Synthesis

Skincare brands have always designed and targeted their products for binary genders and when doing so, they use extreme stereotypes that not only make people feel insecure, but also it isolates those who do not conform to any gender. Skincare brands are one of the main sectors in society that are guilty of profiting from the vulnerabilities of the consumer. They keep on creating and designing products that claim to target certain concerns so that the consumer would believe and buy the product. Yet, despite this, skin is the same for everyone no matter the gender identity, race, disability, age etc. All genders have very similar skin and would not damage their skin if they were to use products that are designed for the opposite gender.

Society is changing and skincare brands need to learn to change with it or accept it or they may jeopardise their brand and become unpopular and part of the past. Equality (race, gender, health etc.) especially now more than ever, are the forefront of human rights and brands should be mindful of ethical responsibilities and fairness.

My own practical work showcases and conforms to the gender-neutral design style where it allows consumers to buy a product and no have to feel like they have to categorise themselves to fit a male or female skincare product. Gender-neutral products are very monotone, clean, clear and simple. I applied the research and knowledge of genderless packaging into my own practical design work.
The prescription-style layout of the Bloom skincare range is neat and natural, where it allows the eyes to follow the description of the product without any complications. The product information and branding is kept minimal as it shows that it focuses on the skin type rather than how the product can make you a better male/female. The placement of the typography allows the consumer to easily read the product information vertically and horizontally and allows stores to stack them either way. The use of colour-coding of the in the design allows the consumer to find and associate their skin type with a distinct colour so that in the future, they would not need to look for the skin type as they could use the colour to separate other skin type from theirs.

The serum bottle is coherent to the outer packaging design as it features the same product information and layout so that if they do display their products, the bottle design will correspond to the box. The whole concept and the design is about ‘what you see is what you get’ so, the if you buy the correct product for your skin type, it should work.

Throughout the whole design process, I have noted the quote ‘Design with tomorrow in mind. Create packaging in keeping with current and future market trends’ (Ambrose and Harris, 2017, p.g. 58).

The typography used for the product design is DIN Alternate Medium for the body of text and DIN Alternate Bold for the branding logo. The typeface is modern, clear and easy to read. It was chosen because DIN is known for their geometric and lean in which corresponds to the prescription-style layout design.

To create a unique customer experience, I also experimented with different paper stock and used each stock to resemble a specific skin type. By doing this, it does ‘Create packaging in keeping with current and future market trends’ and creates a USP to the brand where people can may talk about it and so, makes the product stand out from the competitors. 

Evaluation of the practical work

The final outcome of the Bloom skincare range perfectly shows that brands can design/re-design their products to suit everyone. Gender-neutral design is very easy and basic to achieve as I feel like brands now, try to over-sell their products by using claims, imagery and connotations where they do not need to be done. I think that it is more logical to create products for skin types than it is for gender. Regardless of your gender, your skin is still going to fall into a category of dry, normal, oily or combination skin. I wanted to create the packaging as simple and as direct as possible without any confusion or any connotations that may be in influenced by gender stereotyping.

I was able to show my idea through my design as I wanted to emphasise directly on the skin type as that is the main criteria for being aware and taking care of skin.

The prescription-style layout was the main idea I wanted to get across to the consumer as it makes the item feel exclusive, like a prescription from the doctors.The design more trustworthy and ethical as it is direct and markets skin type.The layout of the type makes it easier for the consumer and the stockists as they can place the product vertically or horizontally and still readable.The colour-coding idea is very useful as consumers can nd a suitable product easily and be able to pick it up without much thought.The solid colours allow the packaging to appear bolder and stand out more as opposed to having it monochrome.The use of bright colours, yellow, green and orange, makes the products stand out from a far as the colours are eye-catching and vivid.

The stock used was also a success as it gives the consumer a unique experience as the packaging connotes to the skin type. However, I was slightly let down by the printing of the design and packaging as they did not turn out as well as planned.The embossed stock meant that the laser printer couldn’t print into the at areas and therefore, the ink is patchy in some areas. During assembly, the ink would also transfer onto my hand so I couldn’t touch the ink on the product or it would rub off. If there was another way to print at a higher quality, I think the whole design would’ve turned out very professionally and sleek.

I am happy with the overall design and concept of the Bloom skincare range as it was relatively straight forward and easy to design. It conforms to the beliefs and ideals that I had in my creative writing piece and research, where the gender lens no longer needs to be used to design and market skincare products as it is an outdated theory.The minimalist style used in gender-neutral products, allows the product to appear expensive as it looks clean and simple. 

Practical feedback

Feedback from the public

• Male aged 32 - I personally don’t use skincare products but if I did, I would check it out.
• Male aged 31 - It looks simple and easy to use. I would buy that. • Male aged 54 - Can anyone use this? I wish they sold gender-neutral products when I was younger.
• Female aged 25 - The design is really simple but it looks expensive.
• Male aged 21 - I looks like it would work, so yeah I would consider it. Something about it make it look different to ordinary skincare products. • Female aged 46 - It looks quite expensive! I’m shocked because it doesn’t have all these claims that they usually do.
• Female aged 18 - Something about it makes me feel like I can trust this product to work. Nice packaging, simple and good to go!
• Male aged 23 - I don’t use serums but if they had moisturisers, I would try it. I think gender-neutral products are the way forward.
• Female aged 14 - It looks cool! It’s classy. I like the design.
• Male aged 29 - The problem is with skincare is that there’s so may products to choose from but if I saw this one, I would buy it because I know it’s for me. I like the gender-neutral concept and I think it works.

The feedback given by the public was positive and reassuring as it shows the practical design does conform to the gender-neutral standard which allows everyone to feel comfortable to buy. 

