About
We are Werklig, the Nordic brand alchemists – a Helsinki-based people helping our clients cut through and create growth for their cause. And what is this Nordic Brand Alchemy, you might ask? And we’d answer that it’s our code for taking Nordic know-how, efficiency and co-creation spirit out into the world, to build progressive brands that move society forward.
It all started in 2008 in Helsinki, Finland. When two friends, Janne and Anssi, created Werklig. The fresh-faced brand and design agency kid(s) in town. They believed (and still believe) branding needs to grow up. Over a decade and 600 clients later, we are now a bigger group of friends: strategists, creative thinkers and designers. Genuine people who believe in a collaborative effort, where shared insights and dreams most probably lead to great results.
We all share one obsession – branding. We approach it with Werklig’s (left) field-tested methodology, rooted in our clients’ truths. We bring together different people, perspectives and ambitions, and turn them into a shared direction. Complexity becomes clarity.
We admit we are fiercely driven and hungry for success, for our clients and ourselves. We are always transparent about our work and perspectives, because it helps us build honest relationships with our clients, so we can create meaningful work and unconventional, fresh solutions.
Team
We have a saying: Things are good if you smile at least twice a day. When you enter the studio in the morning and when you open the door to your home. At Werklig there’s an unspoken trust that allows us to be our odd selves, a precondition for any ingenious work. We draw our strength from different backgrounds, languages, talents and perspectives. A bunch of free-wheeling people who like to question pretty much everything. Read more about each and everyone of us here!
Anssi Kähärä
Creative director, co-founder
Anssi co-founded Werklig and wears the chief creative hat. He is a fervent advocate for the design industry: Secretary General of the International Council of Design since 2024 and previously Chair of Grafia (the Association of Visual Communication Designers in Finland). He also likes to talk (a lot) at design events. Dad to dog named Neko (cat in Japanese).
Janne Kaitala
CEO, co-founder
Janne is the other co-founder of Werklig and has been its CEO ever since. His passion has always been finding inspiration in authenticity: he roots for all his clients and believes truth rings bigger bells. Did you know he was the daredevil Finnish Snowboarder of the Year in 1999? Dad to dog called Sumu (fog in Finnish).
Jan Rudkiewicz
Lead designer, partner
Jan joined Werklig as a designer in 2011 and became a partner in 2013. He is a perceptive designer and a total people person (last to leave any meeting) who believes branding should never be just sugar-coating. He has built brands for places and global companies and won many awards along the way. Dad to a dog called Happu.
Liisa Puolakka
Head of strategy & foresight
Liisa has delivered brand strategy with her big-picture brain at Werklig since 2019. Before, she spent over twenty years in London, including a decade at Nokia and heading its global Brand Identity. She shares all she knows by teaching at ArtCenter College of Design in Los Angeles. Co-author of The Only Book You Will Ever Need on Branding (Little, Brown, 2015). Owner of two Siberian cats: Lilu (say leeloo) and Katniss.
Heidi Säynäjoki
Head of client engagement
Heidi has led client engagement at Werklig since 2023. She handles complex brand projects with clarity, determination and confidence like no other. Before Werklig she worked at Lähitaksi (delivering award-winning stuff), ice-hockey club Jokerit and communications agency Vapa Media. Preferably she would have a dog, but that would get in the way of her travels.
Esa Matinvesi
Head of digital
Esa has led digital at Werklig since 2025. He adores both typography and design – and the systems behind them. Before Werklig he spent a decade in London as Head of Web and Brand Design at Soapbox, as well as in design roles at CNN Digital, The Times and Port Magazine. A graduate of the Royal College of Art, Esa now serves on the board of Grafia. He co-parents a dog called Helmi (Finnish for pearl).
Anni Koskimies
Lead designer
Anni has been designer at Werklig since 2020. She is a serious wizard at visual storytelling, creative direction and magicking extraordinary brand worlds. Her work has been appropriately recognised with awards. A lover of all animalia (but cats win hands down), this enthusiastic gardener of a local allotment keeps Werkligians in fresh flowers every summer. And those surely creative cats are called Alvar and Vincent.
Juuso Siltanen
Lead designer
Juuso has been a designer at Werklig since 2019. has a special genius for deciphering clients’ deepest needs. His work has won international awards, including the famed Red Dot Grand Prix, ADC*E gold and Dieline Best. A graduate of the Estonian Academy of Arts, he is happiest roaming the northern forests among the wildlife, ideally hiking, boating and fishing about. At the office you’ll find him in the vintage sofa corner. Juuso is a definite would-be dog owner.
Teyu Liao
Motion & graphic designer
Teyu has made brands move in the way most natural to them at Werklig since 2026. She conjures creativity, emotion and life into a kind of magic on screen. Urban culture lover and Aalto Art graduate. A highly applauded founder of the Werklig running club, Teyu is Haru the cat’s devoted human (Haru is Japanese for spring).
Henna Rajala
Project coordinator
Henna has kept projects running at Werklig since 2025 – as smoothly as she runs in our running club. Previously at Drama Queen Communications and TBWAHelsinki. Henna travels enviably light, the further the better, and never misses a chance to head off solo along an unbeaten track. One day she would like to own, not any dog, but a black mutt (less lint-rolling).
Q&A
A few things worth asking — and answering.
What is Werklig?
Werklig is a Finnish brand and design agency based in Helsinki, Finland. We are a team of brand specialists: strategists, designers, content creators and people who keep projects on precise track.
What does Werklig do?
We help our clients build their brands through our craft: analysis and strategy, brand architecture, naming, verbal identity and brand identity – creating systems that guide how brands look, speak and behave. We develop new brands and renew existing ones, and apply them across digital and physical touchpoints.
What kind of organisations do you work with?
Our clients range from public sector organisations, cities, regions and cultural institutions to businesses in diverse fields like health, sustainability, technology and food. What they share is a drive to make a difference in society as well as in their market.
What kind of branding work do you do?
Our work ranges from defining a brand’s strategic direction to designing how people experience it. This includes strategic and creative landscape analysis, customer and stakeholder research, brand positioning, brand architecture, audience and activation planning, naming, tone of voice, identity systems, motion, photography and film, and their application across packaging, digital products and physical spaces.
What makes Werklig different?
Our clients often face a complex reality: many stakeholders, many voices and a cause that matters beyond their current market. We bring those people into the process and turn what they share and envision into one clear brand. Our approach, Nordic brand alchemy, combines the precision of brand engineering with efficient and joyful collaboration, so the brands we build make a difference in society as well as in their market.
How do you work with clients?
We work closely with our clients and co-create with them, facilitating workshops and conversations that bring different perspectives together and align them around a shared direction. Our projects are structured and transparent. We iterate together along the way, and everything we make is designed to be clear and usable in practice.
What kind of projects are a good fit for Werklig?
We are best suited to clients that are building, renewing or scaling their brand, especially when they need to clarify their direction and create brand coherence across touchpoints. We welcome projects beyond Finland too, particularly those that involve engaging large and complex stakeholder groups, from citizens, civic actors and politicians to consumers, customers and companies. We would love to hear from organisations in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Poland!
Do you work on a project basis or long-term partnerships?
We work both on defined projects and through long-term partnerships. Often the most impactful work happens over time, when the brand can be developed, applied and refined in close collaboration. We aim to build relationships where the work doesn’t end at delivery, but continues as the brand evolves.
Where is Werklig based, and where do you work?
Werklig is based in Helsinki, Finland, and works with clients locally and internationally. We collaborate with organisations across markets and industries, wherever their ambitions take them, and us with them.
Say hello and tell us