Why Update RentSpree’s Logo?

RentSpree was enthusiastically founded back in 2016 with the aim of fixing the paper-based rental process. The same rental process has been in place dating back to the 80s. After 30 years of faxing and paperwork, RentSpree came to usher in the new age of renting. At the beginning, RentSpree built a robust rental marketplace where renters could search properties and easily apply online to agents and landlords. When we launched our service at that time, we created a logo that reflected the capability for renters to search and apply to properties on our platform:

As you can see, the logo incorporated a “marker” to show the search feature.We were providing incredible value to real estate professionals looking to consolidate the rental process for their listings. However, we quickly realized that requiring the listing to be on RentSpree was limiting the value we brought to agents and owners.

1. Many agents had listings that didn’t end up on RentSpree and still wanted to screen applicants
2. Others represented renters and wanted a way to handle the screening process with listing their properties

Frequently, agents and owners also wanted to screen applicants who weren’t on RentSpree’s rental marketplace.

It has always been critical for us to cater to our users’ needs, so we decided to tackle the larger issue.

We completely blew the doors off our original platform to now allow any agent, owner, or manager to vet a prospective tenant in minutes using state-of-the-art technology.In doing so, we created a new standard tenant screening process that has been adopted across all 50 states.

So, What’s the Problem?

The original RentSpree logo had become inconsistent with our current service and our users!  We are no longer the rental marketplace that we were back in 2016. We had transformed into something new & powerful.Our logo needs to reflect what our brand and service means to you, our users.  So we got to work.

The Re-Branding Process

To start off, we asked ourselves “what does RentSpree stand for?”. To best answer that question we turned to our employees and our users. After extensive polling, we came up with 5 keywords:

1. Trustworthiness
2. Professional
3. Convenience
4. Modern
5. Growth

These five keywords were used as the basis to develop our new logo. We underwent a 7-step process with the aim of conceiving a logo that would faithfully represent our brand and would encompass an “R” or an “r”.

Step 1: Get inspired

We took inspiration by first exploring ideas on Pinterest. Our team created a board for each of the 5 keywords and began pinning ideas for each keyword.

We voted on the 15 most popular ideas and used these as reference for the next step.

Step 2: Create initial designs

Using the 15 ideas, our design team created 20 unique logo designs in the shape of an “R” or “r”.  From those 20 designs, we selected 5 to use in the next step:

Step 3: Develop logo style

With 5 designs to work from, we started creating variations of each design.  In the end, we created over 40 variations and held a vote to select the best one.

Step 4: Finalize the logo shape

From the last step, we settled on the lowercase “r” with a square background.  This selection was further developed into multiple variations.  We again voted on the final shape.

The chosen shape was further tweaked to ensure it was symmetrical and sharp.

Step 5: Select the color

Now that we had selected a shape, it was time to finalize the color of the logo.  We created about 20 color variations and finally decided on the best one.

Step 6: Creating the wordmark

Letter by letter we adjusted curves, corners, and sizes until it was perfect.  It was then given a final tailoring to ensure a perfect fit with the logomark.

Step 7: Final fit and finish

Finally, we combined the logomark and wordmark together and voilà!  You have yourself a brand-new logo that speaks to RentSpree’s service, identity, and culture.