Strategic Design Agency Neway

Neway comprises experienced strategists, designers, developers, and project managers. They have been creating excellent brands and experiences since 2007.

Our questions will be answered by Jaan Naaber, brand strategist and founder of Neway.

On the photo: Jaan Naaber

What type of design-related challenges do you predominantly work on, what does your day-to-day work look like?

We love building extraordinary brands and experiences. From strategy to execution. In a people-centred, inclusive, consistent, measurable, and consistent manner.

We build new brands, design great experiences, help guide growth-oriented changes, give momentum to existing organisations, inspire innovation, write compelling stories and connect teams and cultures. We help brands become competitive – we make them solid and understandable.

What is the motto of Neway Design Agency?

:)

What is a strength that is particular to your design agency?

Our people, how we work as a team, our process and methodologies (more on this below), and valuable experience.

Our foundation comprises a magnificent mix of people with a wealth of knowledge, experience, skill sets, a driven mentality, and passion. We're creatively restless at heart, meaning that we are constantly striving to be even better, create meaningful and exquisite work, and learn something new all the while. This positive restlessness is our driving force. We want to get to the bottom of things, do an excellent job, and grow as people. That's who we are – ambition, drive, and analysis mixed with a fair dose of good humour and the quality of being human.

We have grown as a team over time. Today, there are 14 of us, and our diversity has grown with our team. This means more ideas and perspectives in our work, as well as more experience and knowledge, to help us stay relevant as an agency and a team. Passion is the foundation of everything! If someone loves what they do and is willing to put in the effort, then the result reflects it. We always go the extra mile to achieve results that we are all proud of. In 15 years, we have created over 200 brands, implemented nearly 500 digital solutions, worked with almost 1,000 clients, and worked on more than 10,000 different design projects. Last year, nearly a third of our work was international, and we worked with clients from eight different countries.

What do you consider to be your most successful project(s) thus far and why?

There have been a lot of very successful projects that we have dearly cherished, but I'll highlight some that stand out a bit more:

LYDIA HOTEL

Strategic design, service design, branding, website and interior design for Estonia's highest-rated hotel, Lydia Hotel.

Lydia Hotel is the top-rated hotel in Estonia and rated the most competitively- positioned hotel in Estonia in 2020. Working on creating the service, products, experience and branding of Lydia Hotel has created value that is highly appreciated by thousands of hotel guests from around the world. An outstanding example of service design, caring, excellent experience, team, leadership, and trust in collaboration.

“The great value of the Neway team is the ability to ask the right questions and guide people to the right answers. Neway knows how to bring out just the right, most important components of any business and create something really special around it.” Kristo Seli, former CEO of Lydia Hotel and General Manager of Estiko Group.

ESTONIAN AVIATION CLUSTER

Strategic design, branding, and website design for the Estonian Aviation Cluster, which is taking Estonian aviation to new heights.

Established in 2019, the Estonian Aviation Cluster (EAC) is an organisation that connects aviation related companies that are united by a desire to work together to develop aviation as an industry, both nationally and internationally.

"Estonian aviation needs a brand with substance. The visual side is a "must-have" for us, but creating a positive image is even more important. We chose the Neway agency because they are motivated and their interest in working to help the Estonian Aviation Cluster was a good sign already at the start of our partnership." Kristo Reinsalu, CEO of Estonian Aviation Cluster.

STEBBY

Strategic design and rebranding for Stebby (formerly SportID), the largest health and wellness services platform in the Baltics.

We helped to implement a major rebranding of SportID. 180,000+ users, 2,200+ service providers and more than 8,500 different activities are now brought together under Stebby, the largest health and wellness marketplace in the Baltics.

"If I had to sum up the cooperation with Neway in three words, they would be courage, trust, and teamwork. In addition, it cannot be left unmentioned that when an external partner becomes a part of your team, then it is definitely a great sign of trust, commitment, cooperation, and great will.” Emily Vigel, Marketing Manager, CMO of Stebby.

CONVERTAL

Strategic design, rebranding and website design for Estonia's leading digital marketing and digital advertising agency.

"It was a pleasure working with the Neway team. They were able to help us think things through clearly and translate our needs into the appropriate visual language. Their big advantage is the ability to decipher and implement the business side of design in addition to the beautiful design language. All of that within the planned timeframe and without delays. Definitely one of the strongest partners we have worked with!” Taavi Raidma, Partner and Strategist at Convertal.

What inspires you, where do you draw inspiration from on a daily basis?

We are inspired by the people in our office and the people we work with. Entrepreneurs, executives, athletes, musicians, actors, organisers, and so many others. Their experience, ambitious goals, ambition, and profound visions. Conversations and discussions, exchanges of views and stories. Our work is for the people, to inspire and spark enthusiasm.

In addition, we have a unique library in our Neway office, which already has nearly 600 books, and the collection is growing with each new project. Why? Because when we dive deep into our projects, we want to understand and get to the bottom of things, and books provide an experiential, technical, or theoretical perspective. In addition, reading also broadens our horizons and allows us to reflect and think along with the author of the book. Consistent learning and commitment are also among the core values of our team.

What is your main customer profile?

We are fortunate to be able to work on so many exciting projects. They are challenging, commercially complex, and usually very creative. Our clients are ambitious, bold, and growth-oriented companies that are looking for a strong driving force, a result-oriented, focused, and experienced agency. Our shared high ambitions and goals unite us with our clients. We are trusted by small family businesses as well as large corporations, start-ups, and non-profit organisations. Many of them have grown to become leaders in their field as a result of our collaboration, successfully launched new products and services or successfully entered foreign markets, for example. Over the years, several of our clients have also been the most competitively-positioned companies in Estonia

What is your work process like with your client, from the moment the client walks through the door?

Over the course of 15 years, we've developed our own 6-stage process (we have a nice nickname for it, "The New Way"), designed to create meaningful brands and memorable experiences and to help guide growth-driven changes. This approach allows us to start each journey the right way, to dive deep into each project profoundly, to ask the right questions that help unravel ideas, to identify and establish clear goals and to approach each project without preconceptions. The methodologies and tools of this process help us unlock the creative and strategic world of the people. It contains very simple and effective techniques that are idea- based and useful. The entire process as a whole is very motivating and inclusive, during which we also share everything we know and have experienced.

We take our clients along on a creative journey that is fun and engaging, but all of this in our own professional and serious way. The result is serious, but the journey to reach that must be inspiring and fun. This means we always help solve complex business challenges. We start by asking and listening, and looking for the right passion and inspiration from our clients’ businesses. In essence, we work with teams and brands, but, in reality, we design experiences for real people, in the real world, through products and services. The work is very motivating, inspiring, responsible, and meaningful.

What type of clients are you hoping to work with more in the future, what type of projects, and in which fields would you prefer to take on?

We’d like to work with companies that are courageous, ambitious, and passionate. We work with small family businesses, large corporations, start-ups, and non-profit organisations. We value honest and open cooperation, because that is the only way to achieve exceptional results.

What is your ambition, where do you see yourselves in five years?

In three years we will be preparing to celebrate our 20 th anniversary! And for the next five years overall, we will continue to love working with brands and people. We will have an exceptional design agency in Tartu, the impact of whose work will be experienced by millions of people around the world every day. We will enjoy the trust and responsibility we have rightfully earned, and we will put them into practice in our projects. As people, we will continue to be creatively restless, constantly striving to be even better, we will be much more experienced and versatile, and still learning new things and doing meaningful work.

What's the one thing that must always be present in your office/workspace, that makes it feel just right?

The positivity that our people carry.