Practical final outcome

Stock decisions

For production, I had the idea to test out the packaging using different materials as I wanted to reinforce the different skin types to make it even more obvious. I also wanted to create a unique customer experience. I thought about using different stock for each of the packaging designs in reference to the skin type; dry skin on textured/fibre stock to represent dryness; normal skin on smooth matte stock and oily skin on glossy stock to represent the sheen that people with oily skin have.The labels on the bottles are consistent to the packaging boxes as it seemed more efficient when kept the same.

The idea made sense but overall, the use of bre, matte and glossy stock clashed with each other as they are all very different and it seemed jarring as a collection.Therefore, I had experimented with other textured stock. I looked into G.F. Smith embossed stock and chose a few was the most appropriate for each skin type.The stock that were chosen were:

Dry:
Leather Morocco

Normal:
Smooth

Oily:
Granular 
Stipple

The final stock I had used for the packaging are all in bright white as they would appear the same.The outer-packaging is 270gsm and the labels are 135gsm and the same stock is used for both.

Leather stock was chosen for dry skin as the texture appears like the ne lines and wrinkles as dry skin is prone to those concerns.

Smooth was chosen for normal skin as it represents the soft and mellowness of the skin.
Granular was chosen for the oily skin packaging and label as the texture looked and felt like the appearance of larger pores that people with oily skin are more prone to. 

Final practical design

Each label corresponds to the outer packaging and the skin types are colour co-ordinated for the ease of use for the consumer.

Product differentiation

After creating the layout for the net and label design, I hadn't considered how the consumer would be able to differentiate the skin types, other than having to read each information. I looked at my previous research on skin and found that dry skin types tend to have finer pores whereas, normal skin have small pores and oily skin have larger pores.

The design incorporating a pattern representing pores did not work, so I tried to illustrate the skin layer. Both patterns did not work and I felt that it drew the attention away from the prescription label design.

Colour co-ordination
From the CoP crit, the people in my group suggested using nature/earth colours for the products. I was hesitant at first as the gender-neutral design only used black and white.

I settled on a yellow for dry skin, green for normal skin and orange for oily skin.

Yellow (#F5D72F/PANTONE 114C) had been chosen for the dry skin type as a it is considered the brightest colour on the spectrum. People with dry skin tend to have dull-looking skin as they lack moisture.Yellow represents illumination and vitality in which people with dry skin want in their skincare.

Green (#90C95C/PANTONE 367C) is a colour associated with peace, nature, freshness and calm. People with a normal skin type do not experience as much skin issues as it is considered the perfect skin type. Therefore, green repre-
sents the relaxed state of the skin.

Orange (#E38136/PANTONE 7413C) can show the sensation of heat and warmth. It represents the in ammation and blemishes of oily skin. Red would represented the soreness of the skin better, however, it seemed off-putting as it seemed more aggressive. Orange felt more uplifting and still holds similar connotations of the oily skin type. 

The colour palette is a balanced mix and seem to harmonise with each other and is easy on the eyes.

The colours allow the product to stand out, otherwise without, it would not. It also makes the process easier for the consumer where they can easily find and re-purchase a product for their skin type by looking at the colour.

Practical design development

Typeface consideration

Considering other typefaces, I found that DIN Alternate Medium and Bold worked better than the Helvetica typeface. The DIN typeface looks modern clean and more uplifting than the Helvetica. DIN works with the lines/box style as DIN is known for it's lean and geometric style. The main information and branding uses the DIN Alternate Bold as it is the key information that needs to stand out the most to the consumer.

Final design

The key problem with the previous design was that there was too much information and white space surrounding the design. Therefore, I had taken the directions out to make it as simple as possible. I also placed the skin type on the right side of the design so the information of the design can be read both horizontally and vertically. The clear distinction of each information provided makes it easier to read.



The outer packaging net design was created in a similar layout as the labels as I wanted it to be coherent and obvious that the outer packaging reflects the product inside.

Practical design development

For reference, I looked at pharmacy prescription labels as a guidance for my practical work. Prescription labels feature boxes and lines and so the description and branding would have to fit within the space.

Being mindful about the amount of skincare products in a shop, the layout of the design needs to be as simple and straightforward as possible but still relay the message to the consumer. The design features basic information needed in order sell the product. I wanted it to be as direct as possible and really focus on the skin type and the product type.

Helvetica Regular and Bold was used for the design as the typeface is known for it's universal use. Helvetica is a popular typeface and works with most typefaces, it's legibility and simplicity shows that it is neutral typeface.

From the mock up, it shows that the design does appear to be a label, however, something about the it is a little off.

Product design

For the actual product packaging, I experimented with different shapes and sizes to find one that is suitable for a gender-neutral audience. In doing so, the idea to create a serum product would be the most ideal as it serums is the first step in a skincare routine. The serum bottle appears to be gender-neutral as it looks like a lab supply product which makes it seem like it contains high-grade ingredients. The bottle almost dis-associates itself from the skincare products as it is not as common or seen than a typical moisturiser container is.

The bottle will be clear as it shows the product inside the bottle which allows it to seem more trustworthy and safe to use as you can see what you are putting onto your skin. The dropper/pipette will be black as I want the design to be monochrome but feature mainly white therefore, the black dropper will balance out both colours.

Skincare ingredients

Upon researching into the ingredients that are best used for each skin type, I have found:

Dry:

Hyaluronic Acid, glycerin, linoleic acid, cermacide, shea butter lanolin and mineral oil.

Normal:

Dimethicone, algae extract, panthenol and glycolic acid.

Oily:

Witch hazel, retinoids, alpha-hydroxy acid, niacinamide, bentonite, kaolin, silica, benzoyl peroxide and tea tree oil.