Otherness partners with lifestyle and luxury brands that refuse to choose between creative excellence and commercial ambition.
Our projects span the hospitality & travel, healthcare & wellness, beauty, and premium & luxury segments. Clients also include direct-to-consumer companies and startups forging new ground. The result sets each brand apart with an otherworldly pull to discover more.
What makes our partnership work
You want direct access
Work with a small core team dedicated to your project. We draw on a trusted network of world-class talent as the brief demands, upholding rigorous standards and consistent client care.
You want informed perspective
Engage in an immersive strategy process to understand your brand. We carry out deep cultural and historical research to determine how to respect the past while meaningfully connecting with audiences today.
You want something unmistakably yours
Work with a small core team dedicated to your project. We draw on a trusted network of world-class talent as the brief demands, upholding rigorous standards and consistent client care.
You want results that get straight to wor
Be ready to take your working system into the real world with confidence. We equip and mentor teams to carry the brand forward, creating the conditions for it to thrive.
Joel Derksen
Founded by award-winning designer Joel Derksen, the agency takes a strategy-led approach, directing design to answer what the business needs.
Our process together
What came before us?
- Category & Competitor Analysis
- Trend analysis
- Design thinking
- Archival research
What matters about us?
- Brand positioning
- Brand strategy
- Brand Audits
- Brand toolkit analysis
How do we look today?
- Naming
- Art and creative direction
- Voice, tone and copywriting
- Branding, visual identity and standards
How do we adapt, evolve?
- Brand execution
- Packaging and print design
- Website design
- Implementation planning
- Brand training
Joel Derksen
Joel completed his formal studies and launched his design career in Canada, working with boutique clients and agencies across the country. He then left for Europe, working for premium brands like Acura, Salomon and Bacardi, while nurturing his own smaller clients.
Services
- Brand strategy
- Brand positioning
- Brand audits and visual strategy
- Archival research
- Trend analysis
- Design thinking & consulting
- Brand naming & naming strategies
- Campaign art direction
- Editorial & book design
- Art and creative direction
- Voice, tone and copywriting
- Branding, visual identity and standards
- Brand execution
- Packaging and print design
- Website design
- In-house team support and mentorship
Notable clients
- Aero
- Medable
- Zalando
- Kinfill
- Nike
- Colaris
- LCBO
- Wine Growers Canada (VQA)
- Toronto Botanical Gardens
- Salomon
- Virgin Atlantic
- BN International
- Bacardi
- Alitalia
Notable recognition
- Offcuts
- CreativeBoom
- The Brand Identity
- idN
- Cannes
- One Show
- Webby
- Graphis
- CreativeBoom
- TheDieline
- Mindsparkle Mag
