By Shehab Waleed, Founder, Cairo Studio 3 min read
When an established company calls us about its brand, the first word is usually rebrand. By the end of the call it is usually refresh. The difference matters, because a rebrand throws away recognition the company spent years building, and a refresh keeps it.
The difference in one line
A brand refresh keeps who you are and changes how you look and work. A rebrand changes who you are: the name, the logo, the promise or the audience.
Signs you need a refresh
- People know your name and logo, but every document looks different.
- Your Arabic and English materials do not look like the same company.
- Reports and presentations are rebuilt from scratch every time.
- The website no longer matches what you print.
Signs you need a rebrand
- You merged with or acquired another company.
- You are entering a market where the name does not work.
- What you sell has changed so much that the brand describes a different company.
- The name is causing legal or reputation problems.
How a refresh works
We start with an audit of everything the company already sends: reports, presentations, the website and print. Then we keep what people recognise, usually the logo and the main colour, and rebuild the rest as a system: a wider colour palette, Arabic and Latin type, a grid, image rules and graphic elements. The work ends in templates the team uses every day, which is where a refresh pays for itself.
For a bilingual company this is also the moment to design Arabic and English together. We wrote about why in Arabic Is Not a Translation.
What each costs
In Cairo Studio’s 2026 quotes, a refresh with guidelines, templates and rollout files costs about USD 6,000 to 10,000 and takes three to six weeks. A full rebrand adds naming or strategy work and the cost of replacing everything that carries the old name, which is usually the larger bill. Full price ranges are in How Much Does Branding Cost in Egypt?.
