Minimeis
Founded in 2013, by three fathers with a vision to empower parents to be more active with their kids, Minimeis is the startup behind the award-winning invention that allows children to sit safely on their parents’ shoulders – in both comfort and style – while freeing up their parents’ hands.
To take the company to the next level, scaling up its production and strengthening its product design, Minimeis joined forces with Snøhetta in 2019. With a strong visual identity and convincing voice as the foundation, Snøhetta also developed a website designed to support e-commerce and a new, sustainable packaging design, as well as expanding Minimeis’ product portfolio.
Through the collaboration, Minimeis has been able to further professionalize its business, refine its products, improving the overall customer journey, and communicating on-brand with a sense of safety, simplicity and humor.
Minimeis had already succeeded in establishing a fruitful down-to-earth, honest, and direct style of communication. Consequently, they also possessed a substantial number of followers – or so called “minimeisers”. The minimeisers make up a network of ambassadors, who love, use, and promote the shoulder carriers. The new identity passes elements from this established and conversional tone, combining it with simplicity, energy, and humor.
Together with Minimeis, we settled on a gender-neutral and lively color palette. Implemented across the website, packaging design, new products, and in communication on social media, the palette is holistic and recognizable for both children and parents.
To stand out in the segment, and applaud the strong tone of voice, we created a type-heavy identity. The font is characteristic, slightly weird, and bold. Uppercase messaging supports the impression of confident and free speech. The secondary font is subtle, stable, and safe. It is set to build trust and security, which is crucial for a brand communicating with parents.
Facilitating an outdoor lifestyle, we connected with Gaitline to develop the Game Changer – fun and smart shoes with a mission to maximize kids’ happiness from step one. The Game Changer carries Minimeis’ competence in making products that are safe and easy to handle, and Gaitline’s experience in shoemaking appropriate for movement and an urban lifestyle. Snøhetta elucidated the cooperation through the branding of the shoes. Choices regarding logo compilation, colors, product name, typography, and tone of voice became crucial to recognize both the characteristics of Gaitline and of Minimeis.
The customers’ first physical encounter with Minimeis is through its packaging. The packaging has a playful appearance, while still being safe, sustainable, and easy to handle. Products are shipped in recycled plastic bags which again can be recycled, while the Minimeis and Game Changer shoes are packed in bags made from small pieces of left-over fabrics. When buying several products, larger products are used as packaging for the smaller ones, limiting the use of materials and reducing the footprint.
Minimeis mainly sells directly to customer, making the digital platform critical. In close collaboration with Minimeis, Snøhetta created the new online home where all the graphical elements and design principles from the design manual are applied.
The new website design has a user-centric approach. To ensure optimized user friendliness, strong branding and easy navigation is prioritized: Focus has been put on forming an intuitive course throughout the site, making it easy to navigate. The products are presented and bundled in multiple ways to smooth the shopping experience. The features are designed to work effectively across all devices and platforms, providing a uniform presence on both mobile and desktop.
The project balances the need to preserve Minimeis’ key identity elements, while still responding to a demand for renewal and commercialization. The outcome is a comprehensive design solution rooted in established concept and strategy across different outlets.
