Case Study

Smart Nora brand identity, strategy & ecom refresh.

Smart Nora – Smart sleeping device.

Two people seated at a conference table in an office with exposed brick walls, smiling and using laptops, with a window behind them and a whiteboard on the wall.

Details

Overview

Harley Oliver was responsible for giving Smart Nora a brand refresh, as well as developing executive and department level guides so teams, employees and other vendors could keep a high pedigree of design while maintaining vision, comms and brand strategy. To accomplish this, HO worked with the CEO and executive team to define a the brand strategy and design language. We then created a style guide that outlined how to use these elements consistently across all touch points, from email marketing to product packaging and e-commerce.

Technology

Headless

Shopify Plus

WP CMS

Industry

MedTech

Consumer Electronics

IoT

Retail

Services

Brand Design

Brand Strategy

Ecommerce

Client

Smart Nora

2022-2023

Brand logo for Nora with the words 'smart Nora' in large white letters on a dark blue background.

Before & After

Website Brand & Logo

Discovery

Why

matters

We approach branding with the belief that every channel, post and pixel is an opportunity to connect a larger narrative that engages your audience. As a company who was born on the internet, we understand the value of user-experience and the opportunity to connect, engage and lead users to-and-through each touch-point, ultimately leading to key conversion events. This is a detailed way of saying that strategic thinking is baked into everything we do.

Discovery Exercises

  • A visual diagram of a Customer Value Proposition Canvas, divided into two main sections: the left side displays elements like Products & Services, Pain Relievers, and Gain Creators with colorful sticky notes, while the right side shows Gains, Pains, and Customer Jobs with similar notes, all within a circular design.
  • User personas infographic featuring two individuals: a man labeled John Doe with glasses and a quote about animal rights, and a woman in a hat, along with social media activity and brand association icons, and smaller profile images.
  • A digital marketing funnel diagram showing stages from awareness to action, including paid and organic traffic sources, landing page, and retargeting ads.
  • A user journey mapping chart showing stages from unaware to advocacy, with a timeline, user personas, emotional states, touchpoints, and thoughts, related to website interactions.
  • A digital diagram of website architecture, showing onboarding flow, login, sign-up, and various pages with annotations and flow lines.
  • A diagram titled 'Tech Stack' showing various categories of technologies used in software development, including Analytics & Tracking, Naming Server, Backend/Content Management, Payment, Web Hosting Providers, Web Master Registration, Audio/Video Media, Plug-ins & Integrations, Frameworks, Content Delivery Network, Verified CDN, Advertising, SSL Certificates, Content Delivery Network, JavaScript Libraries & Functions, Email Hosting Providers, and others, with specific tools and services listed under each category.

Smart Nora’s new Brand & Style Guide

Miscellaneous page selects shown from Smart Nora Brand Book.

Strategy & Brand – the act of designing the company’s offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the mind of the target market.

Smart Nora Brand Standards document with white text on dark blue background, explaining the purpose of the brand guide and emphasizing paying special attention to expressing the brand consistently.
A man and a woman sleeping together in bed, smiling peacefully.
Page from a brand guide with the title 'Value Proposition'. The text explains that the company's purpose is to help people sleep better by building innovative products that promote wellbeing and improve quality of life, emphasizing sleep's importance.

Each brand guide is divided into sections. As such, we can determine what sections are required and how deep we dive into defining each of them.

Smart Nora brand guide page with a navy background and white text describing the importance of design tenets as guiding principles in branding and marketing, emphasizing focus and continuity aligned with company objectives.
A presentation slide showing the evolution of the Smart Nora logo from 2016 to 2022, with a green square logo labeled 'SMART nora' transitioning to a modern, lowercase 'smart nora' logo in navy blue.
A brand guide page showcasing a new logo design for 'Smart Nora' with text describing the logo and its elements, including the words 'The New Logo' and a large text sample of the logo in Deep Sleep Blue color.
Brand hierarchy diagram showing the 'Smart Nora' logo at the top, with two product logos beneath: 'Nora Pebble' on the left and 'Nora App' on the right.
A presentation slide showing sub-brand variations for 'Nora Pebble' and 'Nora App.' The slide includes color palette details, mockup images of sleeping people representing 'Nora Pebble,' and a phone screen showing 'Nora App'.
Collection of branding and marketing images for Smart Nora, a sleep product company, including a social media profile, pictures of people and pets resting, and slogans like 'Sleep Better. Live Better.' and 'Rest & Reconnect.'

Brand guides are a crucial exercise for establishing foundational assets and templates in addition to creating the visual language.

A page from a brand guide discussing the use of color themes inspired by dusk and night-time, borrowing colors from natural environments like bedrooms, for products related to sleep and technology.
A grid of photographs depicting various people in relaxed or intimate settings, with a color palette of grays, beiges, and muted tones, illustrating the concept of dynamic colors.
Brand style guide showcasing brand colors Deep Sleep Blue, #05243B, White, #FFFFFF, and Calm Beige, #F3F2EE, with various logo and branding applications for the Nora brand.
A brand guide page displaying color and accent palette for a product called Nora, with values and descriptions, alongside website mockups showing a bedroom scene with a fan and a user interface with a hand holding a remote control.
A typography guide showing different font styles and sizes, including Small, P, H5, H4, H3, H2, H1, and H0, with respective pixel sizes and rem conversions, on a white background.
Two typography font samples side by side with descriptions, titled 'Typography', featuring 'Rodger Display Regular' and 'Graphik Family' fonts.
A grid of various design and branding elements for a sleep product called Nora, including text about sleep routines, validation, and new sleep device, with illustrations of a sleep device, a sleep mask, and a smartphone.

Value pillars support brand positioning and overarching narratives that reinforce continuity across each customer touch-point.

Cover page of a brand guide titled 'Smart Nora Brand Guide' with the section heading 'Brand Visuals' and the text explaining principles apply to all content regardless of audience or usage, with a footer indicating version March 2022 and copyright 2022, Smart Nora.
A graphic showing four content pillars: Relationships & Wellbeing, Product & Innovation, Research & Science, Lifestyle & Environments, with corresponding images and descriptions.
A collage of 12 photos depicting people relaxing, sleeping, exercising, and enjoying each other's company in various home and outdoor settings.
Collage of images depicting modern bedroom and living spaces with natural light, minimalist furniture, and scenic outdoor views.
Research and science themed collage featuring images of elderly scientists, sketches of product designs, a person working at a desk, a person giving a presentation, and a conference screen, with text about research, science, and human progress.
Collection of images of modern electronic gadgets and appliances, including a vacuum cleaner, drone, smart lock, robot, wireless speaker, handheld device, and cordless vacuum, displayed on a white background.

Deliverables & Services

Stakeholder Interviews

Questionnaire

One-on-one’s

Product & Service Research

Questionnaire

One-on-one’s

Organizational Review

Organizational Structure

Analysis of Roles & Responsibilities

Process Analysis

Internal Capabilities & Resources

Audience & User Research

Personas

Scenarios

Market Analysis

Existing brand materials

Heuristic assessment of digital land

Analytics Review

Competitive Analysis

Content Strategy

Content Inventory

Content Audit

Gap Analysis

Editorial/blog strategy

SEO strategy

Technology Assessment & Strategy

Objectives for apps

Technical proposal

Development Environments

Specifics and dev methods