The Yarn Whisperer — Sina Bahjat

Step 01

Competitor Research

Before putting pen to paper, I mapped the competitive landscape. I analysed four existing craft and knitwear brands — studying their visual identity, social presence, tone of voice, and target audience.

The research revealed a clear gap: most brands leaned either too maximalist and bold, or too generic and minimal. The Yarn Whisperer had space to occupy something intimate, handcrafted, and quietly magical — a brand that felt like a person, not a product.

Cavia Playful · Streetwear

Katie Jones Bold · Colourful

Loris Dreamy · Soft

WYP Minimal · Serious

The Gap Found

"None occupied the intimate, handcrafted, quietly magical space. That became TYW's territory."

Playful Streetwear

Loud & Bold Colourful

Down to Earth Dreamy

Loris — handmade knitwear, Melbourne

Minimal Streetwear

WYP — waste yarn project

Traditional Crafty Believer Artistic Emotional Sensitive DIYer Friend Listener Imaginative Lover Spiritual Social Whimsical Passionate Fairytale

Step 02

Brand Persona

Rather than building a generic target audience brief, I created a person — someone crafty and imaginative, a DIYer with a spiritual side, traditional yet whimsical.

Words like fairytale, emotional, artistic, believer, passionate shaped the mood and tone. This person became the lens through which every colour, typeface, and logo sketch was evaluated.

Tone

Intimate · Warm · Magical

Audience

Creative women, 25–45

Personality

Crafty, whimsical, spiritual

Values

Handmade, slow living

Step 03

Moodboard

The moodboard translated the persona into a visual world — warm and earthy, but with an undercurrent of mystery. Celestial imagery, hand-drawn botanicals, tarot card aesthetics, and old editorial illustration all fed the direction.

The visual direction locked in here: handcrafted, poetic, intimate — never slick or corporate. A brand that looks like it carries memories.

Drag the images around — rearrange the board however you like.

Colour Palette

Sand

Bark

Taupe

Ink

Cream

Visual references — drag to rearrange ✦

Step 04

Brainstorm Loop

Before sketching, I did a timed brainstorm session — letting ideas flow freely without editing. This process loop captures the raw thinking: word associations, symbol exploration, and quick visual bursts that feed the sketch phase.

The video shows the brainstorming session in real time — a behind-the-scenes look at how a brand concept begins to take shape.

Brainstorm loop — creative process captured in real time

Step 05

Logo Sketches

The sketching phase explored a wide range of directions — hands, hooks, botanical wreaths, moon motifs — before narrowing to three refined candidates, each tested with different typefaces until the hands + wreath + TYW monogram direction stood apart.

Concepts

30+

Refined

Final

Initial brainstorm — hands, hooks, botanicals, moons, yarn motifs

Refined Candidates

Candidate 1 — guiding star + wool threads

Candidate 2 — celestial moon + crescent

Candidate 3 — star magic, final direction

Logo & Type Development

Finalised vector logo system — icon, monogram, supporting elements

Typeface exploration — ornamental & decorative pairings

Typeface weight study — four weights compared

Step 06

Final Design

Primary icon mark — crochet hook, botanicals, TYW monogram

Wordmark on brand taupe — celestial serif with star accent

"Intimate, handcrafted, quietly magical — a brand that looks like it carries memories."

The final system brought together the hands + wreath icon mark, the TYW monogram, a celestial serif wordmark, and a warm taupe-and-cream palette. Every touchpoint — tote bags, hang tags, mailer boxes, business cards — carries the same quiet, artisan energy.