Background Youthforia is a US-based digital-first, Gen-Z clean beauty brand whose mission is to make makeup more playful by breaking the beauty rules for a market bored by what’s out there. They encourage people to use makeup whenever they want, however they want — strictly no rules. Their products are for a self-expressive youth market who want to have fun — whether it’s with their face, their place or how they fill space.
Insights Gen-Z is a generation born into crisis. From regular teenage things (crushes, conflicts, school, social media scandals) to new teenage things (s*xting, catfishing, a life online) to global things (capitalism, climate change, COVID-19) — they’ve lived or are living it. Consequently, they’re leading the charge on a new world of branding where they control the narrative. Messy, maximalist, uncurated, raw.
Challenge Youthforia came to us in need of a visual and verbal identity that would resonate with an always-online Gen Z audience while communicating the fun, offbeat, irreverent nature of the brand.
The brand’s premise of having fun and playing around needed to extend to its packaging and so did their environmentally- clean ethos — if they were going to use plastic, they wanted it to be something worth holding onto.
Solution Taking lead from the younger members of the Universal Favourite team, the visual identity throws straight back to late-90s internet aesthetics. It’s fun, it’s fluid and exciting with a blast of bold colour and comforting nostalgic quirk that extends an invitation to anyone’s inner-child.
Drawing inspiration from 90s teen magazine mastheads, the “Y” mark not only feels accurately rebellious but also becomes a changing container (think classic MTV logo) that introduces the idea of mixing up your makeup based on your mood. Hand- in-hand (cute!) with this idea is a suite of energetic shapes and stickers rolled out across all touchpoints (packaging, product, digital) that reflect the brand’s intention to let you flex your self-expression.
Coupled with a cheeky, human tone of voice, the blend of verbal and visual identity encapsulates the care-free yet angsty attitude that comes with being a teen. When everything’s falling apart around you, at least your makeup can look cool. As a key part of their brand experience, we developed a full suite of packaging, collaboratively developing the product form and labelling, outer boxes, mailers, and everything in-between. Each item comes in different colours, with different holders to choose from, bringing back the thrill of coveted childhood collectibles and adding an extra element of fun.
Youthforia’s maximalist aesthetic shines bright in the packaging execution, with bold colours, type, and messaging that reflects the brand’s intention to let you flex your self-expression. The magnetic pans designed into the suite allow users to click, combine, stack and arrange their Youthforia makeup to suit their mood — an idea also reflected in the logo. They can mix and match their product arrangements based on however they’re feeling that day. We worked with 3D2D to develop a suite of motion and still 3D assets that would showcase the modularity of the products and that could be used across their website and marketing.
“Particularly inspired by teen magazine mastheads from that era, Universal Favourite’s concept is best represented by the brand’s packaging – which sees energetic typography, playful stickers, clashing colour and layered geometry loudly come together to feel intentionally messy and raw. Each item with Youthforia’s range comes in different colours, which alongside their modular magnetic bases, aim to encourage a coveted collectibility reminiscent of one’s childhood.” The Brand Identity – https://the-brandidentity.com/
