Services
Purpose
If you want deeper connections, you need to define an inspiring role in the world — an answer to the question “why do I exist?”, a meaningful ideology, that relates to, but surpasses, mere business rationality. Futurista can guide you in a journey to the foundations of your identity, and help you explore possible futures.
Our immersive participatory process engages key stakeholders in strong philosophical debates about the organisation.
Values are at the root of everything we do. So we start an internal debates to identify, reflect upon, and define a deeper meaning to them.
We then explore history; current culture, core competencies, capabilities, and existing narratives; and future vision. We define the organisation’s legacy, and their role in the world.
When purpose changes, visual and verbal identity also change, not only to align with the core idea, but also to provide purpose with the visibility and clarity it much needs. Our branding capability supports this transformation and delivers creative execution. To engage stakeholders with the purpose, we also define a plan to communicate and involve them.
Related project
Cervejaria Trindade: a new purpose for the iconic Lisbon beerhouse
Ethics management programmes
Ethics is a journey to the core of the company’s identity. It implies deep conversations about values — what the company stands for, the non negotiable issues and red lines it is unwilling to cross. It’s about deciding how the organisation is expected to behave. Ethics is also the organisation’s ability (people’s) to think critically and decide ethically in each situation. And it is about formal but also informal leadership, that demands the company to act a certain way, defending its reputation.
Our approach engages key stakeholders, so they commit more easily. While working with us, you will have the opportunity to:
• discuss values and ethical issues at a deep level;
• get a full comprehensive view of the organisation’s ethical climate;
• design the organisation’s ethics system: its governance model, the code of ethics, reporting system or engagement plan.
We apply branding and communication techniques to ethics, to engage and align key stakeholders more effectively with the code, and get them to understand the importance of acting ethically in every situation. The goal is to achieve a highly intelligent organisation regarding ethics, one that lives ethical behaviour, reducing reputation risks and maximising goodwill.
We organise training programmes, not only to discuss the code, but to develop critical thinking: people’s capabilities to see, think and decide ethically in every situation.
And, since ethical questions often arise during daily activities, we organise ethical thinking sessions as questions arise, and support top management in the development of an ethical leadership.
Sustainability and Regenerative Design
If you want to embed sustainability into everything your organisation does, to articulate your sustainability business case, engage your stakeholders with your cause or help change behaviours, we can help you reach your goals.
We can define your sustainability strategy and action plan. We evaluate your business key aspects and hot issues regarding sustainability, from production to end-of-life impact. We define the organisation’s sustainability purpose, goals, strategy and commitments in the long run.
By involving different experts and stakeholders, we identify priorities and high value potential partners, and define action plans.
We can build your sustainability business case so that you proactively demonstrate what you stand.
Through regenerative design, we can look into specific parts of the experience, such as products or labelling, to redesign it according to circularity principles, making it more people and planet friendly. We can propose evolutionary solutions or attempt to create more transformative ones.
With sustainability goals in mind we engage in a process of making things and making things work in a new way. We research for emerging technologies, rethink systems and models in immersive creative workshops to give you a glimpse of what the future might be.
And because we want your sustainability efforts to stand out, and we do it by using branding techniques that make sustainability visible throughout the experience, with a common language, and adjusted symbols and stories. We define ways to engage key stakeholders with your sustainability goals and to communicate your sustainability actions in an honest simple way.
Related project
A Padaria Portuguesa: the portuguese starbucks bakery
Mindful branding
Mindful branding means our process is inclusive of organisational concerns, but also of people and the planet. Our brand concepts reflect this inclusive approach and are sustainability-ready. Mindful also means we address ethical questions and carefully craft concepts that have good mental footprint.
In short, branding is perception management — the process of defining how you want to be perceived and how to get there. What can de do?
Brand audit and strategy: getting to know stakeholders, understanding competitive dynamics, knowing the company sources of value and evaluating how certain perceptions were formed; to find the place in the competitive arena to position and define the brand.
Brand architecture: organising a company’s portfolio and defining the rules of interaction between them.
Verbal and Visual identity: We first define the brand visual and verbal symbolic representations through semiotic sensorial collections to strategically reach the desired positioning.
We also create strategic elements like namings, tag-lines and business descriptors and we design the brand key elements, such as symbol, logo, typography and all the visual imagery that creates identity.
Brand experience: At a strategic level, we define how people experience the brand every time they get in touch with it to achieve the desired positioning: we define touchpoints such as products, distribution, processes and other physical evidences. At an implementation stage, we design all touchpoints, by combining different copywriting, 2D, 3D, digital and interactive design expertises.
Creative project management: we manage creative execution, by doing creative briefs to inspire teams, and by being present in key presentation moments to facilitate the decision process, and guarantee that the strategic direction is well implemented.
Related project
Lisbon School of Design
Conceptual innovation
If you want to search for new growth possibilities we can help you anticipate future business, fast-track concept development, and bring it to market.
The quest for potential has many sources. While technology certainly plays a part in life improvement, a huge part of new business opportunities is low-tech and concept-based. Following this line, our attempts to create the new come from exploring emerging consumer trends or sustainability hot challenges. We immerse on a journey towards the future and use imagination tools and techniques to unveil hidden possibilities and new ways of doing things, better for people and the planet.
We mix people and planet as a source of conceptual innovation
By people we mean we identify stakeholders negatively impacted from existing solutions. Through meaningful conversations, we identify and gain deep understanding of hidden needs and design taking those into account.
By planet we mean we consider all living forms besides humans as key implication-holders. We put them at the center of the innovation and design process because their well being is implicated in business models and decisions.
Related project
