FACIAL SERUMS
OVERVIEW
Company
Provence Beauty is a skincare company that sells natural and vegan skincare products. Offering a wide range of products including essential oils, facial serum, face mist, hair oil, bath salts, etc. Provence Beauty’s clients include World Market, TjMaxx, Homegoods, Macy’s Backstage, etc.
Team
Founder: Jeremy Abesera
Marketing & Web Development: Diego Kim
Designer: Maggie Wang
My Role
Graphic & Packaging Designer
Goal
Developing a collection for Provence Beauty’s skincare line with the most popular ingredients on the market.
RESEARCH
Vitamin C Market Research
While doing research for popular ingredients on the market, I found that Vitamin C is one of the most popular ingredients because it has multiple benefits for skin, such as promoting collagen production, protects skin from sun damage, reduces color discoloration, etc. It is the best selling product for many of the top companies. Below are some of the Vitamin C product that I found while doing my market research.
One of bestselling Vitamin C Serum on Amazon has over 10,000 reviews and four and a half stars out of five stars.
Price: $19.99 - 1 oz
TruSkin Vitamin C Serum
What I like about Mad Hippie is that their branding is a lot more fun and colorful than anything else on the market. They make natural products playful instead of keeping it serious.
Price: $33.99 - 1 oz
Mad Hippie Vitamin C Serum
Insta Natural Vitamin C Serum
I was drawn to this style of packaging because it is minimal but has a pop of color that draws the attention of potential customers.
I also think the type is laid out in a great way that both promotes and informs customers.
Price: $21.00 - 1 oz
This is another product that I was drawn to because of the way the type is laid out.
When looking at trends, I found it common to enlarge the keywords that make a product stand out against competitors.
Price: $48.00 - 1 oz
Ole Henriksen Truth Serum
Key Insights
Word of mouth: Although TruSkin doesn't have the most modern packaging they are able to beat out the competition through user reviews that help promote their product.
Type Layout: Bold keywords to help customers quickly understand what our product is made of, and what the results will be when used. Brand names can be vertical, but other important information should be horizontal and easy to read.
Hyaluronic Acid Market Research
Hyaluronic Acid was the second most popular ingredient on the market. Hyaluronic Acid is one of the most powerful hydrating and moisturizing ingredients on the market today. It holds up to 1,000 times its weight in water! The benefits of Hyaluronic Acid are countless. Below are some brands that stood out to me either by their popularity, design, price or content.
Timeless Hyaluronic Acid
Timeless has one of the most minimal products on the market. They are popular because they have a 100% pure hyaluronic acid for a price much cheaper than competitors.
Price: $8.95 - 1 oz
Cosmedica Pure Hyaluronic
Cosmedica uses a color bar to differentiate each one of their products and call out what it's made of. I found this to be an effective way to make different products seem united in a single collection.
Price: $11.00 - 1 oz
Similar to the Timeless serum, The Ordinary serum is popular because of it's low price. It is also popular because of the blend of ingredients that are more effective on some people than a pure hyaluronic acid.
Price: $6.80 - 1 oz
The Ordinary.
Even Hansen stood out because of their color and great use of type. They highlight the ingredient used in the product while keeping the label minimal.
Price: $15.99 - 1 oz
Eve Hansen Hydrating Serum
Key Insights
Color: Color used in bars is a great way to differentiate each of the products in a single line so customers can easily recognize their favorite product. Color is also a great way to make the entire brand stand out when compared to other products on the store shelves.
Ingredients: While more brands offer a pure hyaluronic acid for its many benefits there is still a large market for products that have hyaluronic acid mixed into them.
Glycolic Acid Market Research
While doing market research for Vitamin C and Hyaluronic Acid, Glycolic
Acid came up in my research. Glycolic acid is an exfoliant in the alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) group that's found naturally in plants. It is a powerful exfoliant, clearing away the dead skin cells that can fill up your pores and
lead to blackheads and whiteheads. Below are some of the popular products containing Glycolic Acid that I found while doing my research.
Similar to the Vitamin C serum I was drawn to this design because of the great variations and hierarchy of the type.
