There is a specific type of temporary that separates the genuinely strategic designer from the merely ornamental one. It is the temporary the place the product is sensible, however the class is, for example, difficult. The place the primary intuition may be to succeed in for gentle blues, medical sans-serifs and the type of reassuring language you’d discover on a field of incontinence pads. The place enjoying it secure feels not simply tempting, however nearly defensible.
Lark Design Studio, a branding company based mostly in Leamington Spa, obtained precisely that temporary when moveable bathroom startup Luii got here knocking. And what they did with it’s price pulling aside, as a result of the considering is genuinely helpful for any inventive handed a mission they are not fairly positive the way to place.
The entice hiding within the temporary
Luii makes a transportable, pocket-sized bathroom. It is a genuinely intelligent piece of product design, developed with Tone, the workforce behind homeware model Joseph Joseph, and aimed squarely at anybody who’s ever been caught quick on a protracted hike, a competition web site, a protracted motorway stretch, or some other place the place the amenities are, let’s consider, missing. That is not a distinct segment market. That is basically everybody.
However this is the place the entice lives: the second you begin designing for a product adjoining to continence, the gravitational pull of the healthcare aesthetic turns into nearly irresistible.
The blues. The reassuring copy. The inventory imagery of serene, relieved-looking folks in smart outside clothes. You recognize the look. It whispers “medical system” even when it is making an attempt to say “way of life product.”
Luii’s founders knew this, which is why they got here to Lark asking for one thing extra. Not only a emblem. A full visible and verbal id that might place them as a client model. As a result of, because the press launch places it with admirable directness: everyone pees, in any case.
Form-shifting
The neatest choice Lark made (and it is a choice that appears apparent looking back, which is the hallmark of fine design considering) was to root the whole id within the product itself. Particularly, within the elliptical aperture that makes Luii’s form so distinctive.
That ellipse turns into the anchor for every thing: icons, illustrations, patterns. It runs by means of the id so persistently that even with out the wordmark, you are seeing Luii.
It is the type of systematic considering that elevates a model from a pleasant emblem to an precise visible language; one which scales, that is ownable, and that consistently reinforces the factor that makes the product particular.
It additionally does one thing quietly intelligent: it makes the id about design, not perform. You are not being reminded what the product is for. You are being reminded how superbly it has been made. That is a major repositioning, achieved completely by means of formal visible selections.
Flushing out the color temporary
Color was the opposite main battleground. Lark’s answer—vibrant pops of purple, orange and inexperienced, with muted choices for flex—is sector-defying in the absolute best method. It sails the model clear away from the medical sea of blue and vegetation it firmly in client territory.
Suppose daring, assume assured, assume the type of palette you’d discover on a sensible way of life product somewhat than a hospital ready room.
This issues greater than it might sound. Color is without doubt one of the quickest, most instinctive alerts a model can ship. Get it unsuitable, and also you’re preventing your individual id each time somebody sees the packaging. Get it proper, and it does half the positioning work earlier than a single phrase is learn.
The phrases do the remainder
Crafted by copywriters Yarn, the verbal id is equally well-judged: mild, conversational, playful with out being juvenile, matter-of-fact with out being medical.
The strapline, ‘Go anyplace’, is doing about three issues directly. It is a product promise, an journey invitation, and a quiet, understanding nod to the entire enterprise of needing to go. It earns its double that means with out ever being crass.
For any copywriter studying this, it is a reminder that one of the best strains aren’t simply intelligent. They’re correct. They seize the model’s complete purpose for present in two phrases.
The supporting forged is equally thought-about. Illustrator Ryan Todd was commissioned to create witty belongings that disarm the taboos round continence with out trivialising them; no imply feat. Images by Studio Pretty Jubley splits the distinction between polished studio work that showcases the product’s design credentials and looser, extra evocative outside photographs that put Luii within the wild.
Collectively, they inform a coherent story a couple of product that belongs in your life, not your medication cupboard.
Key takeaway
The true lesson from the Luii mission is not about moveable bathrooms. It is concerning the braveness to know what a product truly is, not what its class says it must be… and design from there.
Luii is not a healthcare system. It is a way of life product for curious, lively individuals who need to go anyplace with out fear. That perception modifications every thing: the colors, the typeface, the images, the tone of voice, the whole thing. And generally crucial design choice you make is deciding to not be afraid of your individual temporary.
