News 
The Opin.fi service brand for all Finnish higher education institutions has advanced to the finals of the Grand One competition in the category “Paras brändi-identiteetti” (Best brand identity). Grand One is the greatest digital media competition in Finland, awarding the best implementations in the field every year. The finalists of the competition were published on 27 February 2026.
Opin.fi is a national service of Finnish universities and universities of applied sciences launched in April 2025. It offers the open studies of 36 universities and universities of applied sciences in one place. The service helps learners find, compare and select the most suitable studies for them from the thousands of opportunities offered by higher education institutions. The goal of the launch year was to make the Opin.fi service known in Finland and to ensure the introduction of the service in higher education institutions all around the country. This required close cooperation between all 36 higher education institutions as well as commitment to joint communication and to launching the service.
“Advancing to the Grand One finals highlights our unique cooperation and the successful construction and launch of the Opin.fi brand with higher education institutions and our communications agency partner Ellun Kanat. Advancing to the finals also highlights the brand’s impact on improving the recognition of the service and user experience in an excellent manner,” rejoices Rauha Kiljunen-Ruotsalainen, Head of Communications of the Digivisio 2030 programme and the person responsible for the Opin.fi brand.
“We wanted to help create a brand that expresses how learning, expanding your ways of thinking and stepping into the unknown feel like through forms of learning that did not even exist when we worked on the brand. Our brand work focussed on the extensive package where participatory facilitation, reconciling the wishes of large groups of actors and management at the strategic level went hand in hand with the creative design by Ellun Kanat. It is great that the jury of the competition has also recognised the significance of our brand work in a genuinely societal project,” summarises Anni Kosunen, Account Director at Ellun Kanat.
Working on the Opin.fi service brand included the name of the service, the brand strategy, the visual design, sound branding, the service promise and the tone of voice. A communications strategy and a communications plan as well as extensive guidelines and materials supporting implementation were also created. These help higher education institutions communicate about the service consistently in their own channels. The final result was a service brand that makes the broad and diverse range of studies offered by higher education institutions easily accessible, understandable and interesting.
Opin.fi stands out in the field of higher education thanks to its clear and uniform look. The way the brand is used depends on the situation: in the digital service, Opin.fi brings together higher education institutions; in marketing, it acts as an independent service brand; and in the higher education institutions’ own materials, it is visible as a strong, recognisable signature.
Digivisio 2030 is responsible for the construction and development of the Opin.fi service, and HigherEd Hub Finland Oy is responsible for operating the service.
The finals of the Grand One competition will be held on 19 March 2026.
The Opin.fi brand has been created in cooperation with:
Design: Ellun Kanat
Production: Ellun Kanat, As You Are Agency, Woodpecker, VILD Factory