Aalto University Summer School
Aalto University Summer School offers high-quality academic summer courses and programs at Aalto University during the winter and the summer.
Summer School alum Suvi: “Successful brands don’t just wing it”
Designing Brand Strategy is a new project-based summer course by Aalto University Summer School. It allows students to work in small teams to redesign the brand of an established Finnish company while they learn about mastering brand strategy and how to make brands stand out and resonate with the crowd.
We spoke with Summer School alum Suvi Valtonen-Kim, a Korean-Finnish design student in her senior year, who grew up in Hong Kong and is now based in Korea. She took part in this summer’s Designing Brand Strategy course at Aalto University Summer School, and returns to her Finnish roots every summer to visit her grandparents in Turku, Finland. Her summers in Finland gave her a taste for the country, making it easy to choose the location for her summer school studies.
‘Summer School at Aalto University was the ideal option for exploring the country from a new Finnish city,’ says Suvi.
What motivated you to apply for this course and Aalto University Summer School?
I had never properly lived in Finland, and wanted to gain new experiences before graduating from university to see whether this might be a place I could imagine myself living in the future.
What were your goals or expectations before arriving?
The calm and slower pace of life in Finland really resonates with me, and I truly experienced it during my trip here.
I’ve also noticed that the work-life balance is quite different – in Korea, life tends to be very fast-paced and “go-go-go", whereas in here, people seem to lead a more relaxed and balanced lifestyle. That’s something I personally value and appreciate a lot.
What stood out to you about the Designing Brand Strategy course?
The course was much more in-depth than I thought. While I thought the coursework would be more focused on digital, our teachers encouraged us to create physical products, making everything more concrete and collaborative.
After focusing so much on the design part in my studies, this course taught me that data and research also play a huge part in branding and rebranding strategies.
The learning environment was hands-on and discussion-based, yet very open and casual. A jury of marketing and advertising professionals evaluated every student's project during the final presentations on the last day, making the experience as realistic and experience-based as possible.
Suvi's top three course takeaways
-
Successful brands don’t just wing it – they dive into data and plan every move before taking action.
-
Great things happen when teams click – collaboration and real connections lead to better results.
-
A student project can be the start of something bigger, even your future career.
What advice would you give to someone considering the program?
Just apply! Take the opportunity to participate in social activities, both those organised by Summer School and the more spontaneous ones with your classmates – it will make the experience even richer.
What do your future plans look like?
I will take this experience with me and explore Finland as a relocation option for the future. The closeness to nature and the slower lifestyle have really taught me one thing – it's okay not to be so hasty all the time.
Aalto University Summer School courses
Find a course or program for your Aalto University Summer School experience.
Read more news
Aalto University and Bocconi University to launch a double degree programme in strategic and creative marketing
The first cohort, 10 students admitted through Aalto and 10 through Bocconi, will start their studies in autumn 2027
Student exchange in Europe? Unite! can take you there
Aalto is a member of Unite!, a European university alliance that gives students the opportunity to internationalise their degrees both online and in-person. Join the webinar to find out more.
Opinion: Finnish language learning should be integrated into degree programs
In this opinion piece, Rebekka Nylund, an expert at the University of Helsinki, and Elisa Räsänen, a university lecturer at Aalto University, reflect on what they have learned from the EU-co-funded Language-supported Knowledge Pathways project and offer suggestions on how and why learning Finnish could be integrated into the structures of higher education degree programs.