Our process.
There is a saying I keep thinking about, The cobbler's children have no shoes or something like that… Our kids actually don’t wear any shoes these days, but that is a whole other story. Really though, I think a lot of people can relate – it’s always so much easier to praise others and give them that care and attention we provide clients, never ourselves.
The B-Corp certification process forced us to look at our company in new ways, putting things into regulations and on paper, which we have already done loosely before. Quantifying billable hours vs donated non-profit hours, getting clear on our hiring policies, our maternity leave, even though we currently don’t employ any moms-to-be. From an employee handbook to our code of ethics, everything got attention. And it was actually quite nice to look at our company through this lens (especially once I got over the fact that I never wanted to fill out a single timesheet in my life, after leaving the big ad agency world).
At the beginning of the year, we decided we want to infuse more play into our work. We also talk about love as a seed for everything we do in our business. So, it feels only right, to do for us, what I am always preaching to others. To see branding as a living breathing being that’s never done, constantly needing reevaluation and readjusting, and to check everything we do as a company against our deepest soul purpose, our own brand.
Therefore, we want to take Fernweh through the same process we would take any other business we work with. That means looking at the market, the cultural moment in time, getting super clear on our audience and what’s going on in their lives and businesses right now, and how we can be of service. That means distilling all of this into a clear set of values, a culture, mission, vision, and a tone of voice, all through the lens of love, and play.
After that, we see if our current expression still represents clearly everything we stand for, and connects with our audience on an emotional level. Here is where Play really gets to shine, I believe.
It’s my favorite part of our branding process, where we get to imagine what all of this could look and feel like. And I for one, love nothing more than figuring out how to visually translate a feeling.
After the big visioning, we get down to business. We build all new brand elements, from an updated logo to icons, colors, typography, illustration, and photography style. All of this ends up in a brand guide, the soul of your company, one that holds all of the answers and practically speaking, makes onboarding new employees or service providers so much easier.
And then we get to bring it all to life, on a new website, maybe some swag… Do people still use business cards? I for one love paper, textures, and the experience of holding something like that in my hand. I still dream of making a magazine. Fernweh Journal, anyone?
As we are planning to take ourselves through our process, we figured it would be a wonderful example to bring you along our process, step by step, and share more of how we do what we do. We will be sharing the work/play in a weekly series here in our Studio Notes. If you know anyone who is curious about branding, please forward this email or ask them to sign up here. We are excited to do this together.
Much love,
Lisa & Tim
