Every brand project starts the same way — a blank page and a client who knows what they feel but can't quite articulate what they want.
The Aether project was no different. A luxury wellness brand launching into a crowded market, they came to me with three words: calm, elevated, timeless.
Starting With Strategy
Before touching a single design tool, I spent two weeks on strategy. Who is the customer? What do they already buy? What brands do they trust and why?
The insight that unlocked everything: Aether's customer doesn't buy wellness products. They buy permission to slow down.
That reframe changed everything about the visual direction.
Building the Typography System
Typography was the first design decision — and the most important. For a brand built around slowing down, I needed a typeface that rewarded patience.
Cormorant Garamond was the answer. Its fine serifs and generous italics feel like they belong in a different era — unhurried, considered, refined.
Paired with a geometric sans for UI and labelling, the combination created exactly the tension we needed: historical warmth meets modern clarity.
The Color Story
The palette came directly from the brand territory — warm neutrals pulled from natural materials, anchored by a single terracotta accent that provided energy without aggression.
Five colors. That's it. Constraint is a feature, not a limitation.
What I'd Do Differently
Looking back, I'd push harder on the motion guidelines earlier in the process. We developed them last, which meant retrofitting motion principles onto a system that wasn't designed with them in mind.
Start with motion. It forces you to think about the brand as something alive rather than static.
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