Ozen’s core technology was inspired by the real-life story of sculpture meeting medical expertise. Dr. Niall was helping his brother, an artist at the Royal Academy, research new sculpting materials when he discovered aerogels. This led us to the brand’s core idea — The Creative Scientist. Design that speaks to the fusion of rigour and precision, and out-of-the-box ingenuity.

We see this most clearly in the structure and solidity of the logo — sculptural by design, with an assertive density that reflects the product benefits. The graphic device priorities clarity, while the type pairing speaks to both scientific journals and modern minimalism. The art direction has a clinical edge in lighting and angles, but has a playful, everyday edge.

While we wanted to set Ozen apart, our approach wasn’t about difference for difference’s sake. There were certain category semiotics we leaned into build trust, but we also wanted to do the product story justice with design that felt truly interesting in this space.

Our colour pairing — a premium dark green for shelf-standout, and more familiar mint to cue freshness — flipped the expected on its head and spoke to the ingenuity of the product. Our language both borrows industry terminology and throws out the rulebook to create a tone that’s both clear and intriguing.

In the toothpaste category, playing it safe is the riskiest thing you could do. Clinical blues, swooshes, convoluted claims. We couldn’t reflect the tried and true approach oral care’s biggest brands relied on if we wanted to be truly revolutionary. But when we looked at the newer brands in the category, decades-old formulas hid behind bright colours, design trends and empty language.

Every decision we made — from the assertive logo, to the premium palette, to the writing style and naming conventions — had to toe the line between being highlighting Ozen’s expertise and being truly distinctive.