Branding strategy for an apothecary of thoughts

ROLE
Brand strategy & visual design

YEAR
Sep–Dec 2016

This was an internship project at Tankeapoteket, a social design firm based in Stockholm, Sweden. The goal was to help the two founders of the firm to build a strategy for their brand and provide them with a tool to better communicate their actual and future work. 

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process & Methods
Thoughts & workshops

In practical terms, I created a space for the founders to reflect and build together the DNA of their brand in the form of workshops / funshops with the clear purpose of defining and putting down in paper the essence of Tankeapoteket. 

Tankeapoteket in Swedish literally means Thought Pharmacy, so I used this metaphor in three collaborative workshops, where I developed with the founders the brand platform (vision, mission, and values); outlined the brand personality (imagining Tankeapoteket as a human character with traits and giving her a context) and understood their audience wants and needs by creating a user persona (to have in mind when moving into the design phase). 

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My role
Multidisciplinary designer power

I redefined my professional role by balancing my graphic design background with strategy, research, and workshop facilitation. I wore different hats during the internship depending on the needs of the project: workshop facilitator, brand strategist, researcher, visual designer, and project manager.

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My internship office was inside Fotografiska, the Museum of Photography in Stockholm. Enjoying the magical views of the sea, taking fika breaks, walking through the gallery and seeing the exhibitions change was part of my creative process during the internship.

Final deliverable
A thoughtful brand book

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The final result handed to Tankeapoteket was a brand book that contains the brand platform, brand personality, brand positioning and communication of the brand. The brand book was a tool that would contribute to further develop the brand for the future, with key themes to address and strategic recommendations for the future of Tankeapoteket.

Learnings

Enjoy the journey
Being a solo designer in a project is daunting, and this project was a milestone for me in feeling comfortable taking different roles along the journey. 

Processes are fun! 
Working directly with the two founders was an enriching journey, I learned a lot from them and experimented with diverse ways of working, focusing more on trying out new things and focusing process, rather than just in the outcome.

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Let’s work together

I’m open to collaborations with fun & friendly people. If you’re looking for someone to partner with for branding, design or illustration projects, contact me.