Wonderfuel Issue Number 8 – Joy happens when you stop looking and start seeing

I walked past this pile of logs and thought nothing of it at all because it was exactly what it appeared to be. Just logs. Just quietly doing the job they were meant to do. Nothing at all.

Then I looked again.

And suddenly I couldn’t unsee it.

Those logs weren’t finished. They were waiting be reimagined. Waiting to be played with. Waiting to become something more joyful than they were ever designed to be.

This pile of logs was crying out for me to come back and turn them into coloured pencils.

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Because creativity doesn’t always arrive with fireworks or big moments that announce themselves loudly. Sometimes it taps you gently on the shoulder and says look again.

That’s the bit I love.

Joy isn’t something you add at the end once the work is done. It’s something you notice right at the start.

The world is full of raw materials and most people only ever see what is.The magic happens when you allow yourself to see what could be. ✨

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// Quote of the week //

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// The founder diary //

I have a motto.

“Whoever has the most fun wins.”

A line written by Jamed Clear hat I say to myself every morning usually before the day properly begins and before my head fills up with lists responsibilities and all the things that come with running a business.

It’s my own call to action. My own rallying cry.It’s not about being silly or avoiding the hard stuff, but about remembering why I’m doing this in the first place and who I want to be while I’m doing it

Making sure I have fun every day is my reminder to live life to its fullest to enjoy the moments as they’re happening rather than rushing past them and to stay grateful for everything I already have while I’m busy building what comes next.

Lots of businesses have mottos. Lots don’t.

And no the successful ones aren’t only the ones with a slogan painted on a wall or neatly typeset in a brand book somewhere.

They’re the ones that know what they’re trying to do every single day the ones that wake up with a sense of intent and direction and that clarity alone goes a surprisingly long way.

Your motto doesn’t even have to be yours.

If a thought created by someone else lands with you and it hits you in the chest rather than the head and if it resonates deeply enough that you find yourself returning to it again and again, then it’s already yours. You believe it. You align yourself with it. You start to live by it without even realising.

And that’s the point.

Because having a motto isn’t really about words at all.

It’s about direction. About how you choose to show up. About how you make decisions when things feel messy. About how you quietly measure whether today was a good day or not.

Having a motto is having a plan.

And mine reminds me of this every single morning.

If I’m not enjoying the journey

I’m probably building the wrong thing.

Here’s to more fun. More feeling. More Wonderment.

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// The joyful brand – Who Gives a Crap Loo Roll //

For me Who Gives A Crap is one of those brands that really shouldn’t work because it sits in one of the most functional and forgettable categories imaginable.

Toilet roll. No desire. No aspiratio. No emotion. Until they created one.

Launched in 2012, the brand took something ordinary and made it unexpectedly joyful simply by changing how it looks feels and shows up in your home.

The packaging is genuinely amazing. It couldn’t be less loo roll if it tried.

Bold colours and playful patterns with a paper wrap instead of plastic and a box that feels more like a design delivery than a bathroom essential. It doesn’t hide in the cupboard it happily sits there adding character to a room that rarely gets any.

Even the logo feels soft rounded and friendly almost cushioned like the loo roll itself.

And then there are the details. Inside every box sits the red emergency roll designed for that exact moment when you suddenly realise you’re down to your last sheet. Practical yes but also playful reassuring and quietly thoughtful.

They didn’t try to make toilet paper better. They made living with it better.

When it arrives it doesn’t feel like a necessity. It feels like a moment. A small lift delivered to your door.

Fifty percent of profits are donated to clean water and sanitation charities around the world quietly built into the business rather than shouted about.

During COVID when supermarket shelves emptied Who Gives A Crap became a calm alternative people trusted and returned to. During this period they sold 30 to 40 times their normal amount of loo roll.

Sometimes it’s about taking something ordinary and treating it with imagination care and humanity.

And when even loo roll can make you smile you know something’s gone very right. 🧻

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// From the archives – The Harley Street Clinic Children’s Hospital //

“Please can we have a flyer to promote our Paediatric services.”

A reasonable request but one that made me pause because paediatric care isn’t really about promotion it’s about reassurance trust and how people feel the moment they walk through the door with their child.

So instead of asking what the flyer should say I asked a different question.

What if we created a Children’s Hospital brand instead?

Because paediatric care isn’t just a service. It’s a moment of vulnerability.

And vulnerability doesn’t need more information it needs comfort.

That thinking became The Art of Paediatric Care.

Produced while Creative Partner at Atticus, the challenge was to create something that felt child friendly without being childlike. A brand that could speak softly to children while still retaining the intricacy expertise and clinical excellence synonymous with The Harley Street Clinic.

The answer came through intricate origami animals chosen for their delicacy and symbolism and for the way they could humanise a clinical environment without undermining its credibility.

Carefully folded. Thoughtful. Precise. Much like paediatric care itself.

To extend that feeling I created a stop motion animation that brought the animals to life adding movement warmth and a sense of quiet wonder.

Here’s a link to the stop motion film (sound up)

This wasn’t decoration.

It was emotional design.

A reminder that in children’s healthcare branding doesn’t need to be louder.

Sometimes it just needs to be kinder.

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// Out with the Brand Guideline Book and in with the Brand Recipe Book//

Turns out there’s a better way to create brands. It just took me 30 years to find it.

Most brand guidelines don’t fail because people are too creative. They fail because no one knows what really matters.

In this article on my blog, Joynal, I explore why traditional brand books often suffocate brands instead of supporting them and why clarity beats control every time.

A must read for all you branding boffins out there.

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