Photo: janajulian.com
Yvonne Ryding
Start: 2012
Case story: Back in 1984, life changed overnight for Yvonne Ryding. She won the prestigious title Miss Universe and it changed her life from the one of a normal school girl into the one of a superstar celebrity.
Back then I saw her winning the contest on the news. I could not even think that we would work together anytime or under any circumstances. I didn't think so even when I opened up the door into that conference room for a meeting 28 years later.
Yvonne 1984. Check out her website today: YRSkincare.com
The meeting was booked with another client. I was late and surprised and I interrupted Yvonne in the middle of her presentation. Obviously the wrong guy at the wrong place at the wrong time. I hoped that the meaning of the expression "Better make a bad impression than no impression at all" would help me out. It did.
Yvonne with her daughter Sandra up among the mountains of Bruksvallarna in Sweden. Now both of them are working with the development of the skincare products and the development of the brand. Photo: janajulian.com
2012 – A re-branding assignment
Yvonne wanted to update and strengthen her skin care line YR. The brand was launched after her Miss Universe year. It had developed and grown along the way but Yvonne was holding onto her original idea – natural skin care products made in Sweden. With as many natural ingredients as possible. It was not only a re-design assignment of the existing products and the need for new packaging, it grew into an assignment about moving the brand even further towards being a conscious and sustainable global brand and producer.
The first assignment – find a new design for YR Base Line products. We went for one strong color and determined a consistency using the ribbon with the YR on all products and upcoming product lines.
2013 – Introducing Natural beauty from the North
The brand design, the logo and the strategies for new product lines, recipes and ingredients were developing as the assignment rolled on. Yvonne wanted to focus more on ingredients from her own natural environments – the mountains, the forests and the fields. A Scandinavian ingredient list was the goal while keeping the production in Sweden.
Northern Sweden – an environment Yvonne loves to spend lots of time in.
Yvonne being part of the making of her skin care products, products she use everyday herself.
We updated and re-designed the logo, we wrote and designed a comprehensive style guide in order to lift the essentials and streamline the design and production for new times, new product lines and new markets. Demands from an international market as well as new market segments in Sweden called for these new steps.
A comprehensive style guide with the history, strategic structure, logo design, fonts, do's and dont's, design instructions, ads, text tonality and Search Engine Optimization guidelines etc.
2014 – Launching the new line YR Spa
The new product line YR Spa, was developed with new recipes, based on berries and plants from Sweden. Natural ingredients we all can find out in the nature...and in fact swallow with pleasure: Blueberry. lingon berry, blackberry, cloudberry, heather and juniper. They are scientifically tested (not on animals) and proven to have physiological natural effects on our skin.
The name YR Spa was established and the line "a spa moment at home" introduced. Check out the product line on the website.
Knowing what is in the new YR Spa line makes it tempting to taste it as well.
2015 – The new schampoo line
A line of schampoo products were produced in cooperation with Swedish fashion magazine founder, Amelia Adamo. Hair products based on modern technology with mild tencides. Designed to help already treated hair and dry scalps.
1984-2020 Miss Universe and the brand
The year of 1983 changed Yvonne's life. She was an ordinary high school girl from a small town in Sweden. Her actual plan was to become a nurse, but destiny wanted something else. She was elected to be the Swedish "Lucia" in a competition organized by a Swedish fashion magazine.
The year after she was persuaded to represent Sweden in the 1984 Miss Universe contest. So, she borrowed a dress and went to Miami, Florida. And she won in front of 600 million TV-viewers. Overnight she became an official beauty queen and a global superstar celebrity.
Served breakfast in her hotel room bed the morning after winning the Miss Universe title. She was alone in bed, but the room was packed with some 50 photographers and journalists, eager to get the best shot and comment.
Yvonne ended up living a life she and most others only had seen in the movies, and she got the opportunity to travel all over the world and meet foreign cultures, celebrities and politicians, new demands, new people...and always, the media.
MOVING BACK TO SWEDEN
The experience of being Miss Universe gave Yvonne strength and courage, and she continued to work in New York as a spokesperson for various products while modelling for magazines and TV-channels. After four years of hard work "out there" she moved back to Sweden. She married and settled north of Stockholm. The following year her first daughter Sandra was born and a few years later her next daughter Natalie was born.
A proud mother of two daughters.
STARTING UP A NEW SKIN CARE LINE
One of Yvonne's big dreams was to create a self-made skin care line. She had experienced constant traveling for years, and learned how to take care of her self and of her skin. The years abroad had also made her realize that Sweden was a "brand" with a certain strength and quality.
In 1995, YR Skin Care was founded. In 1997 she launched her first products with a bang. The market welcomed it with enthusiasm and the sales took off.
YR GOING GLOBAL
The product lines and the brand YR Skincare is marching out on larger markets. 2021 will be an exciting year with new launches abroad and back home in Sweden. Follow the development on the website www.yrskincare.com
Creds:
Brand management: B Bertoft
Art and copy: B Bertoft
Photo: Jana Julian and others
Video: Jana Julian, Hanne Rostad, B Bertoft