It’s giving….REBRAND
Carpoolers hear it all first! If you’ve been tuning into our podcast, you know we’ve been dropping hints about a new logo for quite some time. Initially, our plan was to unveil our new branding suite together with a revamped website. However, with the 2024 Car Mom Auto Show quickly approaching and some exciting personal news that we’re BOTH expecting babies in September, we had to adjust our timeline—opting to delay the website update.
Just weeks before the Auto Show, with our new logo, colors, icons, and patterns ready to go, we decided to jump right in and launch phase 1 of our rebrand just before The Auto Show — and we are SO glad we did! We are thrilled with the outcome and, more importantly, so grateful for all your positive feedback and love for the new look of The Car Mom. It truly makes this reveal even more special that you love it as much as we do!
Today on the blog, I’m excited to pull back the curtain and give you a sneak peek into the rebranding process—sharing the behind-the-scenes details of how everything unfolded. Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm; it means the world to us!
Why did you need a new logo?
In 2020, while on a work break at the dealership, I created the original Car Mom logo in just a few minutes using Canva. Initially, my aim was modest—just to sell cars to a few local moms. Little did I know that The Car Mom would snowball into what it is today, helping thousands of families find their ideal car.
While the OG logo has been so good to us - we’ve been ready for something different. As I’ve grown more confident in my voice and my place in auto industry, I wanted a logo that could hang with car manufacturers without sticking out too much or looking too youthful.
We also started brainstorming BIG plans for a new website, and it ultimately didn’t make sense to redo a website without first tackling the rebrand we knew we needed.
Did you create the new brand and logo?
This time, we opted to bring in the professionals! We worked with Creme Brands to help conceptualize and create our new branding suite. This was a large undertaking and we are very happy with the end result.
What’s the difference between the two logos?
The two logos are quite distinct from each other. I really appreciate the mature look of our new logo, which cleverly incorporates a seatbelt to represent motherhood at every stage, not just infancy and toddlerhood.
It was important that The Car Mom logo remains approachable and relatable, so we also made sure it didn't come across as too formal or rigid.
Tell us more about the process!
The experience of creating our new logo was truly transformative. It wasn’t just about purchasing a design; we completed an extensive branding exercise with Creme Brands to clarify our mission and define our brand’s voice. Once they understood our goals and what we stand for, they crafted a few different variations, which eventually culminated in our new logo.
We made tweaks to the seat belt direction (we changed the direction entirely), but other than that, they nailed it on the first round!
Truthfully, it was very emotional to go through our brand story and pull out the most impactful parts to see how they would translate into this logo. We talked for HOURS daydreaming and big picture planning to land on these concepts. Let’s just say - (happy) tears were shed!
We didn’t just create a new logo - we updated our fonts, colors and created icons that we can use in throughout our media and content.
How did you come up with the seat belt concept?
That was actually Creme Brands' idea, and it was brilliant! They presented the seat belt concept, and it resonated immediately. It symbolizes safety and the journey of motherhood—core elements of The Car Mom’s mission. After several iterations, we landed on a design that truly spoke to us.
What about Car Mom Blue?!
You’ll see blue all over our branding — just with a different shade! We reviewed several blue colors and picked the one that felt aligned with our new logo. Car Mom Blue isn’t going anywhere!
We were really drawn to this color palette. It’s perfectly elevated like a luxury mom car! The beiges are giving high-end car interior intentionally. It’s all in the details, people!
Logos, icons & prints!
We really went all out and worked with Creme Brands to create an entire suite of assets that we are already using and LOVING. These will come into play more in our merch, videos, website redesign, and weekly emails.
What about the website?
It’s COMING! Lizz and I need to have our baby girls and then as soon as we’re back, we’ll be diving into the website redesign. Our goal is to improve content organization and user experience substantially. Everything is underway, and I promise it’s going to be worth the wait.
If you see the previous logo or colors around the website, we’re fixing them ASAP!
What we learned…
Not only did we learn so much about branding and design in general, we gained so much invaluable clarity about The Car Mom identity and how we are steering this ship. It feels so refreshing to give the brand appearance overhaul it deserves. It feels like us and we hope you love it as much as we do!
Do you have any questions that we didn’t touch on? Leave them in the comments below! We will answer as many as we can.