I create better brand experiences.

Who am I?

I am an entrepreneur who is fueled by business challenges that demand strategic thinking. I am a designer and a stylist who truly cares about the complete brand experience and understands the impact of every small detail along the way. I am an individual who has been described as an invaluable asset and an incredibly talented creative partner to any organization.

What I do.

I create better brand experiences. How do it do it? I start by asking the right questions, I listen to what you want, I listen to what your customers want and then I tell you what you really need.

I think of things from start to finish and when needed, I bring experts together to deliver the best outcome possible.

Why I do it.

My brain is wired this way. I notice both the good and bad experiences everywhere I go, and I just want to fix them. The psychology behind people’s expectations and interactions with brands is fascinating to me and sometimes a brand just needs to heighten its own EQ to see the signals their customers are giving them. This is where I come in. This is where creativity comes in. This is where relationships are built.

What I am not.

Lazy. Uninspired. A Maker of Widgets.

Meet JM+

We believe that every brand has its own unique story to tell. As a result, each brand experience requires a customized approach.

At JM+, we draw upon our network of experts that include; brand strategists, project managers, copywriters, graphic designers, photographers, printers, video producers, social media strategists and content managers, developers, PR consultants, and UX specialists (strategy, design and development).

Joselynn-Maas_test

Joselynn Maas, Creative Director brings to her clients’ over 15 years of experience in strategic thinking, problem solving and exceptional design. Specializing in Brand Identity, Communications Collateral, Web and UX Design and Product Sourcing, Joselynn’s entrepreneurial and customer-centric approach has also allowed her to extend her experience across many verticals including Fashion, Retail, Not for Profit, Communications and Technology.

Joselynn has grown and maintained her business largely through client retention and referrals. Her relentless focus on quality of work and a commitment to her client’s success, has led to her clients and colleagues taking her with them as they move from one company to another.

In addition to long-standing and successful client relationships, Joselynn’s work has also been features in En Route Magazine, The National Post, the Globe and Mail, the MoMA (San Francisco and New York City Museum of Modern Art) and AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) as well as various hotel chains like Starwood W Hotel. In her spare time, Joselynn has taken on a new role volunteering as the marketing strategist and Designer for the Bright Futures of Burkina (BFB), a not-for-profit organization fundraising and promoting awareness, education and sustainability for the people of Burkina Faso.

Words that Describe Joselynn
Strategic, Insightful, Intelligent, Creative, Empathetic, Quick-Witted.

Free Time
When Joselynn isn’t at work, she may be in the kitchen developing new recipes, sipping wine and entertaining friends & neighbours. When she is out and about in Toronto, she may be traveling with Rosie, her Boston Terrier, at Pilates, drinking an Americano, exploring new restaurants or boarding a plane to explore somewhere new. As part of BFB, Joselynn travels to Africa from time to time to work hands on with the children and women entrepreneurs of Burkina Faso.

Do you have a unique story to tell? Let’s chat.

Brand Experience Services.

Consultation Services.

Given the longstanding relationships we have with many of our clients, sometimes their brands are well established or they handle many of the services in-house, but they still require outside counsel to maintain the brand integrity, advise on new media platforms or just simply be an extra set of hands during busier periods.  We take our commitment to our clients very seriously and will often jump in to help with a ‘do whatever it takes’ attitude.

Brand Strategy Consulting.

Successful brands are not created overnight.  They come from a deep understanding of a client’s vision, mission, hopes and dreams.  But that’s not enough.  Brands must also know what their customers want and what they are not getting from the brand’s competitors.  Whether launching a new product, revitalizing an older product or starting from scratch, we will do the following:

  • Key stakeholder interview(s)
  • Customer/Employee Research
  • Competitive Research
  • Research Summary Document
  • Creative Brief Development
  • Scope of work

Brand Identity.

A brand has many touchpoints to reach the consumer. It is important that a brand’s identity be consistent in its appearance (colour, typeface, dimensions, proportions) and messaging (language, tone, voice) across all of those touchpoints. This is the starting point for your brand identity guidelines that will help you better manage your brand.