This is also a very unique product since it uses glycolic acid in a serum.
Price: $24.00 - 1 oz
Glycolic Acid Serum
What stood out to me in this design was the unique nozzle design. It was very different from other products on the market.
I also found their design to be different from others on the market because they have a lot of information on the label.
Price: $19.99 - 6 oz
Exfoliating Cleanser
Skin Obsession uses Glycolic Acid in their chemical peels. This has become one of the most popular peels on the market because of the benefits of the Glycolic Acid.
Price: $17.99 - 1 oz
Glycolic Acid Peel
Glycolic Acid Toner
Mario Basescu's use of Glycolic Acid in their toner has made it one of the most popular toners on the market. With a minimal yet unique color palette, it stands out amongst the competition.
Price: $16.00 - 6 oz
Ingredients: Glycolic acid is a very popular additive because of its ability to replenish skin. Adding this to our product line will allow us to add value to our existing products as well as allow us to create new products.
Key Insights
IDEATION
Putting it all together
Through research, I developed a good understanding of the trends currently on the market. I also got a clear idea of which three products I wanted to design. Ideation was extremely important for this project because I needed to show the clients my designs and be able to explain why this direction was the right way to go.
FINAL DESIGN & DIELINE
Color
Black
C=0 M=34 Y=77 K=0
Type - Future
Material
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn
Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz
Polypropylene white with
gloss protection.
Color
Black
C=49 M=0 Y=90 K=0
Type - Future
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn
Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz
Material
Polypropylene white with
gloss protection.
Color
Black
C=35 M=0 Y=8 K=0
Type - Future
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn
Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz
Material
Polypropylene white with
gloss protection.
Final Design
After going through multiple rounds of ideation to finalize designs, wording, and ingredients with the clients these are the products we sent into production.
Dieline
Once the designs were finalized, I was also in charge of making the final dieline for the products. This included working with the printer to get press proofs made to make sure the final products came out exactly the way we wanted.
DIGITAL MARKETING
Online Store
When we first launched these products they were very successful. We got a lot of good feedback from our clients telling us this collection was one their top selling products. Based on the results we added the line to our online store. As the designer on the team, I was in charge of designing the digital marketing that would be presented sitewide. This included producing banners, hero images, and context images as well as photographing and editing some of the products.
EMAIL BLAST & SOCIAL MEDIA
Social Marketing Campaign
During this project, I was also in charge of designing our graphics for social media as well as our email newsletters. For the campaign, I wanted to use a lot of natural colors to make the images stand out and show off our natural ingredients. The natural color combinations from the oranges, grapefruits and green leaves helped bring out the aesthetics of the whole design and make the products stand out.
Because we had a very small marketing budget I was not able to get high-quality product pictures for the campaigns. This was solved by getting similar mockup bottles from Shutterstock and photoshopping them to match our aesthetic. Although this added additional time to the project, the end campaign brought the quality and vision I had aimed to present to our customers.
FEATURED ON SHOPIFY
Our website was featured on Shopify as one of their samples. As a designer, this made me very excited that our brand and vision were not only accepted but featured for more people to see. Being featured on Shopify not only allows more people to see our brand, but it will also bring more potential customers to our site.
BUSINESS OUTCOME
Hyaluronic Acid, Glycolic and Vitamin C facial serums are now one of the top 5 products sold at Provence Beauty. We are not only getting good feedback from our clients but we are also getting a lot of good reviews from customers who buy directly from our site. When we first launched these products, our clients were ordering small quantities from us. A few months after our launch, clients have reordered multiple times already increasing their order quantity each time. Some of our biggest clients include TjMaxx and Homegoods.
WHAT I LEARNED
Being involved in the whole process of making this collection, I learned a lot through each step. From research, I learned about ingredients, design trends, and digital marketing. I have gained experience working with our team, the printers, and presenting to clients.
Another big thing I learned during this process was how to design high-quality work without a large budget. I liked the challenges that came with developing a marketing campaign and learned how to better prepare for them in the future. Leading the design efforts during each step of this project, as well as being featured on Shopify, has strengthened my design process and made me a more confident designer.