joskudesign

Natural and international skincare brand: moRi

Summary

The aim was to create a clear visual identity for a skincare brand moRi, a Finnish-Japanese collaboration, to represent their concept of simplifying skincare with minimal, effective and natural ingredients and bring an alternative to trending Korean brands into local stores in Finland and Japan.

Design choices

➔ As a Finnish-Japanese production the brand and its visuals needed to speak to both cultures: minimalistic aesthetic and deep appreciation of nature are something both share

➔ The biggest target group would be young women, so the visual identity should have the tone of affordable luxury

➔ The name moRi is meaningful and easy to pronounce in both cultures; moi is a casual greeting in Finnish and mori means forest in Japanese. Together they are a natural greeting to forests, just like humans are naturally a part of nature

➔ Slogan “Feel your roots” encourages to return to basics and recognize the foundation of healthy beauty in natural skincare

➔ Grounded, simple and elegant elements in both typography and imagery, which are relatable and pleasant for the target audience

➔ Earthy colour scheme and graphic element of growth rings seen in trees are clear connections with the brand name and they represent a strong relationship with nature

➔ Nods to traditional gradient and film techniques represent beginnings and lean into the retro trend popular with target group. The mood of the chosen gradients is different from competitors

Insight

“You must find peace in yourself” is the idea moRi wants to convey and be part of. The themes of tradition, nature and simplicity seem inviting in the present day.

Outcome

A strong brand identity that feels both familiar and fresh in Finnish and Japanese markets, backed with a cohesive ideology carrying visuals across mediums.

Social media brand to a municipal election campaign — Ami Värtö

Environmental influencer Ami Värtö was looking for a graphic designer on her socials to help with her campaign visuals and I volunteered as I figured it would be a great way to gain experience designing for campaigns, and for a good cause. I worked in close cooperation with her and the team with succesful results: Värtö placed in a deputy position as a first time candidate.

The balance with information and clarity had to be carefully considered in the case of each visual depending on the audience, usage and how much time voters had to view them. Värtö’s existing social media brand offered a possibility for recognizibility, so I emulated some of the elements in the campaign visuals: Her brand name was in handwritten cursive, so I chose a similar but more readable font for the similar sounding slogan, and watercolour texture for some backgrounds from the brand image. Main logo was bold sans serif for a modern and clear look. Forest green was a natural choice for the main colour, and Värtö liked the pink from the party guidelines which offered a soft contrast to the dark green and a link to the party. I designed the overall visual look of the campaign and several print and digital materials: flyers, stickers, a beach flag, newspaper and bus ads, a banner, posts and a storybase for socials.

Visual materials for an education pilot event: Elämysmuotoilu Pop & Hearts -edition

The aim for the concluding event for the short education pilot of experience design was to pique interest in potential recruiters to come see and experience the results of the pilot. The team was working with minimal budget, so I figured the visuals of the event needed to be bold and eyecatching. I was on the communications team, so I took it upon myself to design the visual identity for the event.

The core of the pilot itself was to ideate and offer experiences, and that translated to bright colours and interesting variety in the logo, which went hand in hand with the idea of bold visuals. Pink was decided among the team to be the refreshing theme colour amidst the gloomy November and the cool greens were used in relation to the pilot previously. I designed the attachments to the email invitations and modified the visual to fit also a Linkedin banner and the background visual in the event space.

Key element in the event was to present the new designers, so I organized a photoshoot to get proper and consistent pictures of everyone and edited the images of the participants for composite cards.

Encapsulating societal essays in magazine illustrations

Lapin Ylioppilaslehti magazine is a magazine from students to students who are interested in current events in society and the university. The topics were complex, so I wanted to convey that also in my illustrations for the essays and cover image. In all these cases I delivered a sketch of my idea for approval and then proceeded to finalizing.

The first image is for an essay depicting ideas of the relationships between people, nature and consumption from a philosophical standpoint, so I wanted the illustration to feel a little surrealistic. Light colours balanced the heaviness of the topic. Handmade brush strokes made it seem more approachable and reminded of people’s part in all of it.

The second illustration is a cover image for an issue released in the fall when new students roll in. I asked the chief editor what themes were going to be prevalent, since I wanted the illustration to cover them as well as possible. They were community, points of view, technology and the university itself, which is how I ended up with a recording screen and in it a circle of little humanoid characters all looking from their points of view the tree of knowledge, aka the university and all the different fruits it grows in different directions.

The third illustration was for an essay about trending girl aesthetics, especially the clean girl aesthetic, and consumerism. One must have money to be able to follow trends and fashion trends often target girls as was the focus in the essay, so in the illustration I placed a girl in the traditional place of an older man’s head on bills. The surrounding imagery depicts global influence and means of validation.

Spotlight on artworks: LENTO

The Faculty of art and design staff of the University of Lapland hold an exhibition of their own artistic work every year with a different theme each time. The artworks and the event are documented in a catalogue, and before that, they need to be found. Naturally, the visual side of the poster and the catalogue should complement the theme at hand and fit both applications.

The exhibition’s name and theme was LENTO (FLIGHT), so my approach was with minimalism: lots of space, light colours, minimal elements and airy typography. These went also hand in hand with letting the artworks shine and visuals not fighting for the spotlight. On the covers of the catalogue, the elements flow seamlessly from back to front.