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.