Coach Mădălina Jambor
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Mădălina Jambor has discovered us being inspired by our work with Raluca Anton. She allowed us the privilege of getting to know her, which also inspired us to find a remarkable line between some of her passions and the core narrative of what will finally be her brand. It wasn't our first rodeo, but having this opportunity to work with a person willing to be open and to fully embrace our creative approach, was something we much appreciated.
The main objective of our branding process was giving her career as a coach a head start. Our mission was to translate her values and her work ethic into the brand and to find a way to differentiate her business in the market.
The brief
Throughout our research of finding a specific positioning for our brand, we got quite a comprehensive idea of Mădălina’s style. But we didn’t have a niche and some clear positioning. We needed to find something that would resonate with others and extract from that some sort of ‘red line of communication’ for our brand. By understanding her aspirations and style we have discovered she really loved the well-known story of the “Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. This was our Evrika.
This is a story about a little boy who travels the Universe, planet to planet, seeking wisdom, discovering, and observing the unpredictable nature of adults. It's a story about friendship, loneliness, loss, and love.
We figured out that, in a way, using her knowledge and her experience as a coach, Mădălina does the same thing as The Little Prince. In her sessions, she is able to travel, metaphorically, to each and every one of her clients’ worlds, guiding and helping them to understand themselves better. So we built the full strategy around this idea: the individuality of the planets that the Little Prince discovers and the exploration of their archetypes.
The process
In the process of creating the visuals for this project, we wanted to integrate these key values: curiosity, approachableness, quality services giving her almost 10 years of experience in HR, and trustworthiness.
Her role and her attitude were well represented by the explorer (The Little Prince). Her method would involve integrating the six characters alongside their personal planets where the Little Prince travels, as human archetypes, and from there to build a strategy strong enough to sustain her business.
We knew for sure we would have to illustrate somehow these 6 planets and their values. So we did a little bit of exploration into how these illustrations should look like. How abstract should they be? How expressive?
Then we started to play even more with their concept. What do those planets mean?
the importance of modesty (the danger of ego trips and kings without subjects to whom they should obey);
the importance of developing a good image regarding yourself (in contradiction with the planet of the narcissist who wanted to be constantly admired);
being aware of your addictions and accepting them (referring to the character who drank in order to forget about the shame of drinking);
the trap of missing the essence of things in our materialist way of thinking (here, of course, we talk about the businessman who forgets to admire the stars in this attempt to always count them);
having discernment (the lamplighter);
adaptivity (referencing the overly specialized geographer).
We ended up with these two versions. Two ways of illustrating the 6 planets: one figurative, the other a bit more abstract. But, after intense debates, we felt we needed to simplify, following a more abstract way of representing the six human archetypes. Alexandra was inspired by this work of Richard Serra, The Matter of Time, 1994-2005, 7-sculpture series, weathering steel - as an inspiration to the organicity of material and simplicity of lines.
To take a minimalist turn, we had to go back to basics: the Golden Ratio and six planets with 6 circles. And we started again with our search for an aesthetic that makes sense in the context of our brand: the positioning, the niche, the industry.
Then we became the Little Prince ourselves: we explored different ways of using the 6 circles, in a minimalist way, one that could signal an original branding within the brief.
After selecting one approach, we decided we need to add an organic feel on the illustration. The reason behind it was the idea that no planet is perfect and the only ‘safe’ and ‘perfect’ zone we want was the red circle (you’ll see it in the next slide).
The results
Let's talk about color. When it comes to psychotherapy or coaching in general, the colors chosen are always soft and tend to be recognizable. Consequently, Alexandra came up with the bold idea of using the color red. Of course, it's something you would not expect, which would make Mădălina's brand unique, fresh, able to catch your attention and invite you to discover her services.
Even though this option might seem like a lot theoretically speaking, in reality, this color symbolizes Mădălina as a coach and it is intended to be the support color behind the visuals representing each planet (correlating this, of course, with each person whom she interacts with).
Here we have three areas to define: the circle representing the planet/ the human archetype, the red circle representing Mădălina as a coach, and the middle space where they intertwine representing the work they do together throughout coaching sessions. Pretty cool, isn't it?
As you might had observed, we did not talk a lot about the logo. We believe branding needs more than one sexy logo. It needs a system. A comprehensive system that our clients needs to use in everyday life. We have used a modern and minimalist font, and the circle, the planet of Mădălina, connecting the visual system of the brand.
Remember the 6 planets? We decided we’ll go on a purely decorative, just to play with the forms in a consistent manner to create an original and beautiful brand system.
We delivered a set of branding materials to show off the system of our brand and to make sure anyone who reads our branding manual understands its language. As you can observe down below, our ‘planets’ are used to make the brand unique. They don’t fully tell the story, but it’s a really good conversation starter.
We created a beautiful system in which Mădălina can navigate herself:
Website on Squarespace: extremely easy to use and add content;
Social Media layouts in Canva: ready to edit in her own rhythm;
PPT: a system to use in her presentations;
Assets for other purposes;
If there is one idea you need to understand here: branding isn’t a logo. It’s a full system you need to develop through your communication and future endeavors.
Team
Client: Mădălina Jambor;
Project & brand manager: Alexandra Crăciun;
Design: Iulian Tărnăuceanu;
Photography: Raluca Ciornea;
Website: Alexandra Crăciun