Spotlight: Health & Beauty

The consolidation of the SkinMedica product line under a cohesive branding strategy began with an in-depth analysis of bottle, cap, and pump sourcing options. The project ended with a dramatically reduced number of packaging forms and a unified packaging presentation.

4sight Creates Cohesive, Cost-Effective Packaging for SkinMedica Cosmeceuticals

SkinMedica has rapidly risen to become a leader in the advanced skin care—or "cosmeceutical"—category, and the disorganized array of generic-looking stock packaging reflected the sporadic addition of products over the years. SkinMedica was founded by renowned dermatologist Dr. Richard E. Fitzpatrick, and the company distributes the SkinMedica product line and three pharmaceutical lines through a network of licensed physicians in the U.S. and abroad.

The SkinMedica company decided the time had come to embark on a more cohesive branding and packaging program using custom packaging structures across its entire product line. However, the costs of developing new structural packaging had to be justified. The 4sight inc. design firm not only created affordable, exclusive packaging that communicated the uniqueness of the SkinMedica brand, but they also achieved greater efficiencies in manufacturing and component costs by seeing the big picture. "Instead of looking at the packages individually, we looked at them as a system," explains Stuart Leslie, president of 4sight inc.

A complete packaging analysis

"Our first challenge was to conduct an in-depth examination and analysis of their complete line of products, package components, and associated costs to find solutions that would streamline the manufacturing of the new packaging," says Leslie. "After this extensive evaluation, we found enough commonality in size and functional requirements to dramatically minimize the required number of package components. This gave SkinMedica the ability to develop custom packaging within their budgetary constraints." 4sight did all the legwork in researching how to source bottles and caps in the right volumes to make that trade-off solution a viable one.

Another issue that drove the package design strategies was the fact that even loyal SkinMedica customers often "cherry picked" the flaghip products that they liked or those they were most familiar with. SkinMedica was worried that customers were reluctant to try other types of SkinMedica products because the packaging was so disjointed, and 4sight recommended a very unified approach so customers would be compelled to purchase more components of the whole system.

To achieve a structural brand identity, 4sight broke the products down into categories of package size and user functionality requirements. The wide variety of sizes and materials was narrowed down even further into a base set of packages that would work for the entire line. By carefully coordinating with the closure companies and making slight modifications to stock components, 4sight created the aesthetics and function without the timelines normally associated with custom closures.

Ergonomics were also a prime concern and as often customers try to open and use the packages with only one hand. The new SkinMedica packages for lotions are inverted for easy dispensing and the caps can be opened with a flick of the thumb. In addition, many of the bottles and tottles incorporate oval-shaped airless pumps that allow easy dispensing of the recommended dosage, prevent oxidation, and deliver the entire volume of product to the patient. With the oval-shaped pump, 4sight consolidated use of packaging materials and packaging sizes to allow for more product options with fewer forms.

In one case, 4sight designed a custom disk cap and flip-top cap dispenser accented with a thermoplastic elastomer rubber trim. Using this material in a new application, the elastomer trim enabled 4sight to reinforce the quality look of the packaging. 4sight also molded the logo on the cap so consumers would find it easier to identify the brand.

Blending the branding

4sight created image boards using appropriate brand cues that allowed SkinMedica to realize that the overall aesthetic should convey beauty and technology by blending sophisticated cosmetic styling with a hint of the medical origins of the products. 4sight designed simple geometric, elegant forms that incorporated subtle visual cues of graduated cylinders, which depict SkinMedica's scientific-based heritage. "We had to pick an element that was meaningful," says Leslie.

High-quality cues were also very important to achieve consistently across the entire product portfolio. For a more elegant design, 4sight replaced the previous colors with a light silver grey, almost platinum, pearlescent and translucent finish to complement the new structures. Leslie did discover, however, that too much pearlescence creates a "cheap" impression when the firm was attempting to match all of colors across packaging types and materials and elevate their impact to its maximum potential.

The premium, consistent sheen of these packages also suggests the smooth silky feeling a customer hopes the product will impart on his or her skin. Finally, 4sight developed the different colors and icons that identify each product and situate it within the SkinMedica product family. When customers now encounter SkinMedica products, they get a high-end packaging experience that connects visually, tactilely, functionally, efficiently, and economically.