Founders Beauty’s compelling genesis came about when its founder and CEO, Sonam Uttamchandani – Nanwani, got an autoimmune diagnosis after an inexplicable bout with severe acne in 2011.
The life-changing examination result prompted a complete change in her nutrition and the products she uses and consumes. While seeking further remedies for her condition, she discovers plenty of people suffering in the same way. There are no ample food, body, grooming, and beauty products that adequately address these niche group’s needs.
Her condition and desire to help others with an autoimmune disorder and high degrees of sensitivity became a powerful catalyst. She further her studies and research and eventually developed an organic product line, igniting her passion for creating all-natural skincare based in Singapore.
One evening she went to La Picara in Manila for dinner, was impressed with the design, and asked the owners to introduce whoever did the branding and packaging design. She made a call to our creative director (who was in the airport en route to Singapore for another client meeting) and invited Design For Tomorrow to help her articulate her vision.
Inspired by her story, DFT studied the super-saturated beauty sector to devise a strategic framework and differentiate the brand. We mapped out a comprehensive brand identity analysis of beauty brands, and benchmarked the best practices. We also created a brand architecture, to ensure its long-term adaptability as it extends into the nutrition and wellness categories in the future.
For the logo, we designed a refined monogram using the FB initials to form a shape of leaves, communicating the brand’s commitment to natural (and organic when possible) ingredients. The complete work encompassed packaging, art direction, visual style, product illustrations, typographic guidelines, a design system – which became the DNA of in-house designs including digital assets and social media templates. Finally, we produced a brand book for long-term application consistency and advised brand design elements and merchandising concerns.
“As an entrepreneur, launching Founders Beauty, and giving it an identity was extremely difficult for me to do all on my own. I remember it like it was yesterday, meeting with countless firms, explaining my vision, our mission as a brand and the goals I had, over and over and over again. It was an interesting process, entering each meeting with gusto and excitement and then leaving wondering if the firm I was meeting was right for us. Then I met Ric, and the team at Design For Tomorrow, which is exactly what I wanted, I wanted a brand of the future. True enough, as they always have from start to finish, Ric and his team have blown us away. They are the only branding firm who truly understood what we were going for. They were able to encapsulate what seemed to be impossible for me to do, into one vision, one icon, and yet somehow through that illustrate that Beauty truly knows no bounds at Founders Beauty. Their flair for the avant-garde, and zeal for creating the best is why they are able to truly design for tomorrow.”
SONAM UTTAMCHANDANI – NANWANI
CEO, Founders Beauty
Singapore
Client Founders Beauty Industry Beauty, Health & Wellness Discipline Branding, Design, Packaging Location Singapore
Creative Director Ric Gindap Art Director Bonnapart Galeng Brand & Identity Designer Patricia Ibañez Account Managers Lorenzo Fresnoza, Ariz Ortiz, Charlene Narnola Collaboration (Type Modification and Design) João Miranda / Tudo Type Foundry
