Revolutionizing an indigenous-owned brand with sustainability embedded in its roots.
Priya Mistry, Designer & Art Direction | Franziska Erlebach, Design Director | Matthew Beaubien, Motion Designer
Amber Smith, Senior Strategist | Leah Burnside, Copywriter | Joshua Dornan, Art Director
Steve Rosic, Web Developer
In collaboration with Jenn Harper and the creative team at Cheekbone Beauty
Portrait Photography Kailee Mandel
Indigenous-owned Cheekbone Beauty founded by Jenn Harper was in need of a package design refresh with a compelling visual identity that told a deeper story as they prepared to launch in Sephora for the first time ever. Jenn, an Anishinaabe woman with roots in Northwest Angle 33 First Nation, created Cheekbone in 2016 on three principles: To make a difference in the live of Indigenous people, to foster pride in Indigenous heritage and to give Indigenous youth a voice and feel seen. Known for creating sustainable, cruelty beauty products that encouraged experimentation, we wanted to bridge in her principles and story into the identity itself.
With “Sustainable by nature” leading the brand story, a striking family of boxes lit up shelves in store, creating a presence in the sustainability world that was bold and stood out in the sea of same.
Features & Recognition
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As seen on: @fashioncanada @shedoesthecity @globeandmail @globestyle
Package Design
Passing on knowledge is an essential part of the Indigenous culture. The packaging is used as a story telling device to share Indigenous knowledge and wisdom with a larger audience. Each of the three product lines—Eyes, Face and Lips— features a specific story in their interior.
“We intentionally stayed far away from the usual sustainable beige and typical earth tones, by using real vibrant colours found in nature and printed with vegetable ink.”
— Zemina Moosa EVP, Head of Account Services at Sid Lee, Toronto
Visual Identity
Sustainability is rooted in Indigenous culture. Cheekbone’s visual narrative was embracing the balance between humans and nature to create beauty made for future generations to come.
In-fills
We used in-fills of macro nature footage within a face, lips and eyes to represent each line of their products. In-Fills were eye-catching across platforms and served as an iconic statement piece which sparked curiosity about the story behind the brand.
Brand Guide
We also designed an instagram filter of in-fills, thanks to Matthew Beaubien, to create conversation around the brand launch which encouraged audiences to play and experiment with their own makeup looks.
Cut-outs
We used cut-outs of face, lips and eyes wearing cheekbone product collaged on top of atmospheric nature footage to further our visual narrative of the balance between human and nature. These videos also included audio of Indigenous music and drums.
Kaleidoscopes
Inspired by intricate patterns found in nature, we created dimensional product animations for lips, eyes and face products. Audio of Indigenous drums, chanting and music were also added to complement the movement.
Portraits
We worked with photographer Kailee Mandel and the team at Cheekbone Beauty to capture hero portraits for the Sephora launch. Our portraits featured models of various Indigenous roots embodying Cheekbone’s unapologetic, confident attitude. We integrated locally sourced Indigenous jewelry, accessories and clothing to each image.
Website
The Cheekbone Beauty website was built for impact, accessibility and story-telling. At every touchpoint we wanted consumers to be immersed in the human x nature story.
