“I’ve been building my brand for twelve years and felt it was time to give a visual explanation to what it stands for. I am in the process of building my international footprint and feel that I need a strong visual identity. I want the brand to inspire people to reach their full potential and no matter what, rise to the challenges set before them,” explains Wagner.
Carla Enslin, Vega’s head of strategy and new business development, says, “It was a privilege to be involved in the project and a growth experience to develop a brand identity for a person not able to see. My own understanding of personal challenge, perspective and determination was confronted on every level.
“Hein is remarkably intuitive – as a result, the process of uncovering why and how his person brand matters produced an original and compelling strategic direction. We were able to define his universal belief in the individual power to transform and to achieve what is thought to be unattainable.
“As the project evolved from a strategic to a visual platform, we encountered Hein’s world of touch and feel - he also has synaesthesia, when one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. It was important that his logo was true to his identity – authentic, committed and tactile.”
Wagner agrees, “Carla assisted me so much with what I wanted to achieve with my brand identity. We then approached Sugars Creative and they followed her brief to create the perfect visual identity.”
Karen Ehlers, director and business developer at Sugars Creative, loved the challenge. “We met Hein and were inspired by his motivation and outlook. We immediately felt that we were up for the challenge to design something that would communicate his charismatic, innovative and inspirational personality.”
Her business partner and design honcho at the agency, Sarita Kruger, adds, “We wanted to design something that could live in the visual and tangible realm – not something we usually consider. It was the first time that we had to design an identity for someone who could not physically see what we designed. We explored the other senses and tried to put ourselves in his shoes. We considered that his fingertips are his eyes and it flowed from there. It is very personal – we stylised his fingerprint into an icon that is not only visually appealing, but with print finishing techniques. We can make it tangible. We had all the proposed options laser cut for Wagner to feel the logos and give his input.
“We also believe that legs are crucial to any brand’s identity. Icons and elements of the logo need to be versatile to become design elements. The icon should be strong enough to live on its own and over images, etc. Hein’s fingerprint does exactly that.”
Wagner confirms that a huge part of getting to understand his surroundings is through his fingers. “The new brand visuals capture that perfectly. It sends out multiple messages, but the most important one for me is that no matter which one of your senses are the strongest, use them all to help you achieve your goals.
“Also, when I leave my finger print on something, I strive to leave whatever that may be in a better state than before I touched it. Tactile is a great guide for the blind and I want my brand to be universally accessible. What Sugars Creative designed will go a long way to help me achieve my international goals. The great thing about the new brand is that I can apply my brand to all sorts of products - be it clothing, perfume, furniture - you name it! I think they did a great job in marrying my world with that of the sighted.
Wagner concludes: “I want to thank all involved including Sugars Creative, Carla Enslin and Purple Pine PR for helping me achieve this major milestone. It is no easy task to marry what the blind experience with what the sighted world can see. I’ll be spending more time in Europe with my fiancé and new-born daughter and hope to take my brand to new and exciting places in the near future.”
