Stories

The journey behind our new brand identity

1 January 1970

Some things never change…But sometimes a little change is just what’s needed. Don’t panic. It’s still us.

We know that change can be hard. But we promise, this is a good kind of change. The kind that gets you where you need to go and helps you grow. So, what does that mean? Well, we had a chat with our CEO, Lina Andersson, and our Product Designer, Evelina Örn, to better understand the in’s and out’s to why and how we’re introducing a new, more once uponier, us.

When did we start working on the new brand identity?

We started working on our new brand identity back in the spring of 2020, Lina begins, so it’s been about two years. Allowing lots of people to be involved in the process takes time, but that is also when we find the right way, Evelina says, it’s been very important for us that both the brand and visual identity feels right for the company as a whole and that everyone feels like they are a part of the end result.

Why did we feel the need to further develop our brand?

It all started because we wanted to find a common ground and direction to move forward, Lina says, we have so many ideas, high ambitions and visions for Once Upon so we wanted to make sure that all of them were part of our brand identity too. As for our new visual identity, Evelina fills in, we wanted to create the opportunity to aim higher, spread more joy and be bolder in our expression. This is why we’ve introduced, among other things, more colors and unique illustrations.

What has been the best thing about working on this?

Definitely to work with so many committed coworkers, Evelina says without a doubt, there’s always room to listen, test, reverse, turn around, turn again, to then finally land just right. Lina agrees, all the conversations and iterations that this work has started, in all different areas of the company, it’s pretty fantastic how we’ve managed to do this all together, so many of us.

What was the most challenging part working on our new identity?

I think it was the balance between daring to go really deep within ourselves, Lina explains, while also planning, looking and getting ahead. And now launching this new visual identity, Evelina adds, there may be a resistance to that change… When it comes to shapes and colors, it easily becomes a personal matter of taste, likes or dislikes.

What does this new look and feel mean?

It means that we can be flexible in our communication, Evelina explains, we can tone down when we need to and be loud and bold when we want to. And, she continues, we can be proud that our identity is unique, inclusive, that it challenges norms and expectations and that it spreads joy. Now the way we look finally feels like who we are, Lina says, though the look and feel may be experienced as new, it feels so incredibly obvious to us – this is us. We haven’t changed, Lina continues, we are just more of what we’ve always been and we feel like with our new brand identity we can finally make our voice heard.

What comes next?

We will test our new look and feel regularly, Evelina says, because we want to constantly develop our identity, this is just the beginning. Lina agrees, the hope is that this new brand and visual identity will lead us towards something we can’t even imagine here and now.

As you can tell, there’s been a lot (and we mean a lot) of conversations and iterations, we’ve asked you Once Uponers for help and advice along the way (thank you so much for all your feedback!), we’ve made adjustments, turned around, made some more adjustments – and well, here we are. The same Once Upon you know and love, just more Once Upon in every way.