We are
customer-obsessed
research-first
very foodie
brand nerds
Beautiful Useful.
Founded by Ange Friesen
Brand strategist, writer & total optimist
I love things.
Really. I’m obsessed with finding the perfect *anything* — coffee mug, bicycle helmet, to-do list app. Whatever.
Because instead of closets full of things, I want those few perfect objects that feel special and totally me. They need to look and feel beautiful — and they need to work beautifully.
I founded Beautiful Useful to be a home and a launchpad for such perfect things.
Our name was inspired by designer William Morris’s golden rule:
“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”
I’d add this: ideally both.
Because I apply that same obsession with beauty to brand + messaging.
Every word and line needs to ring just right.
I especially love those quirky little moments that make a brand shine — the perfect line waiting to greet your customers when they open the box; or a little thank you note when they sign up for your emails.
Those are the moments that, for me, take a brand from “just a brand” to something people can fall in love with.
We’re dreamers and doers.
Who we are
Beautiful Useful is a brand strategy and messaging studio led by founder Ange Friesen (me!) in collaboration with a trusted team of brilliant creatives.
My background is brand strategy + messaging and copywriting, and I work with UX designers, brand designers, content strategists and copywriters — along with anyone else we need to make the project as stellar as it can be.
Everyone we work with is brilliant and kind, and incredibly good at what they do.
Who we work with
Our focus is on product — whether that’s digital or physical. Whether you’re getting ready to launch, or have already made it to big name status, here’s what really matters:
You’re building something with design at the heart of things.
You want it to be beautiful, and you want it to really work.
You want people to say “I can’t believe I ever lived without [your thing].”
You want it to be the best in its category.
You believe we’re creating the world with everything we do, so we better make it good.
And you believe we can — and should — have fun doing all of the above.
You might be wondering where I get these big ideas about branding and marketing, and whether I can back them up with real world results. (Good wondering. And yep.)
I started my career at Joseph Mimran & Associates, a Toronto brand consultancy where I worked exclusively on product and packaging for one of Canada’s biggest retailers.
I then trained to become a depth psychotherapist (yes, really). I studied psychology and psychotherapy for three years, learning everything I could about how humans create meaning for themselves.
Somewhere along the way, I realized that it was way more fun to apply those same tools and practices to ideas and brands. And so, brand therapy was born.
Since launching in 2016 I’ve:
+ Worked with clients all over the world (including the US, the UK, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Bangladesh and beyond)
+ worked with tiny startups, massive global brands, and everything in between
+ helped big name clients smash their sales targets and launch their highest selling products ever
+ helped indie designers hit 680% funded on Kickstarter (and turn their side project into their full time thing)
+ helped founders and creatives connect with their deepest, biggest vision for their ideas, and then figure out how to bring that into the world