Encircled Inc.
Encircled Inc. is a Canadian, female-founded clothing brand making sustainable, ethically made pieces that are comfortable, travel-friendly and produced in Canada.
They already had a brand identity. What they needed was help bringing it to life across everything else. I worked with them as a freelance designer for about a year, starting with a rollout of new brand assets and continuing with ongoing design support.
The challenge
A brand identity is only the starting point. For a clothing company, most of the brand experience happens in the details: the tissue paper inside the bag, the card tucked in with an order, the post in someone’s feed. Encircled had a recognizable look, but no brand guidelines to show how it should work across all of those pieces.
Without guidelines, every new piece becomes a fresh set of decisions, and small differences add up over time. The first job was to set some rules, so every piece that followed would feel like it came from the same brand.
There was also the brand’s purpose to respect. Encircled is built on sustainability, so the work couldn’t just look eco-friendly. It needed to be eco-friendly, using recycled and minimal materials wherever possible, while still feeling polished enough for a quality clothing brand.
What I did
- Brand guidelines
- Tissue paper patterns
- Thank-you cards and postcards
- Retail bags
- Signage
- Social media posts
The solution
I started with the foundation. Working from their existing identity, I set up brand guidelines that defined how the logo, colours, type and visual style should be used, so every new piece had a clear starting point.
From there, I designed the details customers actually hold in their hands. Custom tissue paper patterns turn opening an order into part of the brand experience. Thank-you cards and postcards add a personal touch to every package. Retail bags carry the brand out the door.
Sustainability guided the practical choices throughout. Wherever possible, the pieces use recycled and minimal materials, with simple, clean layouts that let natural textures do the work. The result looks considered and modern, and it backs up what the brand stands for instead of just talking about it.
On social, I created posts that blend Encircled’s story with their products, and the signage carries the same look into physical spaces. Because everything follows the same guidelines, the tissue paper, the postcard and the Instagram post all clearly belong together.
Value delivered
Over about a year, Encircled went from a strong identity without rules to a consistent brand system that shows up the same way across packaging, print, signage and social.
The guidelines give the team a clear reference for every new piece, so they no longer have to start from scratch. And because the packaging is built from recycled and minimal materials, the details customers hold in their hands now back up the sustainability the brand is built on.
