Skincare has never looked so good: Odds’ identity for Alaena strikes a soft balance between science and nature

“Founded by dermatologist Dr. Sylvie Peres and her family, Alaena, was born from a deep respect for skin, science and nature,” Djelissa Latini, co-founder of Odds Studio tells It’s Nice That. “Its philosophy has always been an optimistic one: supporting the skin’s own biological functions rather than trying to correct or conceal them. There was something deeply human about that approach to skincare, while still being grounded in science.”

When the Paris-based creative studio was brought on to rethink the face of the French luxury brand, in their first ever identity project in the beauty space, Dr. Sylvie’s origin story was one that it knew it wanted to keep at the core of Alaena’s new visual direction. A pared down, honest approach in an incredibly saturated industry, the aim right from the start was to put this philosophy for skincare into “a more considered and expressive vessel”, Djelissa says.

With so many brands competing for attention on shop shelves, the studio were conscious of not approaching this project with the ambition of simply making Alaena stand out: “claiming to create something completely unlike anything else would probably be a little pretentious,” says Amélie Warnault, co-founder at Odds. “Instead, we kept coming back to what felt genuinely true to Alaena.” This meant stepping away from any trends in the category that simply weren’t fit for a natural, luxury skincare label: “We love bold, playful identities, but this project wasn’t asking for that,” the founder says. Designing a new visual playbook for Alaena actually looked quite a lot like removing anything that felt unnecessary or superfluous.

A theme of quiet restraint seeps into all elements of Odds’ identity: the tracking in the logo mark is overly generous, giving the word “room to breathe”, says Djelissa. Its sharp, linear letterforms take inspiration from scientific documents and archival material in the brands collection, offering up something elegant but underpinned by research. It also has a sense of medical rigour in certain layouts that nod to the all too familiar Snellen charts you squint at in an eye test. Turning into quieter micrographics that sparsely overlay beautifully art-directed shots of the products natural ingredients, typography is never a cause for overcrowding in the design system, “there is space for things to unfold at their own pace,” the cofounder says.

For the products vessel, Amélie and Djelissa built Alaena’s entire packaging system around a single shade of blue, for which they found an almost perfect physical counterpart: G. F. Smith’s Colorplan New Blue. “Authentic, soothing and quietly distinctive, it reflects the balance between scientific precision and human care at the heart of the brand,” says Amélie.

Alongside this statement hue, the pair contrasted chrome and silver details alongside transparencies that aimed to reveal rather than conceal the actual product, “the way you might encounter a sample or formulation in a laboratory”, Djelissa shares. The idea was to nod to “Alaena’s essentialist philosophy of skincare,” on the product’s outside. Jars, boxes and labels all subtly reference the precision of scientific instruments and lab research, all whilst beautifully resisting the feeling of anything “too cold and clinical”, Amélie ends.