Startup rebrand with a new Framer website
Service · Updated
A startup rebrand is three jobs usually split across three vendors: a new identity, a new website, and moving the old site's search traffic across. I do all three as one project, building the site in Framer and mapping every old URL. Identity starts from $2,000, a website from $3,500.
Why one person for the whole rebrand
The usual rebrand is a branding agency for the logo and guidelines, a web agency for the site, and an SEO contractor asked to look at it the week before launch. Each hand-off loses something. The web team gets guidelines that never had to survive a pricing table, and the SEO person learns the blog moved to new slugs after the redirects were due.
When the same person designs the identity and builds the site, the brand gets tested on real pages while it's still cheap to change. A typeface that looks good in a logo and falls apart in a 14px feature list shows up in week two instead of after launch. If you were looking for a rebranding agency, this is the smaller version: one designer, no account managers, and the site built in the tool I design it in.
What you get
- A brand identity: logo and wordmark, colour, type, a few graphic rules and guidelines short enough that your team opens them.
- The identity tested on product screens, a pitch slide and social posts before sign-off.
- A new website designed and built in Framer, handed over in your own Framer account with the CMS set up for your team.
- A URL map: every page on the old site that earns traffic or links, and where it goes on the new one.
- Redirects set up and checked at launch, plus the titles, descriptions and headings that made old pages rank carried over.
Most rebrands need both the identity and the site. The quote depends on how many pages and assets are involved, and starting prices are on the pricing page.
How it runs
- Audit what exists: I read the current site, brand files and analytics, and list every URL that brings in visits or backlinks. This is also where you decide whether the name or domain changes, which affects everything after it.
- Identity directions: Two or three directions, each shown on a homepage hero, a product screen and a social post. You pick one; I refine it into the full identity.
- Site design and build: I design the new site in Framer with the final identity and build it there. Old content is rewritten or moved into the new structure, page by page, against the URL map.
- Launch and the weeks after: Redirects go live with the site. I check that each old URL lands on its new page in one hop, then watch Search Console for the first weeks.
A small rebrand (identity plus a site of 5 to 8 pages) usually takes 4 to 8 weeks end to end. A rename with a domain change takes longer because more URLs move. I confirm the timeline after the first call, once the scope is clear.
Keeping search traffic through the move
Rankings belong to URLs. If a page that ranks today disappears or redirects to the homepage, its traffic goes with it, and a new logo won't bring it back. So I do the URL map before the site design.
Each old URL gets one fate: kept as it is, redirected to its closest new page, or retired on purpose. The full method is in my guide on migrating a website without losing SEO.
How to migrate a website without losing SEO: The step-by-step version: list the URLs that earn something, give each a fate, carry over what made them rank, and what to watch in weeks one to six.
Identity and website work I've done
At CodeAnt AI (YC W24) I designed the brand, the Framer website and the product, so the same rules run from the homepage into the app. The site's conversion rate has doubled since launch.
CodeAnt AI case study: Founding designer since June 2024: product, Framer website, brand and design system for a code health platform used by 800+ companies.
For Bold Finance, a gold-loan startup that has since closed, I designed the website, the app and the marketing creatives, so one visual language covered every place a jeweller or borrower met the brand.
At E-Summit IIT Roorkee 2023 I led branding and the website with a team of 5 designers and 3 developers. The identity, built from the theme Reminiscing the Ethos: Bharat, scaled across posters, tickets, merch, the stage and the site.
Working with Utkarsh is like compressing five years of design into a single month. His speed, taste, and craft consistently push our brand to new heights.
When this isn't the right fit
- You need naming research, trademark searches or a positioning workshop with your whole leadership team. Hire a brand strategy firm for that part; I can pick up from their brief.
- Your site runs on a large CMS your content team depends on, such as a WordPress blog with years of posts. I build in Framer, and moving a big content operation is its own project.
- You only need a logo. A logo designer will cost less.
To start, email work@utkarshdesign.com with your current site and what's driving the rebrand, or book a 30-minute call through the contact page.
Questions people ask
How much does a startup rebrand cost?
With me, brand identity starts from $2,000 and a Framer website from $3,500, and most rebrands need both. The final quote depends on page count, assets and whether the domain changes.
Will a rebrand hurt my SEO?
It can if old URLs vanish or all redirect to the homepage. Mapping every old URL to its closest new page before launch, and testing the redirects on launch day, keeps most of the traffic.
Should a startup refresh its brand or do a full rebrand?
Refresh when the name and positioning still fit and the visuals have drifted or look dated. Rebrand when the company now sells something different or to someone different from what the old brand says.
Can a startup rebrand without changing its domain?
Yes, and it's the safer option for search. The identity and site change, and the URL map then only covers pages that move or merge inside the same domain.
Sources
- Site Moves and Migrations, Google Search Central
- Redirects and Google Search, Google Search Central
Start a project
Tell me what you're building and where it's stuck: book a 30-minute call, email work@utkarshdesign.com or send a brief.