Behind the scenes of our new identity

I’ve been getting really great feedback on New Know How, and I wanted to share what went into creating it. It’s not easy to see the amount of effort that goes into crafting a successful work identity!

When I started running my own business in January 2020, I wasn’t quite sure what form or direction it would take. I decided simply to operate under my own name, Emma Blomkamp. 

I was incredibly fortunate that my friend Emma Kaniuk volunteered to create a brand identity for me then. Combined with her creative direction and a Squarespace template, I was able to build a website that people complimented me on. With support from another talented Kiwi designer, Zenaida Beatson, we created visual frameworks and online platforms that effectively engaged and supported people across many events and programs.

For a couple of years, I also operated CoDesignCo, as a sub-brand (with design by Marina Moreno) and business name for our community of practice. This had its own benefits and challenges, and I’ve told that story elsewhere.

About 18 months ago, I was feeling limited by my Emma Blomkamp and CoDesignCo business identities. They’d both served me well, but I was ready for something clearer and bolder that could accommodate all my work and new collaborators. Emma Kaniuk and I started talking about a full rebrand, and I engaged her to do this, just as she was setting up her own independent business too.

Emma Kaniuk led me through a full design process, which began not with names or colours but with strategic thinking.

First, we clarified what my work is all about. She helped me articulate the why, the what and the how in terms of my business: why people come to me, what they appreciate about my work, and what I need to communicate to the world.

I work in a niche area, and most people don’t really get it unless they’re in it themselves. Emma K not only understood the field, but clarified how I’m distinct from others within it.

I loved the moment when she presented all of this back to me—she summed up what I’m about and what the brand needed to communicate.

It still took us a while to land on a new name. I hated everything I initially came up with, except names I soon found were already registered to other companies! Emma K patiently led me through the naming brainstorming and shortlisting process, offering expert guidance on brand positioning and developing the creative brief as we went. As we approached the end of that strategic process, I was considering just sticking with CoDesignCo, even though we’d decided it wasn’t the best option.

As much as I’m committed to co-creative practice, I feel limited by the term ‘co-design’. While there are so many people leading and aspiring to do great co-design, there’s also a lot of crap that this word gets applied to. There are loads of other great creative and participatory approaches out there. And sometimes good consultation is all that’s needed. I don’t want to be suggesting we all need to co-design everything all the time. Frankly, that sounds exhausting and kind of boring!

Finally, New Know How came to me. I’d been playing with the French expression savoir faire, which basically means know-how, that is, knowledge of the methods or techniques of doing something. It sums up well my increasing focus on building skills through training, coaching and mentoring. Being the only other language I speak, I had a few French words on my longlist. But they were either too hard for English speakers to say or spell, or so common they were already registered brand names. Suddenly, I looked up ‘New Know How’ and was delighted to find it wasn’t already taken!

Our new name lets us more clearly say what we’re all about—supporting people to develop skills that the world needs, no matter what label we use to describe them. I also like that the name reflects how much my team and I learn from our work. Everyone we come into contact with informs our practice in some way—we’re building New Know How all the time. This doesn’t mean constantly re-inventing the wheel. This name can remind us of tapping into forgotten or neglected knowledge—wisdom that sits outside the niche of co-design but which continues to inform it. 

With the name finally settled, Emma Kaniuk developed the brand itself, translating our ideas into clever visual language. Each of the programs I deliver has its own set of bold, bright colours and shapes, so that’s been really fun to play with. Emma thought about all the ways the brand lives in the world, and made sure there were visual solutions for all of them.

She went beyond the brief, connecting me with writer Rebekah White, who helped finesse the words on our new website and key announcements. With the support of my associate Jessie Upton, this dream team co-created the website you can now explore at newknow.how 

We’re continuing to update key visuals and materials as we roll out each of our programs and deliver new customised training to public purpose clients. It’s a lot of work, and I’m grateful for the additional support we’ve had and will likely continue to appreciate from design contractors. 

It all feels worth it, with the incredibly positive feedback we’ve been getting from friends, clients and participants. At least once a week since our launch, someone has complimented the logo, website or various brand materials, like the diagrams in the workbooks we created for a client last month. These are some of the adjectives we’ve heard: phenomenal; modern, creative and clever; fun, edgy and reliable; incredible; brilliant; very smart; EXCITING; fantastic; fresh; vibrant, dynamic.

It’s been so heartening every time someone has bothered to offer any unsolicited feedback like this. I was actually very nervous about putting this out into the world. I’m incredibly grateful for all the support and encouragement we’ve received. I feel particularly lucky to have worked with such an amazing bunch of women and non-binary people to bring this new identity to life.

I’ll close with my favourite comment of all, which really sums up this whole journey:

“It’s inspiring to see how this new direction reflects your years of expertise and a deep commitment to empowering people as active changemakers, deep listeners and skilled facilitators. The new name is empowering and speaks to the impact of co-design in tackling complex issues, and it is a strong call to arms for systemic change. (Also the colours are so fun!)”.