New Work: HealGel
Actress Natascha McElhone, a dermatological biochemist and a team of leading plastic and cosmetics surgeons. An unusual combination of people to be behind a brand, but then HealGel is no usual brand. It’s a range of products originally created to help surgeons in their work, but which now provide high quality, effective skin care. And it was the products’ roots that informed the brand refresh carried out by Pentagram’s Domenic Lippa.
The challenge for Lippa and his team was to evolve HealGel’s look and feel using elements of the existing identity while also staying true to the brand’s origins.
Its basis in science was reflected in a minimalist design, using typography alone – no imagery or photographic direction – to allow the product to speak for itself. And its beauty credentials were emphasised with the use of warm pastel colours to soften and feminise the overall look.
That balance between science and beauty, which lies at the very heart of this project, comes through even on the packaging’s finish, where a contrast between matte and gloss denotes a product that is both functional and tactile.
Project team: Domenic Lippa, Partner-in-charge and Designer; Jeremy Kunze and Lucy Groom, Designers.