Solène is a small skincare house in Lisbon built on a simple promise: fewer products, made properly. They came to us with a strong point of view and a logo that didn't carry it. Our job was to give the brand a quiet confidence that would still feel right in ten years.
The brief
The founders had outgrown a DIY identity. The wordmark felt generic, the packaging looked busy on a shelf, and nothing connected the bottle in your hand to the brand online. They didn't want a trend — they wanted something calm and durable that matched the products inside.
We agreed on one north star early: restraint. Every decision would be judged against whether it made the brand clearer, not louder.
Our approach
We started where we always do — with words. A short naming and voice exercise sharpened how Solène talks: plain, warm, never clinical. That tone then guided everything visual.
From there we built the system in three layers:
- The mark. A custom wordmark drawn from a humanist grotesque, with one softened detail that carries across the whole identity.
- The palette. Warm paper, deep ink and a single clay accent — enough to feel distinct on a shelf without shouting.
- The system. A flexible grid, type scale and set of layouts so the in-house team can make new pieces that still look like Solène.
“We finally have a brand that feels like the products — calm, considered, and ours. Two years on it still looks right.”
The result
The new identity launched across packaging, the website and retail in a single season. On-shelf, the line now reads as one family; online, the brand finally matches the bottle in your hand. Most importantly, the system holds — the team has shipped a dozen new pieces since without us, and every one looks like Solène.
It's the kind of work we're proudest of: not loud, not clever for its own sake — just right, and built to last.