A cleaning industry entrepreneur, an international business student, and most importantly, a good friend of mine approached me with a start-up idea for a platform designed for cleaning entrepreneurs and their customers. As he laid out the concept, I realized this was an idea that deserved to come to life.

Together, we outlined the concept, starting with a workshop that focused on essential questions: what, why, and how? We discussed the unique value the platform would offer, concluding that its purpose is to connect cleaning entrepreneurs with their customers. Essentially, it would be an online platform where customers can easily book cleaning services, while cleaners are equipped with tools to work more efficiently and save time.

After that, I dove into the most enjoyable part—the branding process. Coming up with the name proved to be the biggest challenge. I needed to find a name that was short, related to cleaning, in Finnish (but also suitable internationally), and with an available .com domain. After brainstorming around a hundred suggestions, I found one that met all the criteria: Puhtor. ("Puhto" translates to "tidy" or "clean" in English).

I still needed to refine the concept we had created to make it sharper and more engaging. I played around with the concept, ultimately refining in on two key factors: ease and cleanliness. These principles became the cornerstone of Puhtor’s Unique Selling Proposition. Based on them, I also crafted the brand’s visual identity. And that’s how Puhtor was born—a platform designed to make everyone’s life easier and cleaner.

So, how to build a brand from scratch with little experience in brand design?
The discovered formula:
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1. Have a passion towards brand design
2. Don’t bother counting the hours.