Brand identity for a Swedish construction management firm built on trust and clarityClientSefastIndustryReal Estate & ConstructionRange of WorkNaming, Brand Design, Visual Identity, Brand GuidelinesReal estate is more than buildings. They are people's homes, workplaces and investments. They are schools and institutions for health care and emergency services. These properties that exist today work for us today, but we would want them to work equally efficiently over the decades to come. This is why it's important to care for them so they can stay intact in a changing society, and also to influence development positively with as little impact on the environment and climate as possible. It is better to solve the problems today before they begin tomorrow. Challenge However, 9/10 times, property owners don't know how to identify the problems, let alone solve them. Finding and getting in touch with contractors for different jobs is difficult for those who are not accustomed to the market, and in trying to do so, they end up wasting time, money and resources. Hence, making it easy for owners to keep their properties well maintained without worrying about doing it themselves is a vital bridge that needs to be bridged. This is where Sefast comes into picture.
Sefast is a team of dedicated construction project managers and surveyors who help tenant-owner associations, real estate companies and industries to build, manage and maintain their properties.
At the time, when founders Johan Eklund and Erik Sundblad approached Hyper Island, they only had a temporary name that they weren't too sure about. So they asked us to come up with a name as well as a brand identity for their new start-up - something that they could build their vision on.Naming The temporary name that the client had when they came onboard was 'Repster', which sounded like a digital service - something they were not. To validate our assumption, we conducted a survey (both, telephonic and online) with 30 people, 22 of whom said their first impression when they heard 'Repster' was that it was a digital app of some kind. 10 said they felt it was a music app in particular owing to the '-ster'.
This perspective helped us convince the client that they needed a better name for their brand. Out of all the names explored, we settled on Sefast - the SE standing for the founders' names, Sundblad and Eklund, as well as for Sweden. 'Fast' also means housing in Swedish.Discovery With a name in place, the focus shifted to understanding the market and the people in it. Research into competitors and adjacent players helped map the landscape, while working closely with the founders to surface their vision and values gave us the brand attributes that would become our north stars - shaping the look, feel, and tone of everything that followed.Strategy & Execution With brand attributes defined, we explored five broad visual directions through stylescapes - each telling a different story about who Sefast could be. The direction that landed spoke of trust and approachability, bringing a sense of progress and warmth to a market that had long defaulted to the conventional.Identity The final identity drew inspiration from the beehive - a structure built on collective intelligence and mutual reliance. It felt right for a brand that positioned itself not as a vendor but as a connector: bringing together property owners, tenant associations, and contractors under a shared, humane approach to real estate. Brandbook & Applications A detailed brand guidelines document gave the founders a clear framework to grow from - covering typography, colour, tone of voice, and usage across a range of applications designed to bring the identity to life. Delivered Value A startup that came in with a temporary name and no visual identity left with a brand built to last - a name with meaning, an identity with depth, and a guidelines document thorough enough to hand to any designer or agency and get the same Sefast back.