The skincare market is increasingly saturated with brands that use similar claims related to naturalness, sustainability and effectiveness. This claim inflation makes it difficult for emerging purpose-driven brands to differentiate themselves and can increase consumer scepticism. This graduation project investigated how an emerging Dutch skincare brand could translate its social and ecological mission into a credible, distinctive and coherent market position that is relevant to skincare consumers.

The project followed a Triple Diamond approach, structured around brand research, brand foundation development and brand identity design. The research combined a literature review on consumer value, purpose-driven branding, brand authenticity and brand development with an internal analysis of the organisation’s ideology and capabilities. The external context was examined through market, competitor and retail research, qualitative interviews with skincare users (n = 9) and a quantitative survey (n = 93). These findings informed the development and evaluation of three positioning directions. The selected direction was translated into a brand foundation, after which a brand identity was iteratively developed and refined through three rounds of concept testing, using packaging design as the primary vehicle for its evaluation. A final quantitative study evaluated the new packaging design among Dutch skincare users (n = 102).

The research showed that the organisation had a meaningful internal foundation through its impact-driven business model, direct relationship with the shea supply chain and ambition to improve value distribution for small-scale women shea farmers in Ghana. However, purpose alone did not create sufficient consumer relevance. Within the research samples, skincare decisions were primarily shaped by safety, effectiveness, skin suitability, reassurance and simplicity. The central strategic challenge was therefore to connect moral value to personal skincare value and to make the organisation’s authenticity visible through clear and credible proof.

Traceable shea was selected as the strongest positioning direction because showing where the main ingredient comes from helps consumers better understand what they are using and feel more reassured when choosing and using the product. The resulting design outcome consists of a coherent brand foundation, visual and verbal identity, scent-based product architecture, layered packaging system and brand book for consistent implementation. Packaging functions as the primary proof layer, while supporting touchpoints provide space for more detailed communication about sourcing, farmers, value distribution and ecological impact.

The final validation showed that the packaging met the assessed design criteria to a substantial, but incomplete extent. Participants generally recognised the points of parity within the category: body butter and its moisturising and softening benefits. They also associated the design with sustainability, fairness, farmers and natural ingredients. Shea butter was recognised as the main ingredient, but shea and the scent variant were rarely mentioned spontaneously. Moreover, the individual contribution of traceability and direct-sourcing cues could not be established because these were not measured separately. The project therefore provides a grounded strategic and design direction for moving from an internally meaningful purpose towards a clearer consumer-relevant market position. Further physical testing and market exposure are needed to evaluate the complete identity, perceived value, purchasing behaviour and retail performance in practice. ... Read more