Fraîche, A fresh breath in design thinking

In 2022, we were commissioned to design the visual identity of the consultancy ‘Fraîche‘. Founded by Lisa Baird, the agency specialises in corporate strategy, brand expression, architectural design and product innovation. As a newcomer to the creative expertise market in Paris, this identity was all the more important to anchor ‘Fraîche’ in its new environment.

This project began with a meeting and a connection between the Graphéine team and Lisa Baird, the agency’s founder. Our job was to support the “Fraîche” team through a strategy and a unique visual positioning.

A humanist logo for an everyday word

“Fraîche” is an everyday word, it’s accessible, everyone knows it. So we chose to design a visual identity around a typogram and not reduce the word to a simple sign. An optimistic agency for a more humanistic design: that’s what Fraîche stands for, and that’s the direction we wanted to take in creating this identity. There’s also a real importance given to the written word in the ‘Fraîche’ process. It’s a way of conveying a noble idea without making it too vulgar through drawings.

So it seemed obvious to us to propose a typographic work around the word ‘Fraîche’. We had to give this word richness, feeling, flexibility, precision and a great deal of freedom. The curves are both respectful of the word and playful, as if to hint at the personality of the brand itself.

How do you translate the notion of “design thinking”?

A lover of art and words, Lisa Baird wants to bring a breath of fresh air to design thinking. When we talk about experience, feeling and revolution, we obviously think of the Impressionist movement, which broke with the traditional codes of academic painting to leave room for emotions, spontaneity and the human element in the canvas. The link seemed obvious to us.

To complete this visual identity, Impressionism led us to Pointillism. A technique known for conveying an experience, creating a visual atmosphere and favouring poetry over technique. A multitude of dots create a work of art. In this approach to constructing a visual, we found a coherence and a metaphor for the philosophy of design thinking.

That’s why we’ve developed a tool based on the specific features of pointillism. It allows you to import an image and modify it according to parameters similar to those used by a painter: brush size, length of trace, number of colours, etc. Each visual is unique and can be used to dress and structure communication materials. Each visual is unique and can be used to dress up and structure communication media. This visual creation tool allows each member of the agency to create images completely independently, without having to master creative software.