Place Branding for Rural Development - Co-designing brands for villages in Vakka-Suomi (2018-2020)
In this EU-funded project, led by Leader Ravakka Association of Rural Development, Majame Creative Studio was the design consultancy to lead and apply the design process throughout the project. The project engaged the different stakeholders living in (and also visiting) these areas to co-create the brands for their home places, with an aim to increase e.g. awareness of these places within and outside the Vakka-Suomi region, add collaboration in and between villages, and in general improve the spirit of togetherness.
The project followed the process of design divided here into 5 stages:
1. Kick-off and getting organized
2. Research
3. Co-design
4. Design
5. Implementation
In each of the stages the residents of the villages were invited in to participate in the brand design process. Methods used during the process were e.g. interviews, online & paper surveys, observation, co-design workshops with tools such as personas, scenario stories and different canvas tools.
Concrete results included brand elements such as village stories, tones of voice for both villages, visual identity and graphic elements. The material was summarized in format of a brand book to support and guide village associations in their operations such as marketing and communication.
Company culture design - "Good Life Design" for better employee experience
Co-design project of "Good Life Design" was established to enforce and concretize the company culture as a "good life communications agency" with aims to:
- Improve our employee experience and employer brand
- Renew our visual identity and tone of voice
- Crystallize and implement the good life strategy into everyday work
- Make the customer experience always better
The design process, which was divided into three stages, started with a vast employee experience research to understand the needs and challenges as well as the good sides of the working environment. This material was used to design co-creation workshops where we started to tackle the challenges and find ways to improve the needed areas.
Methods used during each of the phase were:
Research: Interviews, surveys (NPS), benchmarking, observation
Co-design workshops: Visual identity, mood board for our company persona, value propositions, work culture book
Implementation: Through monthly experiments. New visual identity and website were launched in December 2019
Along the process we launched a new internal way of working named "experiment of a month" where new tools and/or processes have been taken into use for a period of month. The process was facilitated with pre- and post-surveys and invited the whole team in the experimentation and decision-making. Through the monthly experiments we tried and implemented new processes and tools. During the process we for example got rid of a big part of email flood which was tedious for many, created rules for remote work related practices and found our new visual identity.
(pic from Unsplash/Sharon Mccutcheon - Thanks!)
Development and design of Korkeakoulukumppani services
The companies at Turku Science Park perceived commissioning student projects to be difficult. Korkeakoulukumppani service shared by six higher education institutions in Turku brokered approximately 100 student projects a year. However, the tens of thousands of students and companies in Southwest Finland would have the potential for significantly more cooperation.
We launched a service design project to 1) improve the cooperation between higher education institutions and companies and 2) to develop Korkeakoulukumppani services. During the process we applied the process and methods of service design to collect information and customer knowledge through interviews and surveys and held three co-design workshops to develop a better service process. In the end of the process implementation workshops were organized to create a marketing communication plan and instructions for optimising digital availability.
As a result, practical tools were created for improving overall service quality. Additionally, recommendations for upcoming activities and content that could be put directly to use were created.
(Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash)
I preach what I practice.
As a part-time lecturer in a university of applied science my aim is to incubate and hatch new design thinkers and provide them with tools of empathetic, optimistic, creative yet critical design thinking for any future problem solving.
My pedagogics reflect my aim; I teach and I use the tools and methods of design with an aim to create engaging learning experiences for and with the students. I have received very flattering feedback!
I hold a formal pedagogical qualification from Haaga-Helia 2019
Trainings! What could be a better way for a design thinker to spread the word about the importance of design thinking!
Some of the trainings given:
- Service Design for INVEST researchers at University of Turku
- Service Design introduction for the visual and social artists in Turku
- Introduction to service design with Saranen Consulting
- Service Design course for the students of entrepreneurial study line of Raision lukio
- Service design workshop/introduction for students of University of Turku as part of a course about self-tracking
- "Design thinking and empathy" roundtable at Shift Business Festival
- "What is service design?"for Finnish scouts (part of Digital skills of scouts project)
- Design thinking for startups at Dropout Academy by Humak Creve
(Plus a lot of different IT system trainings back in the day!)
Master's thesis and a study about possibilities of service design in the public sector well-being promoting context through a case service. More at: urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2016060211449
Hi there, great to see you here! Are you looking for a freelance service designer for your project? Or perhaps a teacher or facilitator who can introduce your team to service design or design thinking? Or maybe just want to have a chat about (service) design?
This portfolio contains just a few examples of what I do. I would love to hear more about you - do not hesitate to contact me!
Excited about spectacular customer experiences? Human-centricity in the world buzzed of technology? Great stories, creativity, even experimenting? Well, we are!
We are Majame, fresh and brilliant creative studio.
We design services and experiences that are easy to reach and use. We also help businesses and communities look and sound (in)credible, interesting and professional. For us, the mindset of design thinking combined with the process and methods of design are the essence, because the most captivating experiences are always co-created with the customer at the heart.
Majame combines 25 years of experience in advertising, marketing communications, service design, digital and IT into one creative studio with a whole lot of passion.
