Brand Direction for teams on a mission

ENQUIRE

Brand | Strategy | Leadership

For teams on a Mission

LUCERNE x BERLIN

AI can make anything. It still can't tell you what's worth making.

Studio Schafstall is the brand direction practice of Simon Schafstall. Ten years in advertising, then five inside Trade Republic and LIQID, building brands and creative teams through hypergrowth. Companies come here for the part no tool does for them: judgment and taste.

bringing 15 years of Judgement in Design, Advertsing & Branding

№ 1 — Interim Creative Leadership

1–3 days / week

3–12 months

By appointment

Your brand lead left. Or doesn't exist yet. The team ships without judgment, and a mis-hire costs you a year.

Embedded, one to three days a week. I build or bridge the creative team, set the standards, hold the quality gate, and manage the stakeholders until your own leadership stands.

Fractional if you never planned to fill the full role.

Your brand lead left. Or doesn't exist yet. The team ships without judgment, and a mis-hire costs you a year.

Embedded, one to three days a week. I build or bridge the creative team, set the standards, hold the quality gate, and manage the stakeholders until your own leadership stands.

Fractional if you never planned to fill the full role.

Track record — I’ve held this seat three times: building in-house creative teams at Trade Republic and LIQID from zero, and bridging the incoming Brand Director at HERO Software.

№ 2 — Brand Direction Sprint

№ 2 — Brand Direction

Sprint

3-5 weeks

Starting at 10.000 CHF

Your brand was built for a smaller company, or an earlier one. Now something's coming that it can't carry: a raise, a launch, a trade show, a new audience.

Three to five weeks, hands on, iterative and interactive. We decide what the brand should stand for now and ship it: positioning, voice, identity, or the website that carries it all.

Your brand was built for a smaller company, or an earlier one. Now something's coming that it can't carry: a raise, a launch, a trade show, a new audience.

Three to five weeks, hands on, iterative and interactive. We decide what the brand should stand for now and ship it: positioning, voice, identity, or the website that carries it all.

Production — runs through AI-assisted Pipelines and handpicked human specialists.

№ 3 — Brand Direction Retainer

№ 3 — Brand Direction

Retainer

Monthly

Flexible Depth

Your brand is live, and it never stops needing things. Landing pages. Campaign sets. A new site section. A call that shouldn't wait a week. No single one is a project, but together they never let up.

A monthly retainer gives you both on call: the direction to keep the brand coherent, and the production to keep it visible. You bring the work, it runs through my pipeline or past my desk. Start with a month. Extend if it works.

Your brand is live, and it never stops needing things. Landing pages. Campaign sets. A new site section. A call that shouldn't wait a week. No single one is a project, but together they never let up.

A monthly retainer gives you both on call: the direction to keep the brand coherent, and the production to keep it visible. You bring the work, it runs through my pipeline or past my desk. Start with a month. Extend if it works.

Fit — For teams that need direction and production access, without adding a permanent head.

Selected Cases

Selected cases

WORK

N°1

Trade Republic

One designer to a 13-person in-house agency

2021-23

N°1

Trade Republic

One designer to a 13-person in-house agency

2021-23

N°1

Trade Republic

One designer to a 13-person in-house agency

2021-23

N°2

LIQID

From insurer look to premium wealth brand

2023-24

N°2

LIQID

From insurer look to premium wealth brand

2023-24

N°2

LIQID

From insurer look to premium wealth brand

2023-24

N°3

HERO Software

Eight missions replaced by one architecture

2026

N°3

HERO Software

Eight missions replaced by one architecture

2026

N°3

HERO Software

Eight missions replaced by one architecture

2026

N°4

Deep Tech Momentum

The Deep Tech Renaissance. Ticket sales tripled.

2025-26

N°4

Deep Tech Momentum

The Deep Tech Renaissance. Ticket sales tripled.

2025-26

N°4

Deep Tech Momentum

The Deep Tech Renaissance. Ticket sales tripled.

