Schwung
Active time for parents and children: a video series for parents, surprise boxes with materials, and workshops where young people carry out real social projects. It began as my bachelor thesis in 2020 and is now being rebuilt as Schwung for the German market.
Watch the full montage · 2:20Text description of the film
The montage has no speech, only music. It follows childhood in everyday scenes: a baby’s feet and a baby on a changing mat, a toddler running across a lawn towards a red ball, a child writing in an exercise book, a father helping with homework, a boy cycling next to his father in a park, a father and daughter potting plants in the kitchen, a father and son playing football in front of an apartment block, and three generations laying a table in a courtyard. It ends with a small figure running across a hilltop under an open sky.
Where school leaves gaps
The project started from one question: what do children and parents miss that school and home rarely teach? A literature review and an online survey tested the idea.
What respondents reported looking back
- 39.1% no wish or need to confront other people
- 34.8% long periods of low mood
- 34.8% withdrew from taking on challenges
- 30.4% gave up projects for lack of organisational know-how
The hypothesis
School trains children to avoid mistakes and give the one right answer. Few of them learn what they are good at, so adults struggle with strengths, planning, money and risk. The survey checked whether that picture holds.
Small online sample (N = 23): a directional signal, not a representative study.
One idea, three ways in
The mission: help children discover their interests and strengths, build soft and practical skills, and give parents a way to support that.
Video series for parents
Free theory and practice on child psychology, building bonds and motivation, plus episodes for doing activities together, tied to current events and social topics.
Surprise boxes
Each episode comes with a box of materials, so parent and child do the activity at the same time. Available one-off or as a subscription; subscribers keep a profile of past activities and get a photo book once a year.
Workshops with real projects
On site and online, in age groups from 6 to 19. Young people work on real social problems with mentors, local organisations and authorities, and the results get implemented.
What sets it apart: It is built for parent and child together, not for teachers and schools. Boxes arrive by post, and anyone can join at any time. Ten providers in Poland were analysed; most focus on schools, on finance only, or on fixed courses in a few cities.
Who it is for
Parents who invest in their children's development and look for time together that is more than screen time.
Lifestyle group: the creatives
Segmented by communication style instead of demographics. The creatives are open to new ideas, oriented toward knowledge and talent, and willing to question how education works.
Persona (Poland, 2020)
- 30 years old, married, one son (8), part-time corporate helpdesk job
- Follows finance and parenting blogs, dreams of her own business
- Problem: little time and few ideas to spend time with her child in a way that invests in his future
- Wants her son to be independent, enterprising and full of passion
The persona belongs to the Polish market. A German-market persona is rebuilt from new research.
From Lotki to Schwung
A name, a symbol and one sentence that makes the offer easy to remember.
Naming in 2020
A mind map produced three candidates: BooMystery, Bonanza and Lotki. Interviews with 20 people decided it: the Polish word for shuttlecock and dart stood for flight, goals, play and lightness.
Identity
Orange as the dominant colour for cheerfulness and activity, a wing symbol, and Merriweather with Open Sans for type.
Dein Kind hat Flügel. Bring ihm bei zu fliegen.
Why Schwung
Lotki only works in Polish. For the German market the brand becomes Schwung: momentum and drive that carry a child forward. The wing claim carries over, and the brand film above is its first piece.
A box and a website
The physical product brings the video episodes into the living room; the website brings families to the offer.
The box
Topics change every week, so the packaging was designed for weekly shipments: a gift-style box whose cut-out shows part of the contents.
The website
Its job: get visitors to register and to buy one of the educational packages. Mockups were designed for a 1366 × 768 desktop view and for 360–640 px phones and tablets.
Onboarding in five steps
- Benefits of the service at a glance.
- The visitor enters the child's age and sees an offer for that age: a sample scenario, the box contents and a sign-up form.
- Reviews and a free sample.
- Implemented projects by young people.
- One-click sign-up with a Google or Facebook account.
Customer journey
- Awareness
- Consideration
- Purchase
- Service
- Loyalty
Rebuilding for Germany
The original work was made for a Polish audience. The rebrand carries the idea to Germany with a new name, new research and a new look.
- DoneName: Schwung
- DoneClaim in German: “Dein Kind hat Flügel. Bring ihm bei zu fliegen.”
- DoneBrand film, video montage
- NextResearch for Germany: competitors, survey and persona
- NextNew visual identity and packaging
- NextWebsite in German
- NextRework the free-sample flow with transparent cancellation
- NextCheck the name Schwung: trademark register and domain
- NextTest willingness to pay in the new survey
Focus: start small
The original plan was a sequence, not three launches at once.
Free video series
Tests the German market at low cost, builds an audience and a recognisable brand, and earns a position and an image before anything is sold.
Surprise boxes
They join once audience and brand are established, as the first paid offer.
Workshops with real projects
They start only when income is steady and good, because they need qualified staff and partners from authorities and organisations.
At my thesis defence, the committee wished me that this becomes a real offer. Schwung is my attempt at the first step.
This page documents the original 2020 project and the rebranding as it moves forward.
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