riipen as a platform, they sign up for the purpose."

— Stephanie Hunter, Associate Creative Director, DolFinContent

More than a logo or signature colors, resonant brands evoke strong emotional responses. Identifying elements that spark interest takes a lot of strategic groundwork.

Skipping straight to visual design without understanding:

• What’s working
• What isn’t
• What’s missing

...is a recipe for more work and less clarity.

How do you uncover strategic insights?

"The workshop process works really well for the strategic components of a rebrand. At the end of the day, no one knows their brand better than the business and its stakeholders."

— Stephanie Hunter

Peixoto and Hunter held deep-dive workshops with Riipen to extract their strategic thread—the golden idea tying all brand elements together.

"Immersing ourselves and doing a super-thorough deep dive is where we mine the gold that becomes our strategic thread."

— Carolina Peixoto, Creative Account Lead, DolFinContent

In these sessions, two brand archetypes stood out:

• 65% Sage — pursuing knowledge
• 35% Magician — believing anything can happen

From Strategy to Concepts

This blend inspired both design thinking and messaging. Peixoto and Hunter presented two creative directions: "Riipen means work-ready" and "It starts with an i."

The winning concept?

"It starts with an i."

This identity visually captured Riipen's human-centered mission through the interaction of the two "i" characters. It became both a literal and symbolic cornerstone of their design system.

"It encapsulated what Riipen stands for and hopes to inspire in others."

— Stephanie Hunter

Putting All the Pieces Together

"We see a lot more going back to the drawing board or a lot of feedback when we miss that super vital step of setting the strategic foundation."

— Stephanie Hunter

DolFinContent developed full brand guidelines—covering voice, tone, design usage and brand behavior—to help Riipen scale with creative consistency.

5 Rebranding Project Takeaways

1. Start with strategy. Workshop your brand, ask questions, dig deep.
2. Find your big ideas. Your golden threads should guide every decision.
3. Include all stakeholders early. This alignment pays off in fewer revisions.
4. Build clear brand guidelines. Flexible, yet specific guardrails are essential.
5. Don’t go it alone. Collaboration unlocks faster, more effective results.

When brands get strategic, they get powerful. Want to partner with experts like Peixoto and Hunter to elevate your brand?

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