SanpoMa
散歩

Sanpo

Step into the story.

間  ma · Japanese
the interval between two things — the pause a walk is made of.

Version 1.1 · 23 October 2026
SanpoMa

The name

A slow walk, for its own sake.

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.

SanpoMa
Sanpo.
Step into the story.
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.
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Mission

A walk for the story, through the story.

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.

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Vision

Experiencing authentic stories in a new way.

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.

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Promise

Authentic and unique stories.

Every walk tells a real story you won’t hear told this way anywhere else.

Grounded

Stories are grounded in real places, people and events.

Told, not listed

No generic tourist information, but a told story with character.

Irreplaceable

Every route is unique to the place where you walk.

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Golden Circle

The product follows the drive. It is not the starting point.

Why

Offering unique and authentic experiences to a digital native generation.

How derived

Stories written for one place, walked at your own pace, with the technology staying out of the way.

What derived

GPS-based podwalks: audio that starts where the story happens. Free, open and available.

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Audience

Four segments, still hypotheses

Slow traveller

Need Distinctive, original content about their destination

Who 30–40, highly educated, above-average income

Reach Instagram, travel blogs / Substack, GEO, short video, forums

Podcast fanatic

Need Interesting, high-quality audio productions

Who 25–50, highly educated

Reach Podcasts, SEO/GEO, short video, forums

Expat

Need Learning about the origins of their new home through experiences

Who 28–40, high income, part of an expat community

Reach Instagram, TikTok

Curiosity seeker

Need New, original stories, both fiction and non-fiction

Who 20–35, highly educated, humanities background

Reach Instagram, SEO, GEO, forums

GEO stands for generative engine optimisation: being found through AI search and assistants, alongside classic SEO.

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One product, four different reasons to put the phone away and walk

Slow traveller

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

Podcast fanatic

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

Expat

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

Curiosity seeker

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

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Position

Three things set us apart

01
Free, open and available

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”).

02
A strong app

A good digital experience is not an afterthought: the app runs smoothly, feels intuitive and stays out of the way while you walk.

03
Creative and authentic stories

The stories are crafted with care, told in an original way and true to the facts.

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How it works

You walk, the app follows

Walking routes with audio stories that start automatically based on your GPS location.

01
Choose a walk
One route, one story. No account, no paywall.
02
Download once
Tours and audio are fetched before you leave. Outside coverage is the normal case, not the exception.
03
Walk
You don’t need to look at your screen; the story guides you.
04
Arrive
Story and surroundings come together: you hear about a place while standing in it.

Every stop can also be played by hand, for the times the fix is late or the phone is asleep.

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Values

Three words guide every choice

Creative

We tell stories in a surprising, distinctive way.

Original angles, atmospheric storytelling

A dry list of dates

Authentic

What we tell is real and accurate.

Real sources, local voices, an honest tone

Invented sensation, marketing speak

Zen

The experience offers calm and space.

Your own pace, little screen time, calm design

Push notifications, busy screens, hurry

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Look & feel

Calm, spacious, inviting you to slow down

—Plenty of white space and few elements per screen.
—A calm palette, for example natural, muted tones.
—Simple, readable typography without busy decoration.
—Photography of places and atmosphere rather than stock images of people.
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Tone of voice

Like a guide walking beside you

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.

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App · home

One walk, already on the phone

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.

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App · tour and player

Tour · before you walk

Player · while you walk

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Website

The app is the walk. The website is the field guide you pick up first.

Desktop · cropped
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Colour

Ground#FCFCFA
Sumi#16181A
Warm grey#B9B4AB
Vermilion#B3402E
Hairline#E4E0D8

Type

Zen Kaku
300 / 400 / 500 · body 16.5px · 1.62
Shippori
Pull quotes and kanji
散歩
Sanpo Kanji · 8 glyphs

Vermilion never covers more than a seal, a hairline or a single word. Margins are 22 px and are not negotiable.

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Open questions

What this deck does not answer

Design the Sanpo logo and wordmark, including a lock-up with the slogan.
Validate the four target audience segments with short interviews or a survey.
Estimate the size of each segment and decide which one to target first.
Work out the four segments into full personas: motivations, walking context, digital behaviour, willingness to contribute.
Decide whether Sanpo also offers fiction, given the curiosity seeker’s interest and how that fits the “authentic” value.
Work out the revenue model: is a voluntary contribution enough, or are partners or grants needed?
Define the colour palette, typography and imagery in a design system.
Guidelines for story creators: length, style and source attribution per story.
Develop “how and where to reach” further: physical places such as hostels, cafés, museums and route starts are still open.
SanpoMa

Sources

Content
Brandboek – Sanpo v1.1, Oct 23 2026, @Myke.
Product
The Sanpo repository: tour data, GPS-triggered playback, iOS fallbacks.
Directions
Five readings of one open visual direction, not five finished identities.
Caveat
Every mockup is a layout study. No logo has been designed yet; the wordmark is set in type throughout.
Direction 03 — Ma
Sanpo.
Step into the story.

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.