Chipolo: Building a lovable smart-tech brand

Instead of kicking it off with visuals, we made a conscious decision to listen first.

Together with the team, we ran the company’s first-ever:

• Customer research
• Brand strategy workshops

I also interviewed every single person in the company: engineers, support teams, leadership. The goal was to understand how Chipolo saw itself, what mattered emotionally to its users, and where the brand wanted to grow — before making any creative decisions.

Through these conversations, Chipolo’s early anchors became clear:

Bold colour as a signal of warmth and passion in a cold category
Emotional usefulness, not just functional utility
A friendly, human tone of voice grounded in real life

After a year of shared exploration, a new identity emerged.

It didn’t replace Chipolo’s character — it clarified it.

The refreshed brand:
Celebrated new, bolder Chipolo’s signature colours as a strategic asset
Strengthened recognisability
Built trust through a clearer, friendlier website
Earned recognition within the design community
Started telling stories through lifestyle images

This phase laid the foundation. But the real work happens over time, with careful implementation. All these ideas were expressed through art direction, design and overall communication.

Strong brands aren’t built by individuals. They’re built by aligned teams over time with executives that understand a strategy-first approach. The brand strategy definition process was repeated in a few years, as I’ve returned to the company as Creative Director. Since the company has grown considerably, we dived even deeper. Together with Chipolo’s executive team, we redefined:

Values
Mission and vision
Chipolo’s “only-ness” in the market

We introduced ongoing user research and an internal cultural survey to better understand not just customers, but the people behind the brand. Chipolo was once again reimagined; it grew into an ‘active lifestyle’ colorful brand to help with differentiation n the increasingly saturated market.

With the marketing team, we worked on the company’s story and tone of voice.

The result was the new Chipolo Brand Playbook — a practical, working document that guides decisions across teams, partners, and communication. Along with it, a new Design System was created.

Growing companies need systems, which help teams move faster without losing coherence. When brands grow, the amount of outputs grow with it. Having alignment and also clear rules around tone of voice, visual feeling, ads, visual communication etc. help teams work faster with unified results.

To help design team work better, the modular Design Templates were developed, which were rolled out gradually and refined through feedback. They significantly reduced production time while increasing consistency.

Chipolo also expanded its creative ecosystem with trusted freelancers, strengthening the in-house team rather than replacing it.