We became acquainted with Taby Cheng and her awe-inspiring photography through past collaborations. Four years ago, while on a work trip in Palm Springs, we had a particularly inspiring conversation over breakfast. Taby expressed her disappointment with the skincare industry and their cruel treatment of animals during product testing. Looking for an alternative, she began making her own skincare products. In turn she realized that she could make products with better ingredients at a way lower price point.

After returning to Vancouver, we were delighted to receive an email from Taby that she wanted us to work on the brand identity and packaging for her skincare products, TBD-Form. From translating her brand value to visual language to producing print labels, we worked closely together on this fun and exciting project.

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Details of baseline grid, font size and leading.

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We were exploring a variety of bottle cap colours and safety lock options.

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Type treatment for promotional poster

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Scan of the packaging design labels of the three product skus (face oil for all skin types, face oil for oily skin types, and lip balm)

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The treatment of an alphabetic numeral system reflects on the wordmark design

Brand Identity & Packaging Design

Interestingly, before Taby came up with a name, she was temporary using the name TBD (to be determined). She decided to keep this name as it speaks on two levels: the idea of how things are ever changing and that things can be changed for the better; the strength and courage in making firm decisions.

Reflecting on this idea of progressive change, we wanted to craft a graphic treatment that feels ‘undesigned’—as though it is a typed-out list or a prototype. A neutral workhorse, sans serif reflects on this “ordinary” or “normal” brand visual language of a gender neutral skin-care brand for everyone and for everyday.

TBD-Form wanted transparency when displaying their organic ingredients, so we’ve set out to design the packaging labels that display this information on the forefront. By simply using one font weight with two sizes, we established a two-column content hierarchy; while maintaining a consistent baseline grid. With this, the design could be easily adaptable on a variety of formats and sizes. The label design can also be translated into other marketing collateral such as promotional posters (image 4) and digital layouts.

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Summary

“…I created the products, labels, website design, development, and company messaging, and then I stopped. It was a mixture of life getting in the way, career going different directions, and fear. It was constantly not good enough. I didn’t want to put something in the world that people didn’t need. Who needs more skincare?” — Taby Cheng, via Instagram

Although TBD-Form didn’t come to fruition, we are proud to document this project and hopefully it might inspire people who share the same value.

Sector
  • Identity
  • Packaging

    • Location
    Vancouver, Canada

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