Finos i Dalen: A Real Neighbourhood

For more than a hundred years, Stiftelsen Betanien has developed new services based on needs it sees in society. With Finos i Dalen, the foundation takes this thinking further, from developing services to developing an entire neighbourhood.

In Fyllingsdalen, homes, workplaces, businesses, meeting places, a kindergarten and health services will be developed in close relation to one another. The ambition is to create a place where people in different stages of life, with different needs and resources, can live well side by side.

Finos i Dalen is also the start of something bigger. The experience from the project will form the basis for the Finos model, so that what is learned here can be taken further when new neighbourhoods are developed elsewhere.

Finos i Dalen includes homes, services, workplaces and meeting places, but the idea is first and foremost about how all of this works together. The goal is a neighbourhood where people in different stages of life can belong, take part and be a resource for one another. The identity had to make this whole clear, without Finos being seen as “just” a housing project, a health project or a care concept.

The brand also has to work across different phases. First it must make the idea of Finos i Dalen clear and build engagement around the project. Later it will become the identity of an actual place where people live, work and meet.

We also had to think beyond Fyllingsdalen. Finos i Dalen is the first concrete neighbourhood, but the ambition is to take the experience and principles further to new places. The identity therefore had to be clearly rooted in Finos while working elsewhere, without being too closely tied to Dalen. If Finos is established in more places later, the brand must be able to grow with the concept while keeping what makes it recognisable.

We built the brand around the concept a real neighbourhood. A place where people do more than live next to each other, and are part of a community. Where we can both give and receive, contribute when we can and get support when we need it.

The same idea lies at the core of the visual language. The symbol consists of shapes that meet and find balance in one another. It represents people who support, share and contribute, and works both as part of the logo and as a standalone graphic element. This lets it move, change shape and adapt to different surfaces and needs.

The colour palette combines earthy, natural tones with lighter, fresh shades. This gives the identity a warm, homely expression, while the lighter colours add energy and life.

The logo follows the same principle of flexibility. Finos is the main name and has a clear, independent expression, while i Dalen is lighter and more understated. If Finos is established somewhere new, the place name can be swapped without changing the Finos identity itself.

The result is an identity that works both for the neighbourhood now taking shape in Fyllingsdalen and for what Finos may become later. A brand built to grow, with a real neighbourhood as its starting point.

To meet future needs, we have to think differently about how we build society. We need more prevention and help closer to where people live, while housing, services and communities must increasingly be developed together. Read more about how neighbourhoods can be part of the solution (in Norwegian).