A life-changing journey of team culture and design excellence
A core team of three founded the Fjord Stockholm studio as Fjord expanded from the UK, Germany and Finland into Sweden.
Our journey started in a tiny office hotel, all the way through an acquisition by Accenture, to a team of 50 designers. Together, we delivered some of the best digital solutions across all segments for the top retailers, banks, operators and travel corporations in Sweden and overseas.
But this case study is about culture and team. We were helped in the “glory days” of design by heavy growth in the design business, but we won by:
- Building a highly diverse group of designers, with over 22 nationalities in the studio.
- Running a programme office that ensured there was budget and time for the team to develop.
- Investing in competence development through collaboration and creative business development.
Here are just a few examples of what was a career highlight for me.
VR Kitchen — design-led prototyping
An insurance concept for helping home owners better identify and mitigate risks at home. Here is the fantastic pitch for the idea, featuring Robin and Isabelle.
This idea led to a paper prototype of an entire miniature kitchen and a fully fledged VR prototype that allowed users to browse and interact in the kitchen (even to extinguish fires!).
Here is my daughter Elsie, “testing out” the kitchen! Extreme origami skills on display from many creative people at the studio.
The final deliverable was a web-based VR concept that could be used in Google Cardboard!
The Magic Table — machine learning and physical design
Curiosity to work with Google’s new image recognition algorithms led the team to create a concept for a retailer, to help consumers more easily understand the ingredients and insights of food products — and to more easily compare different products — simply by resting them on a smart table!
Isthmus — connecting studios together
As Fjord grew, the team found it harder to keep track of what was going on in different studios. It wasn’t a problem to message people on Slack, but we lacked a sense of community between locations and wanted to more easily get a sense of what was happening at any one moment in another country. What started as an experiment in the potential of connected devices became the Isthmus concept.
We ended up deploying a live web platform that allowed studios to remain connected, and deployed a connected sensor package to each studio as a starter kit!
This is just the tip of the iceberg of creative initiatives, such as:
- Friday Breakfasts — rotating ownership by different team members to host breakfast every week
- Fjord Family — Sunday get-togethers with our kids to explore creativity and building together
- Equinox — an annual trip someplace warm to bring the entire company together once a year
- Fjord Journeys — an unforgettable travel experience for anyone who stayed with the company, to witness a real fjord
- Fjord Trends — an annual trend report created globally to point out the most important design and social trends
- The Gnome Awards — annual recognition of the most dedicated Fjordian in the studio, chosen by their peers
Fjord Stockholm — greatest colleagues, in no particular order
Katri H (who started it all!), Aline K, Anatoliy G, Anders M, Begga H, Catrin A, Charlotte D, Christian C, Daniel M, Debbie D, Deborah K, Denise H, Edison L, Elena K, Elodie T, Fabio M, Felipe M, Filipa S, Fran M, Fredrik H, Giuseppe P, Gohar A, Helena R, Johan H, John F, John H, Johnny H, Jonas H, Kaia H, Karin P, Kaya H, Kajsa G, Kim E, Kristoffer J, Kwan P, Isabelle S, Lary A, Lena E, Maija K, Magnus S, Manu B, Marysol O, Mattias A, Monica H, Monika Z, Niklas G, Patricio C, Per Y, Raquel M, Rebecka S, Robin F, Ruth Ann S, Sandra Ö, Sara G, Sara W, Sara F, Sarah Lee L, Sigrid H, Simon H, Simon K, Sofia P, Sverker C, Tobias S, Tomek A, Vesa R, Victor L, Vincent G, Yaprak G ❤️