Service design and branding can revive a business, while personal growth forms the foundation of it, especially for a solo entrepreneur.

Turning passion into business

While working in a creative field, thesis author Soile Timonen founded her first e-commerce as a hobby during spring 2020, when Covid-19 landed to Finland. The e-commerce was self-crafted, offering city posters, portrait drawings and post cards created with line art techniques. The idea for a ”side hustle” rooted from a pure desire of sharing her visual interpretations of the surroundings with locals and tourists.

The new, minimalistic, single line drawings got a warm welcome locally and the first re-sellers were found with ease. There was clearly potential for more, but without any practical knowledge of business operations, it was challenging to move the business ahead. While still working as a full-time graphic designer, Soile took on the opportunity to study MBA Service Design (2022), in a quest to find practical tools and knowledge for business development.

Pushing boundaries and growing through studies

The combination of family life, full-time work, studies and a business to run, turned out to be an extremely challenging combination. Within one year, burnout was knocking on the door, demanding to either let it in or to slow down immediately. Journeys began from there, realizing the importance of prioritizing, time management, and self-care.

Despite the challenging year, the studies provided a bunch of development opportunities. The business took on a full makeover as it was re-branded and re-named to Tuuline Design. The help of the student community within Service Design programme was invaluable to the business development. The community provided constructive feedback as well as extra hands to work on the research and development phases. For a solo entrepreneur with limited resources, this peer support was a true lifeline in the early stages of business development. The MBA Service Design studies provided a safe space for learning and structured platforms for developing the business during the courses.

Opening eyes to limitless opportunities

After re-branding, with new-found confidence and courage, the year 2024 brought in bigger changes than the entrepreneur knew possible. The offering of single line artwork was expanded from city posters to business illustrations and the vision of reaching beyond local borders came to life via Turku city and The Tall Ships Races event. Tuuline Design got the opportunity to design trophies for the largest free family event in Europe.

”The largest free family event in Europe, The Tall Ships Races, is held in the Baltic Sea every four years. In 2017, The Tall Ships Races Turku attracted 500,000 visitors, making it the largest public event in Finland.” (The Tall Ships Races Turku, 2024)

2024 brought fundamental changes to the business. Lack of vision shifted to clear and more ambitious action plans, while the mindset transitioned from quick wins to longer term strategies. Tuuline Design started to work on translating the site to English to better serve potential international clients and to enable B2B collaborations within the Nordics. In early 2025, The e-commerce deliveries expanded from Finland to EU-region. Soon after the English version and EU-deliveries were published, surprisingly, traffic started to flow in from Australia. Without further hesitation, the decision to open deliveries to Australia as well was sealed. Ever since the re-branding in 2023, outsourcing all website developments to Ratas Design Works Oy ensured a reliable, functional and user-friendly website that is scalable as the business develops further.

Business development is a never-ending process, full of potential and learning. With the focus shifting from products to services, Tuuline Design in keen to see what the future holds. With a stronger focus on customized portrait drawings and mural paintings, Tuuline Design is ready to welcome the unfolding opportunities.

Service Design as a Strategic Compass

The journey of Tuuline Design illustrates how service design can serve as a strategic compass for solo entrepreneurs. It’s not just about improving services, it is about rethinking the entire business model, aligning it with user needs, and building a brand that resonates.

Timonen, S. (2025). From Local to Nordic -Developing a micro-business with service design, branding and personal growth. Master’s Thesis. Turku University of Applied Sciences.