BRANDING / PACKAGING
It started with some printer paper, tape, and a makeup artist with a dream.
Tottie Pops was an upcoming lip gloss business out of Ypsilanti. The founder, Kwajylnn Burks, had come up with the the labels on the fly and was looking for a true brand identity.
It needed to feel like Studio 54 never closed.
From the beginning, Tottie Pops was all about glitz, glam, color, and feeling sexy. As I got to know Kwajylnn, I knew she was a 70s disco girl–it reflected her entire style and business. This led me to study 70s/80s disco and counterculture, focusing on the clubbing scene.
Capturing the time period in a bottle
The disco inspirations brought me to the final logo: A logo based on 20th-century type with a heart symbol that doubles as sparkling lips. Tottie Pops, now “Tottie",” needed to balance maturity and sexual undertones with the the playfulness of the brand’s mission.
But what about all the different shades of each individual gloss?
The main palette could be used to represent Tottie as a whole, but these colors wouldn’t necessarily be appropriate for individual tubes, which span the full spectrum. How could this be systemized? I started by working with three different lab samples and giving them their own names.
From there, I developed a color labeling system allowing any shade of gloss to have its own “hex code,” so customers could easily search their favorite colors.
Wrapping it up (in prototypes)
Package design was the final step in making this brand complete. I knew the design would have to be strictly 2D for cost reasons. My solution was to take the ambient approach: The heart symbol could be applied onto the cusp of the tubes, so that they looked like parting lips when opened. The boxes transformed the tubes into busts, and shipped orders would have mailers decorated to look like makeup pouches.
I felt incredibly lucky to have had this opportunity, and I wish Kwajylynn well on her business ventures.
