Phase 02 - SHAPE

Strategy that stays in a document isn't strategy.

It's homework nobody does.

Strategy that stays in a document isn't strategy.

It's homework nobody does.

In phase one, we understood what's true. Now we make it visible. As a visual identity, a design system, a creative direction your entire team can work with without starting from scratch every time.

You?

You?

.why

Because without a shared system, everyone builds their own version of the brand.

The logo gets stretched. The tone shifts from channel to channel. The colors drift. Not because people do bad work, but because there's no framework that makes good decisions the default. The more people work with the brand, the faster it dissolves. Defining gives the brand a single point of truth before that happens.

Positioning before aesthetics

Every creative decision in this phase connects directly to what we built in phase one. The identity doesn't come from visual preferences or trends. It comes from the positioning, the audience, and what makes this brand different from everything else.

Beautiful isn't enough

A brand system that can't be executed consistently in the real world is worthless, no matter how good it looks. We design with the next phase in mind: everything we build has to be implementable, scalable, and maintainable by real teams.

Depth doesn't have to cost speed.

With a clear strategic brief from phase one, creative direction can come together quickly. Not because we cut corners, but because we're not starting from scratch.

.how

Creative decisions grounded in strategic thinking.

.what

A clear creative direction and the system to deliver it.

Shaping ends with more than a logo and a color palette. It ends with a complete creative framework: the visual identity, the design system, the campaign logic, and the creative direction that holds everything together. Not made to be presented and filed. Made to be handed off and used.

Services

Four disciplines. One coherent brand.

01

Corporate Identity

A brand people recognise again.

We build the corporate identity from the ground up: logo, colour, typography, imagery and the logic that holds it together. Every element gets tested in real contexts, from a business card to a trade fair wall. Anything that only works in the presentation comes out.

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Logo Design

)

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Colour System

)

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Typography

)

01

Corporate Identity

A brand people recognise again.

(

Logo Design

)

(

Colour System

)

(

Typography

)

01 Corporate Identity

A brand people recognise again.

(

Logo Design

)

(

Colour System

)

(

Typography

)

02

Design System

Producing on-brand, without back-and-forth.

A design system turns the identity into a working tool. Components, templates and patterns are documented and structured so your team and your suppliers can produce on-brand without asking first. The system carries the work that would otherwise start from scratch every time.

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Component Library

)

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Template Design

)

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Grid & Layout System

)

02

Design System

Producing on-brand, without back-and-forth.

(

Component Library

)

(

Template Design

)

(

Grid & Layout System

)

02 Design System

Producing on-brand, without back-and-forth.

(

Component Library

)

(

Template Design

)

(

Grid & Layout System

)

03

Employer Branding

Visible to the people you need.

The roles stay open and the employer brand is a tab on the website. We turn what working with you is actually like into a position people can see: in job ads, on career pages, in the channels your people actually use.

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Employer Positioning

)

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Careers Communication

)

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Recruiting Campaigns

)

03

Employer Branding

Visible to the people you need.

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Employer Positioning

)

(

Careers Communication

)

(

Recruiting Campaigns

)

03 Employer Branding

Visible to the people you need.

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Employer Positioning

)

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Careers Communication

)

(

Recruiting Campaigns

)

04

Campaign Conception and Design

One idea that carries every channel.

A campaign concept is only as good as the plan that delivers it. We develop the idea, define the visual and tonal direction, and map the execution across channels and formats. What you get is a campaign ready to run, not just ready to present.

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Campaign Idea

)

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Art Direction

)

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Messaging & Claims

)

04

Campaign Conception and Design

One idea that carries every channel.

(

Campaign Idea

)

(

Art Direction

)

(

Messaging & Claims

)

04 Campaign Conception and Design

One idea that carries every channel.

(

Campaign Idea

)

(

Art Direction

)

(

Messaging & Claims

)

(What else?)

Skilled labor shortage? When the right content reaches the right people.

The skilled labor shortage is the most pressing challenge for many businesses in the trades sector. Job postings alone won't solve it. We treat recruiting content as a full brand touchpoint: from job listings to career pages to targeted recruiting campaigns on social media. Everything aligned with the employer brand and compelling enough to reach candidates who aren't actively looking.

How the Shape phase runs

Four steps, in this order.

In the second phase we define what the brand stands for, and write it down so others can work from it. Every service in this phase runs through the same four step process. The same one you already know from the first.

Kickoff

Access, scope, and who makes the final call.

We start from what was decided in Explore, or from what you have already defined yourselves. If that basis is missing, we say so in the kickoff and not three weeks later. From you we need one person who is allowed to decide.

Kickoff

Access, scope, and who makes the final call.

Work

Draft, discard, define.

We develop several directions and discard most of them ourselves. You don't see everything, you see two or three that hold, with the reason why they hold. From here on every decision is written down so that someone who wasn't in the room can apply it. From you we need nothing here.

Work

Draft, discard, define.

Analysis, concept, production or evaluation, depending on the phase. Whatever comes out, we sort it before you see it. Not every inconsistency is a problem, and not every finding matters equally. You get what counts, not all of it. We need nothing from you.

Review

We show it. You decide how it goes on.

Usually a workshop, because more people have a say here than in the other phases. On the table are the options and what each one means in daily use. The decision happens in the room, not by email afterwards.

Review

We show it. You decide how it goes on.

Whether it is a workshop, feedback round or review call depends on the phase. Who decides does not. What we have is on the table, the options get tested, and the direction is set by those who will defend it internally.

Handover

A rulebook others can work from.

You get a document that says what applies, what doesn't, and what to do in the edge cases. Written for agencies, freelancers and new colleagues, not for us. The test is simple: if someone reads it and applies it correctly without asking, it's done.

Handover

A rulebook others can work from.

Whatever the phase produces, you get it twice: as working material for production and as a short version for internal alignment. The scope follows the mandate, the two versions stay. After that, you carry on, with or without us.

Our Work

Here’s what we’ve been up to

From local legends to global brands

Ab durch die Hecke

Brand Awareness / Recruiting

Why Fraem?

We understand strategy well enough to make it beautiful.

A lot of creative agencies produce beautiful work that doesn't connect to anything strategic. A lot of strategy consultancies produce sharp thinking that never becomes anything visual. We sit between those two things by design. In Define, that combination matters more than anywhere else. The creative decisions have to be right aesthetically and right strategically. We know how to hold both at the same time.