Brand
Love at First Sight
XO Agency partnered with what would come to be called Bond & Love, a startup dedicated to developing innovative products that help breastfeeding moms nourish strong families. My Droplette, the launch product from Bond & Love, is the first of its kind small quantity milk collector.
The challenge with startup branding is that awareness and customer understanding are at zero. We must create an identity that tells the customer what category the brand is in, what makes it different, and why it’s compelling. All at a glance.
The first step is the name. Starting with a multi-disciplinary workshop of experts from the organization, plus creatives and strategists that could leverage their expertise and give it voice. Bond & Love was a direct output of those initial conversations. The unconventional structure of the name separated from the competitive field, and immediately spoke to the experience of motherhood. It was relevant and unique – a strong starting point for a brand.
Services Provided
Naming
Messaging
Brand Identity
Packaging and Collateral Design
A scalable design system
A good design system brings forth the value of the brand in a way that consumers feel intuitively. It’s a translation of features and benefits into evocative elements. The Bond & Love design system, along with its launch product of My Droplette, is based off of the visual connection between mother and child.
Mother and Child
The icon mark – an ampersand – subtly references an embrace of mother and child. The overlapping nature of the forms is extended into the broader type mark, giving it a quilted feel. This patterned look gives the brand an immediate intimacy and comfort that echoes the brand name.
Extension and Prototype
To extend the system further, a pattern of icons plays a secondary role to add texture and playfulness to the design. These elements, held together with a modern and fresh color palette, create an identity that can easily be extended to any use case, while always being distinct from the competing items on the shelf.
XO Agency’s process of design prototyping creates artifacts of the brand expression that extend beyond what may be needed at the close of the project. This allows the organization to grow into their brand, offering value for years to come. The examples of retail popup, merchandise and product extension all show how the system works together, regardless of where Bond & Love takes their growing business.
“Thank you so much for this beautiful brand. The process has been efficient and exciting, and we can’t wait to get this out into the world!”
Annette Aranda, Co-Founder
