Matkakohteena Brasilia
When the Brazilian Embassy in Helsinki was tasked with updating and redesigning an outdated travel guide, I took full ownership of the project — from content editing and copyright clearance to full layout and visual design. What began as a Word document became a fully redesigned book, completed on an impossible timeline, with zero budget and limited publishing experience.
Duration: August 2022 to June 2024
My role: Product Lead & Design Lead
Team: 1 Technical Lead & Team Lead, 1 UX/UI Designer, 1 iOS Developer, 1 Android Developer, 1 Web Developer, 2 Cloud Developers, 1 QA
A project nobody wanted, and one I will never forget
Shortly before I joined the Brazilian Embassy in Helsinki, the Suomi-Brasilia Seura Ry (Finland-Brazil Association) reached out asking for help updating their printed tourism guide, Matkakohteena Brasilia. The embassy had agreed to take it on — without realizing how much work would be involved. The content was outdated, the images were low resolution and copyright unclear, and the source file was a Word document.
By the time I arrived, the project was stalled, the deadline was looming, and the budget from Brazil had already been allocated. It had to be delivered.
While I had some editorial design experience from journalism school, I had never handled a full book production on my own. Still, I took full ownership of the project. I updated all the written content, contacted photographers and tourism offices in Brazil to secure high-quality imagery, and handled copyright clearance. I also designed the entire book layout from scratch using Adobe InDesign — starting on a trial version and working fast to meet the tight deadline.
This project pushed me to be scrappy, structured, and calm under pressure — and it taught me how much I enjoy taking complex, messy content and transforming it into something coherent, visual, and impactful.
Matkakohteena Brasilia – printed and distributed in Finland