UX Design.

A brand isn’t just about messaging anymore, it’s also about how customer interact with brands.  By applying the principles of user experience against both digital (web, mobile, social, kiosk) and physical user interactions we will ensure that customers have a positive engagement with the brand at all relevant touchpoints.

Print and Marketing.

The look and feel developed during the brand identity process will be utilized and adapted across all marketing requirements. Print could include elements like brochures, posters, billboards, tradeshow signage or general promotional pieces.

Stationary Design.

This is often the first brand touchpoint for new businesses, so it is important that it makes a statement. We will work with you to design a new business card and electronic stationary that will utilize a brand’s design elements in an impactful way.

Visual Styling for Retail.

Styling is all about the careful attention and eye for detail. Whether we are developing new store signage, re-imagining the in-store merchandising or helping create the next seasonal window display, we will carefully source the required materials and build a display that captures the customers’ attention.

Social Media.

Social media is all about staying connected with the brand’s community. We manage communities for our clients, produce social assets for each of the platforms and sometimes just set up the calendar and governance for clients to manage it themselves.

Gifting.

For brands that reward their best customers with gifts or special promotions, we can help strategically source items that are on brand and/or also help with the assembly and distribution of the gifts to the customer database.

Logo Design.

A logo should be visually meaningful, memorable and unique to a brand. During this process, we will explore the use of typography, colour usage and symbolism to develop a new wordmark, icon or combination of both together that will best represent the brand. Once we have the final logo, we create a simple 1-2 page document outlining the various elements, correct usage and reproduction rules so that the logo is used in a consistent manner across all media and collateral.

Inspired to evolve your brand? Let’s book a date.

Selected works.

  • Gonell Homes
    Gonell Homeshome-renovation
  • Body Harmonics
    Body Harmonicshealth
  • Cupidology
    Cupidologyretail
  • Panl
    Panltechnology
  • RFA Capital
    RFA Capitalfinance
  • BCC / Spring (Morguard Group)
    BCC / Spring (Morguard Group)retail
  • BCC / Autumn (Morguard Group)
    BCC / Autumn (Morguard Group)retail
  • GreenShag
    GreenShagretail
  • Smitten Creative Boutique
    Smitten Creative Boutiquemarketing-communications
  • Wave Accounting
    Wave Accountingtechnology
  • Longview Solutions Annual User Conference – Dialog
    Longview Solutions Annual User Conference – Dialogevents
  • Floral Fetish
    Floral Fetishretail
  • Luxe Tanning + Beauty
    Luxe Tanning + Beautyretail
  • Cadillac Fairview – Shops at Don Mills
    Cadillac Fairview – Shops at Don Millsretail
  • Naked Red
    Naked Redretail
  • Ecosource
    Ecosourcenot-for-profit

Do you love what you see? Let’s talk about what we can do with your brand.

Client Testimonials.

I have worked with Joselynn Maas (formerly, Option B Creative) on close to 100 different projects over the past 8 years and have never been disappointed. Under Joselynn’s leadership, the firm is able to assist with many different kinds of projects whether it is sourcing materials, creative design and print, developing messaging, positioning, creative themes, ads, marketing support materials, brochures, presentations, web sites, microsites, demand generation campaigns, etc.

Joselynn takes the time to understand the needs of her clients. The business they are in and their specific goals and objectives. Creative is consistently fresh, projects are well managed and delivered on time and on budget and pricing is very competitive. Definitely an agency to consider.

Founder, 360 Map

 

Joselynn was initially involved at Borderware on developing graphics, but we quickly learned she was capable of much more. With Joselynn’s creative abilities and good strategic instincts, she began to assist us with our brand strategy, as well as the design of our web site and even our product!

Her broad range of services was very much appreciated at Borderware, and we came to rely on her for a variety of projects. We found it really useful to be able to outsource many tasks to Option B Creative as Joselynn really understood our business. She provided great service at good prices, and we were happy to work with her for a number of years.