2025-26

N°5

Sovendus

One positioning 14 markets stand behind

2025

N°5

Sovendus

One positioning 14 markets stand behind

2025

N°5

Sovendus

One positioning 14 markets stand behind

2025

N°6

Private Equity NXT

New product brand, 100M AUM in six months

2024

N°6

Private Equity NXT

New product brand, 100M AUM in six months

2024

N°6

Private Equity NXT

New product brand, 100M AUM in six months

2024

† Foundations 2014—2021: Award-winning campaign work in advertising, including Jung von Matt. Then inside the companies themselves. Then this studio.

† Foundations 2014—2021: Award-winning campaign work in advertising, incl. Jung von Matt before moving inside the companies themselves and founding my studio afterwards

Testimonial N°1

What clients say

"Getting stakeholders from 14 markets aligned and walking away with a positioning the whole team believes in. Clients have noticed. We'd work with them again."

Sebastian Legler

CEO @Sovendus

"We asked Studio Schafstall to rethink our strategy, visual identity and website from the ground up. The work was iterative, thorough and the final result is genuinely strong. What I didn't expect was how well they'd handle the process side: getting stakeholders from 14 markets aligned and walking away with a positioning the whole team believes in. The visual world they created is distinctive and bold. The website reflects exactly what we agreed on in strategy. Clients have noticed. We'd work with them again."

Testimonial N°1

What clients say

"Getting stakeholders from 14 markets aligned and walking away with a positioning the whole team believes in. Clients have noticed. We'd work with them again."

Sebastian Legler

CEO @Sovendus

"We asked Studio Schafstall to rethink our strategy, visual identity and website from the ground up. The work was iterative, thorough and the final result is genuinely strong. What I didn't expect was how well they'd handle the process side: getting stakeholders from 14 markets aligned and walking away with a positioning the whole team believes in. The visual world they created is distinctive and bold. The website reflects exactly what we agreed on in strategy. Clients have noticed. We'd work with them again."

N°1

What clients say

"We asked Studio Schafstall to rethink our strategy, visual identity and website from the ground up. The work was iterative, thorough and the final result is genuinely strong. What I didn't expect was how well they'd handle the process side: getting stakeholders from 14 markets aligned and walking away with a positioning the whole team believes in. The visual world they created is distinctive and bold. The website reflects exactly what we agreed on in strategy. Clients have noticed. We'd work with them again."

Sebastian Legler

CEO @Sovendus

For teams on a Mission

LUCERNE x BERLIN

Simon

SCHAFSTALL

Simon Schafstall

Creative Director

Simon

Schafstall

Creative

Director

Studio Schafstall is the brand direction practice of Simon Schafstall. Creative Director, based in Lucerne, working across Berlin and Switzerland.

Studied media design (Bachelor of Arts), then 10 years in advertising (5 of them at Jung von Matt), where I learned ideas, storytelling and how free pizza and beer don't help you find a big idea on a Sunday evening for a pitch on Monday. Later I built in-house creative teams replacing the agencies I worked for, in hypergrowth scaleups at Trade Republic and LIQID — connecting management, leadership and creative practice.

Today I share 15 years of judgement and taste in the creative industry with ambitious teams and companies shaping brands that stand out in the AI-slop era: distinctive, with a human and/or emotional core that attracts talent, VC money or just eyeballs.

Off work: running by the lake, the mountains, long dinners, breathwork in the morning, or building taste by exploring life.

A small taste of how WE actually work

A small taste of
how WE actually work

Get your
Brand Audit.

Fixed fee CHF 1,400

I will look at your brand the way I would on day one of a real project: your positioning, your messaging, your visual identity. What's working, what's holding you back, and what I'd fix first.

Here's how it works: we start with a short call so I understand your brand, audience and challenges. Then I take a maximum of 3 working days to go through everything. You get a written report plus a call where we go through it together and you can ask questions.

Then it's up to you: keep what you have, or let's build the next version together.

GET IN TOUCH

Brand | Strategy | Leadership

For teams on a Mission

SCHAFSTALL

SCHAFSTALL

SCHAFSTALL

AI can make anything. It still can't tell you what's worth making.

