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Nordika: building my own design studio
How do you even brand an agency? After overthinking it for what felt like a century, the answer was sitting on my shelf: Rudolf Nordikus, a Swedish reindeer toy from my girlfriend. The whole Nordika identity grew from him.
At a glance
The challenge
Brand my own agency: professional but personal, creative but not cringe, unique without being weird for its own sake.
What I did
The name, a logo drawn from a reindeer silhouette, colour and type, a family of characters, stickers, T-shirts, notebooks and the website.
Outcome
Almost four years later Nordika is still the brand I’m proud of, and the thing I learned the most from.
01 · Challenge
How do you even brand an agency?
Nobody tells you this part. You can watch 200 hours of YouTube gurus, scroll through 10,000 Behance projects and stare at a blank Figma file until the pixels start whispering, and still not know whether your logo should be a lightbulb, a triangle or a mysterious shape that looks deep and means nothing.
You want it to feel professional, but personal. Creative and fun, but not cringe. Unique, but not weird for the sake of weird. It’s like a restaurant with 1,000 things on the menu: you spend hours choosing.
02 · Realization
The answer was on my shelf
The name came fairly easily. It had to be international and easy to pronounce anywhere; I liked a “k” in the middle and an “a” at the end, because it sounds powerful. I love snow and mountains and have worked a lot with Swedish clients, so while talking with my sister it came naturally: Nordika.
The logo was the hard part. After trying every direction, palette and clever symbol, nothing felt right. Then I looked across the room and saw a small, soft, slightly goofy Swedish reindeer toy: Rudolf Nordikus, a gift from my girlfriend. No design theory, no deep meaning, just charm. He was simple, friendly, warm, a little funny and cool. Exactly what I wanted my agency to be.
03 · Execution
An identity built around a reindeer
- A fun colour palette with a yellow-green highlight
- Clean typography: Sequel Sans italic on yellow-green for highlights, Sequel Sans regular for everything else
- Minimal shapes and gentle curves, and a bold logo inspired by the reindeer’s silhouette
- Brand assets from the logo: characters, stickers, T-shirts, notebooks and more
Then the website
04 · Outcome
A brand is only the beginning
The whole brand came from something simple and honest: a toy that felt more “me” than any logo I tried to force. Once I followed that feeling, the colours, typography, shapes and the whole vibe clicked into place.
But finishing a brand doesn’t mean you’re done. Running an agency is like raising a baby: accounting, clients, strategy, sales, every day, all on your shoulders. After almost four years I’m still proud of what I built, and I feel the pull to build something new again, this time with a team.
More work
All work →
Want to work together?
Whether it’s a product role, a bold project, sharing a beer or exploring a new corner of the world, I’m ready. I usually reply within a day.
