This is an ongoing project but I wanted to share with you all the work so far…
Essential Oils Direct approached me about a year ago to help them with some branding work for several different projects, which we’ve been working on. Argan Vie is an organic fairtrade Argan Oil product, at present the oil itself from the kernels of the Argan tree, found mainly in Morroco.
EOD asked me to design the logo and branding for this product, at first, just the oil itself but hopefully there will be some new products on the not so distant horizon. I looked at Morrocan art, the colours, style and patterns used, and at the tree itself and the kernels. I came up with a few different ideas, 3 different approaches, looking firstly at the patterns and shapes used in Morrocan art, and a mediteranean colour pallette. The second idea used the typography and the finials and counters of the a as a drop of oil. The third was more clinical and modern look at the brand.
I used a Modern Serif typeface – Bodoni, with contrast between the thick and thin strokes and thin straight serifs, as this is a very elegant typeface, and is often associated with beauty and fashion (think of Vogue magazine…) I went with lowercase as this made the brand slightly warmer and friendlier, and fitted with the use of the lowercase a as the logo.
We then set about designing the packaging, trying out different bottles and labels. The 50ml and 100ml bottles are silver coloured with a clear label over the top – the type looks lovely and crisp against the silver colour. The soap is just a band of cardboard, we are keen not to use too much packaging.
We’re still developing some newer products in the range, and more packaging, so watch this space for more Argan Vie! You can buy the oil here: Argan Vie and visit Essential Oils Direct here.
For more information visit http://laurapakoradesign.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/new-work-argan-vie/