Studio Schafstall is the brand direction practice of Simon Schafstall. Ten years in advertising, then five inside Trade Republic and LIQID, building brands and creative teams through hypergrowth. Companies come here for the part no tool does for them: judgment and taste.

Studio Schafstall is the brand direction practice of Simon Schafstall. Ten years in advertising, then five inside Trade Republic and LIQID, building brands and creative teams through hypergrowth. Companies come here for the part no tool does for them: judgment and taste.

Studio Schafstall is the brand direction practice of Simon Schafstall. Ten years in advertising, then five inside Trade Republic and LIQID, building brands and creative teams through hypergrowth. Companies come here for the part no tool does for them: judgment and taste.

bringing 15 years of Judgement in Design, Advertsing & Branding

Your brand lead left. Or doesn't exist yet. The team ships without judgment, and a mis-hire costs you a year.

Embedded, one to three days a week. I build or bridge the creative team, set the standards, hold the quality gate, and manage the stakeholders until your own leadership stands.Fractional if you never planned to fill the full role.

Your brand lead left. Or doesn't exist yet. The team ships without judgment, and a mis-hire costs you a year.

Embedded, one to three days a week. I build or bridge the creative team, set the standards, hold the quality gate, and manage the stakeholders until your own leadership stands.Fractional if you never planned to fill the full role.

Your brand was built for a smaller company, or an earlier one. Now something's coming that it can't carry: a raise, a launch, a trade show, a new audience.

Three to five weeks, hands on, iterative and interactive. We decide what the brand should stand for now and ship it: positioning, voice, identity, or the website that carries it all.

Your brand was built for a smaller company, or an earlier one. Now something's coming that it can't carry: a raise, a launch, a trade show, a new audience.

Three to five weeks, hands on, iterative and interactive. We decide what the brand should stand for now and ship it: positioning, voice, identity, or the website that carries it all.

Your brand is live, and it never stops needing things. Landing pages. Campaign sets. A new site section. A call that shouldn't wait a week. No single one is a project, but together they never let up.

A monthly retainer gives you both on call: the direction to keep the brand coherent, and the production to keep it visible. You bring the work, it runs through my pipeline or past my desk. Start with a month. Extend if it works.

Your brand is live, and it never stops needing things. Landing pages. Campaign sets. A new site section. A call that shouldn't wait a week. No single one is a project, but together they never let up.

A monthly retainer gives you both on call: the direction to keep the brand coherent, and the production to keep it visible. You bring the work, it runs through my pipeline or past my desk. Start with a month. Extend if it works.

Selected Cases

Selected cases

WORK

WORK

N°1

Trade Republic

One designer to a 13-person in-house agency

2021-23

N°1

Trade Republic

One designer to a 13-person in-house agency

2021-23

N°1

Trade Republic

One designer to a 13-person in-house agency

2021-23

N°2

LIQID

From insurer look to premium wealth brand

2023-24

N°2

LIQID

From insurer look to premium wealth brand

2023-24

N°2

LIQID

From insurer look to premium wealth brand

2023-24

N°3

HERO Software

Eight missions replaced by one architecture

2026

N°3

HERO Software

Eight missions replaced by one architecture

2026

N°3

HERO Software

Eight missions replaced by one architecture

2026

N°4

Deep Tech Momentum

The Deep Tech Renaissance. Ticket sales tripled.

2025-26

N°4

Deep Tech Momentum

The Deep Tech Renaissance. Ticket sales tripled.

2025-26

N°4

Deep Tech Momentum

The Deep Tech Renaissance. Ticket sales tripled.

2025-26

N°5

Sovendus

One positioning 14 markets stand behind

2025

N°5

Sovendus

One positioning 14 markets stand behind

2025

Embedded, one to three days a week. I build or bridge the creative team, set the standards, hold the quality gate, and manage the stakeholders until your own leadership stands.

Fractional if you never planned to fill the full role.

Embedded, one to three days a week. I build or bridge the creative team, set the standards, hold the quality gate, and manage the stakeholders until your own leadership stands.

Fractional if you never planned to fill the full role.

A small taste of
how WE actually work

Get your
Brand Audit.