Instagram story viewer> @smithbranddesign> Posts
Fredrik O. Smith Wagell(@smithbranddesign)'s profile avatar HD Profile

Fredrik O. Smith Wagell

@smithbranddesign

677
followers
5086
following
Entrepreneur; Chief Creative Officer; Prof. Master Brand; Branding, web, product, interior design, retail. Open bookings brand consulting worldwide.
POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED
Download All
You've got sadness in you, I've got sadness in me - and my works of art are places where the two sadnesses can meet, and therefore both of us need to feel less sad. Mark Rothko by @smithbranddesign
0
13 days ago
Download
Good. A good summer, by any measure. Sunsets, sea and spectacular meals. But I’m happy to trade the view for the pace. Take me back to a city in motion, with real problems to solve. I’m good. And yes, I’m also already packing for the next trip. by @smithbranddesign
2
a month ago
Download
The new season is starting soon in Milan, and I’m looking forward to the challenge. New conversations, new briefs, new ambitions — and, hopefully, a few problems worth solving. Working between Scandinavia and the Mediterranean with Milan somewhere in the middle as a hub gives me a particular perspective on design. Two cultures with very different rhythms, but both with a strong sense of what feels right. AI is changing our industry at remarkable speed. Or at least it might seem so. It can generate images, names, identities and endless variations in seconds. But brand design was never really about producing more and more quickly. The difficult part is knowing what matters. Understanding people. Reading culture. Foreseeing shifts. True insight based on real observation and experience forming an opinion worth defending. Finding the tension in a business and turning it into an idea that has meaning. Reduce until a solution seems inevitable. That is where I am convinced human strategic design and authentic insight has its greatest value. Experience, intuition, taste, empathy, judgement — and sometimes simply knowing that an idea is right before you can prove why. AI can recognise patterns and accelerate thinking. But it has no lived experience, no instinct, no reputation at stake, and no point of view it is willing to defend. And it does not care one little bit about anyone or anything. So, another season begins. More brands to challenge, more assumptions to question, more opportunities to make something distinctive rather than simply different. That is the part I’m looking forward to. by @smithbranddesign
2
2 months ago
Download
To gain freedom is to gain simplicity. Mirò by @smithbranddesign
4
3 months ago
Download
Whatever you do, do it good. Intelligence has always been humanity’s engine for progress. It turns experience into insight, insight into possibility, and possibility into change. Every meaningful leap forward begins with someone seeing beyond what already exists. The most valuable ideas rarely arrive fully formed, but emerge through exploration, observation, curiosity and the willingness to venture into unfamiliar territory. This is where innovation lives: in the pursuit of something yet to be discovered. Where larger brand-design franchises invest in AI, faster computers and streamlined automation, we invest in good paper, a good pen, and, above all, time—to develop truly thoughtful ideas grounded in original thinking, reasoned judgment, and real-world observation. At Smith Brand Design, we’ve always believed that a great idea sketched quickly with pen and paper will beat a beautifully executed nothing-concept every time. Original thought matters more than flawless execution. A rough sketch with a powerful idea behind it has greater value than artificial stupidity dressed up as creativity. The future belongs to those prepared to imagine what cannot yet be referenced, sampled or predicted. Real intelligence doesn’t recycle the world as it is, but creates the world that comes next; or after due thought decides that some things actually were better before. by @smithbranddesign
2
4 months ago
Download
Another week. Another morning. Another coffee. Kafka. by @smithbranddesign
0
4 months ago
Download
Portofino, Reimagined. Acqua di Portofino unveils two new creations in a striking new pack design at Esxence, the world’s leading event for artistic perfumery. Esxence offers a first glimpse into the evolving identity of Acqua di Portofino—a rebranding journey that began earlier this year and marks the start of the brand’s next chapter we’ll help shape in the upcoming season. Through the design of the logotype, monogram, flacon, and signature packaging—crafted from richly textured Japanese paper with refined embossed and debossed details—we distilled the brand’s essence into a singular expression of natural beauty and understated premiumness. A vibrant, unexpected, rule-breaking collection of genderless Eaux de Parfum, inspired by a walk through the port and its surrounding hills, where atmosphere and place sparked leading international perfumers to create unexpected sensory expressions. As Patrick Süskind has Jean-Baptiste Grenouille observe in Perfume: “He who ruled scent ruled the hearts of men.” And in today’s world, it is the brand—and the pack—that decides who rules next because before even considering smelling, we look, judge and touch. by @smithbranddesign
5
4 months ago
Download
Disco party night at Phil’s jungle with the fragrance crowd. Legendary with a guest list that reads as a "who's who” in the perfume industry. It’s design - sex, drugs and perfume. In that order, baby. #esxence by @smithbranddesign
2
4 months ago
Download
The conclusion of the Raffles Milano Master Branding workshop leaves me with a profound sense of pride. The depth of execution with which complex, layered challenges were transformed into coherent and compelling solutions across insights, futures, strategy, brand platform and activation —further strengthened through the creative contribution of some of the Master in Fashion Photography majors—was highly commendable. Excellent work all around. Thank you, kiddos, for these rewarding weeks together. #rafflesmilano #masterbrand by @smithbranddesign
3
4 months ago
Download
Friday’s always a Friday. #friday y by @smithbranddesign
0
4 months ago
Download
“See Naples and die,” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe famously wrote, as if nothing finer could follow — yet he had not seen the island just beyond the bay. It’s a love story. by @smithbranddesign
1
5 months ago
Download
…and he turned to me and smiled before leaving: ‘In the end, the happiest wins.’ The one who lived boldly, loved when possible and wasted little won - because happiness is the only true measure of success. by @smithbranddesign
0
5 months ago
Download
×

Download all media on this page

Photos Videos
back to up