It’s a real underestimation of Joselynn by describing her as a graphic artist. She went well beyond the boundaries of the job, not limiting her contribution and really working towards making us successful. Her ownership and work ethic show a level of responsibility you don’t often see in the world.

I strongly endorse her. Bright, hard working, passionate, subject matter expert, and has great growth potential.

Executive Director – Accenture
Former President, Borderware

 

Naked Red has worked with Joselynn and her team (Option B Creative) over the last 3 years. During this time, they have been a key contributor to our boutique’s success. Their professionalism, on time delivery and their passion for success and creativity have made tasks seamless.Option B Creative aided in revitalizing the Naked Red online brand by developing a new website that included social media efforts. Joselynn developed a social media strategy and works with us to implement various sales strategies on a monthly basis. Initially, Option B Creative was hired to assist Naked Red with building an online community. Starting from the very beginning, OBC developed a new website for Naked Red that included on-line advertising as well as social media strategy. More then ever, social media is key to building brand awareness and a stronger sense of community. As a boutique, this sense of community is directly linked to the success of our business. Option B Creative developed a strategic social media plan that included a competitive analysis of similar stores, provided insight into what type of social media would be most suitable and has since been tasked with further developing social media outreach and the development of all social media content.In addition to social media outreach, OBC has assisted in helping Naked Red with client gift services, print advertising, email campaigns, store signage and event planning.It is a pleasure working with the OBC team and I would recommend their work with great enthusiasm. The team is dedicated to following through on projects and they all make us feel like we are their most important client.

Proprietor, Naked Red Boutique

 

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Joselynn and her team several times in the past 14 years. The continued repeat business is attributed to the fact I can depend on their creative direction, their detailed project management, their professional project delivery and most of all their dedicated persistence and hard work to meet my tight deadlines, on time, on budget! I would not only recommend Option B to my colleagues but plan on using them again in the near future.

Senior Business Development, Food Plant Solutions

 

Joselynn is an absolute pleasure to work with. I have hired to support a number of different marketing, advertising and graphic design initiatives with great results. I strongly recommend Joselynn for creative design and marketing execution!

Independent Health Care Consultant and Writer

Collaborator Testimonials.

Joselynn has a fountain of creative genius inside that inspires me daily when working with her. Her quirky and astute observations make working together fun, and the work we do together – genius. Her unique ability to see every detail of a brand experience helped her to create strategies for her clients to reimagine and reengineer their brand experiences. She uses her deep creative talent to create beautiful brand identities and experiences through beautiful graphic design, flawlessly engineered events, creative copy writing and more. It’s always a pleasure to work with a true creative talent like Joselynn.

Digital Brand Experience Strategist

 

Joselynn is an excellent creative director and mentor, and has been a great asset in developing my career. Through the years she has shared her knowledge and skills, and allowed me to benefit from her experience. She cares deeply about her clients and business relationships, and also invests in those she works with.

Joselynn was my first employer as a professional designer, and I have learnt much from her; from design skills, to client interactions, to business management. She is easy to work with and offers her expertise in a constructive way. I owe much of my own success as a designer to what I have learned from her.

Joselynn is a strategic thinker and knows the value of approaching projects from a broader perspective. She embraces life-long learning and collaboration with others. Adaptable, accommodating and knowledgeable – Joselynn knows how to share her input to the best advantage of her clients.

For all of these reasons and more, I am confident that Joselynn will continue to be successful in her future ventures, and a valuable asset in any role she peruses.

Graphic Designer and Visual Stylist

 

In my mind, what sets Joselynn apart from other graphic designers is her intuition. Her creative talent comes from her understanding of what clients need to communicate, and in a matter-of-fact way, delivers the right visual elements to make it work. She has a passion for getting things right, so it has been my pleasure to work with her on a number of projects.

Senior Writer and Project Manager

Get in touch.