Originally launched in 1935, Boots‘ No7 beauty product brand has recently undergone its very own makeover, courtesy of Hackney-based husband and wife design duo, Two Create.

The rebranded No7 range of products (which hit the shelves in Boots stores a few weeks ago) is the result of four years work by Two Create on the project. The brief was to modernise the aesthetic to appeal to new users whilst not alienating loyal fans of the brand, and at the same time introduce more coherence across sub-categories and help improve product navigation at the point of sale.

“The project began in 2008,” explains Two Create’s Lucy Snowdowne, “with the team of creatives working on No7 (us as the newly appointed designers, store designers, the advertising agency, external PR team, internal brand guardians, the technologists and scientists) evaluating the brand and formulating an all encompassing brief for the relaunch.

“From there we worked with No7 on various design directions and visualised concepts which we showed across the UK to women that used the brand as well as some that didn’t,” Snowdowne continues. “We opened up a conversation and evaluated what women thought of our ideas at every stage of design development. No7 users reviewed our ideas on material finishes and product shape, and handled prototypes and discussed beauty regimes.

“The research not only steered elements of the structual packaging design, but also gave us an insight into the way women navigated beauty products instore and at home, which allowed us to devise new systems for the range. We assigned colours to skin types, grouped products into families and ensured that variants such as ‘day’ and ‘night’ were easily distinguisable both in and out of their cartons.”

The design studio also created a series of brand principles on which each of the 70 different brand packaging formats have been based and made a few changes: pewter replaces gold on various brand packs with a range of colours introduced to visually differentiate between products designed for different skin types and product categories. The logo itself (which remains unchanged) is larger than it used to be and is cropped on cartons which suggests a bold new brand confidence.

The No7 Men range has also received a new look with bright colours distinguishing between various product catetgories such as Daily Care or Shaving, and the product descriptions are set in uppercase lettering for a bolder, more masculine look.

The simplicity, material finishes and sub typefaces give the No7 products their on-shelf beauty, giving this range the premium value it requires. The No7 brand now firmly stands on its own feet with no “Boots” logo used on the face of packaging showing the confidence in the brand going forwards.

Two Create should be proud of this well executed, smart thinking, and quietly effective brand packaging and strategy for Boots’ No7.

Tom Kelly-Lord

Website: http://twocreate.co.uk/