Grand One 2025 Brand Identity
Generative brand identity for Finland’s largest digital competition
Grand One is Finland’s largest and most prestigious digital competition, celebrating excellence in digital marketing and service design. Each year, Grand One selects a design partner to shape the visual identity of the competition and its spring gala.
Our relationship with Grand One spans over a decade — not only as competition participants, but also as the team behind its visual identity back in 2014. In 2025, we were invited to take on the identity once again. This time, we aimed to make it loud, bold, and full of life — bringing colors and blooming flowers to the forefront through a generative approach to branding.
The One blooms amidst digital flowers
At the heart of the identity is the “One” itself. Research into past identities revealed that the numeral “1” had never taken the spotlight. This inspired us to create a bold, square-framed logo around it. A vibrant color palette aims to celebrate boldness, spring, and creativity.
When ASCII turns flowers with the custom generator
We drew inspiration from ASCII aesthetics, but instead of static characters, we used looping animations to create dynamic visuals. To bring this to life, we built a custom generative tool that produces endless combinations from up to three sprite sheets and a video input. With parameters like grid size, randomness, and glitchiness, we could fine-tune the balance between structure and expression. The tool also challenged us to think playfully, pushing us to explore what kinds of animations felt fun and surprising within the system.
Flowers were chosen not just for their connection to spring and celebration, but because they grow, transform, and loop in a way that felt natural for our system. The identity is entirely grid-based, balancing structure and chaos.
Brighten the gala night with flowers
As spring arrived, so did our generative flower garden — brought to life in front of nearly 2,000 people at Kattilahalli. We transformed all three screens into a synchronized 4-meter canvas, filling the venue with animated flowers that evolved throughout the evening. Each transition — radial, diagonal, and vertical — was carefully designed to match the rhythm of the program, building anticipation and creating smooth, engaging reveals for the winners.
Lasting impact
Working closely with the Grand One team, we extended the identity across physical touchpoints — from F1-inspired photo booths to certificates and coasters — bringing the digital garden to life.
This year, Grand One saw more momentum than ever, with over 20% more submissions than the previous year with strong sponsor engagement and widespread media attention. For us, this was a meaningful opportunity to join the celebration and explore how generative design can bring a brand to life in fresh and unexpected ways.