+ 3/3 Workshop – Skopje
How I Spent Three Days Turning Designers Into Dangerous Brand Thinkers
Let me tell you what happens when you put a group of insanely talented creatives in a room and ask them to stop making pretty things — and start thinking like brand strategists.
You get the 3/3 Workshop:
3 days, 3 core skills, and a lot of confused faces turning into lightbulb moments.
This happened in Skopje, Macedonia — a city full of creatives with raw energy, aesthetic instinct, and (like most designers) very little patience for things like “strategy,” “positioning,” or “brand personality.”
Most of them thought brand briefs were just a suggestion.
I was there to ruin that belief.
Day 1: Welcome to the Land of Clarity (Sorry, No Moodboards Yet)
We started with a hard truth:
If you don’t know how to read a brand brief, your “creative genius” is just expensive guessing.
So we broke it down:
What the client says vs. what the client actually means
How to dig for the real problem, not just the color palette
How to turn vague words like “premium but accessible” into something usable
Let’s just say some egos were humbled. In a good way.
Day 2: No, You Don’t Need Another Logo. You Need a System.
This was the fun part.
We took the strategy from Day 1 and started turning it into actual identity systems. Not a logo. Not a Behance shot. A system.
We talked structure, behavior, consistency, and how every design decision must serve a bigger idea.
Most participants realized they had been building “brands” like they were designing wedding invitations — one piece at a time, disconnected, pretty, and shallow.
Not anymore.
Day 3: Let’s Talk to a Real Client — Yes, They Exist
For the finale, I brought in one of my actual clients to talk to the group.
He didn’t come to flatter me. He came to explain how clear branding changed his business, how strategy made his decisions easier, and how designers who ask the right questions are more valuable than ten moodboards combined.
That moment hit different.
Because suddenly, this wasn’t just theory.
This was someone saying, “This stuff actually helped my company grow.”
You could feel the room shift.
Why This Workshop Mattered
Because it wasn’t about making creatives “strategic.”
It was about making them dangerous.
Able to think, speak, and lead — not just decorate.
It was about giving them a weapon:
Clarity.
And watching what happens when they realize they’ve been holding the wrong tools all along.
Would I do it again?
Absolutely. But next time, maybe with stronger coffee and fewer Canva users.
+ Need Brutal Clarity?
If you’re looking for someone to decorate your deck with jargon, I’m not your guy.
But if you want clarity, structure, and sparks — let’s go.
© Hamza Najjar 2025