Step into the story.
間
ma · Japanese
the interval between two things — the pause a walk is made of.
The name
Sanpo is Japanese for an unhurried stroll: walking for the pleasure of it rather than to get somewhere. The name carries the zen feel of the brand and puts the walk at its centre.
Spelling — Always “Sanpo”, capital S, rest lowercase. Never “SANPO” or “San Po” in running text.
Slogan — “Step into the story”, sentence case, with a full stop when it stands alone.
Combined — Name first, slogan second: “Sanpo. Step into the story.”
Product — The walks themselves are called podwalks. Sanpo is the brand and the app.
Mission
We create walks in which the story comes first. The route exists to tell the story, and you experience the story by walking the route.
Vision
Stories don’t belong only in books, museums or on signs. We want people to experience them where they happened, at their own pace, with their phone as their guide.
Promise
Every walk tells a real story you won’t hear told this way anywhere else.
Golden Circle
The product follows the drive. It is not the starting point.
Offering unique and authentic experiences to a digital native generation.
Stories written for one place, walked at your own pace, with the technology staying out of the way.
GPS-based podwalks: audio that starts where the story happens. Free, open and available.
Audience
Highly educated, roughly 20 to 50 years old, looking for quality and originality rather than mainstream tourist content.
GEO stands for generative engine optimisation: being found through AI search and assistants, alongside classic SEO.
Travels to take a place in rather than to tick it off. Avoids the standard tourist circuit and wants content a guidebook could not have given them.
Who 30–40, highly educated, above-average income/Reach Instagram, travel blogs / Substack, GEO, short video, forums
Already listens to audio stories every day and judges them on production quality. For this segment the bar is the story and the sound.
Who 25–50, highly educated/Reach Podcasts, SEO/GEO, short video, forums
Has moved to a new city and wants to understand where they now live, beyond the practical. Learns by doing and shares within the expat community.
Who 28–40, high income/Reach Instagram, TikTok
The youngest segment, with a background in the humanities. Hungry for new and original stories, open to fiction as well as non-fiction.
Who 20–35, highly educated, humanities background/Reach Instagram, SEO, GEO, forums
Position
Anyone can walk any route, with no paywall or account. Those who want to can support us with a voluntary contribution (“Buy me a coffee”).
A good digital experience is not an afterthought: the app runs smoothly, feels intuitive and stays out of the way while you walk.
The stories are crafted with care, told in an original way and true to the facts.
How it works
Walking routes with audio stories that start automatically based on your GPS location.
Every stop can also be played by hand, for the times the fix is late or the phone is asleep.
Values
We tell stories in a surprising, distinctive way.
Original angles, atmospheric storytelling A dry list of dates
What we tell is real and accurate.
Real sources, local voices, an honest tone Invented sensation, marketing speak
The experience offers calm and space.
Your own pace, little screen time, calm design Push notifications, busy screens, hurry
Look & feel
Tone of voice
Calm and narrative. Personal: we address the listener directly as “you”. Honest and free of exaggeration; the story can speak for itself.
Discover Barcelona’s best-kept secrets!
You’re standing where the market opened at five in the morning.
The second sentence gives you the place. The first one sells it.
Audio tour available now — book today!
Press play when you’re ready. The street will wait.
No urgency. The walk sets the pace, not the app.
300+ attractions, 5 languages, 4.8 stars
Five stops, one kilometre, no hurry.
Numbers that describe the walk, not numbers that impress.
App · home
The home screen does one job: get you to the start of a walk that will work without a signal.
Paper ground, so the app reads as print.
Zero radius. A hairline does the work a shadow would.
Mono capitals for metadata only.
Vermilion on the offline state only.
Nou Barris · 1.8 km · 5 stops.
Tour · before you walk
Player · while you walk
Website
Colour
Vermilion never covers more than a seal, a hairline or a single word.
Type
Rules
Margins are 132 px and they are not negotiable.
A hairline beats a card. There is no shadow anywhere in the system.
Only three photographs in the whole deck, full-bleed to at least one edge.
Motion is 700 ms opacity. Nothing moves position.
Open questions
Sources
Negative space. One idea per slide, enormous margin, almost nothing on the page.
Every page is measured. Most carry more than 70 % air; the photographs are the exception that proves the rule.