Black hair is beautifully unique, however highly misunderstood in today’s society. Our culture has pushed that long, straight, soft, light-colored hair is the beauty standard. Women of color are left feeling inadequate simply because their hair doesn’t fit this standard, using chemical treatments, weaves and wigs to try to conform.

They have to rely on at-home treatments or are forced to buy multiple brands to get what they want from their hair products because there is no one brand that fulfills all their needs. To find these products, they have to walk past the regular beauty aisle into the “ethnic hair aisle”. This aisle is filled with patronizing and naïve designed products: garish colors, stock photos and the generic “brown bottle”. A mess of pandering communication.

Black hair is considered a niche market, when it’s quite the opposite. People of color make up a majority of the world’s population. Women of color are also the greatest consumers, spending more than $2.56 billion dollars on haircare products a year.

Tristan Walker, founder of Walker & Co, set out to change the category. His vision: a haircare brand for women of color that was sophisticated and gave women exactly what their hair needs– a collection of products personalized to their lifestyle.

Our task was to bring this brand to life, from concept and name, to visual identity and beyond. Our objectives were to design an authentic and sophisticated brand that would elevate, simplify and break the dynamic of the ethnic haircare aisle.

We knew we had to ground our story in a powerful concept and name. Through an extensive naming exercise, we landed on FORM. We built our design concept on the definition of FORM: the shape or structure of an object, or the manner of arranging and coordinating parts for pleasing or effective result. This definition inspired our brand mark, six simple circles arranged to create an ‘F’. This mark is representative of our family of products which is packaged in sets of six, in multiple regimen combinations built to suit our consumers hair and lifestyle.

When it came to designing the packs, we wanted to execute simple clean design to distinguish FORM from what is currently on shelf. With a muted and sophisticated color palette and purposeful, clean copy, we designed a strong family of products that work together seamlessly. The richness in the subtle metallic and the addition of the foils adds depth and soul to the products creating a warm and inviting brand.

To design the world FORM would live in, we looked to the versatility and flexibility that comes with using the FORM collection. By matching the product movements to the hair movements of our models, we show that FORM is a brand that adapts to your lifestyle.

FORM launched direct-to-consumer on its own website, but also in the largest Sephora in the country to great reviews. FORM has also been featured in a number of publications including Essence and Harpers Bazar.