What are our design principles?
With a background in Art, the best part of my job has been liaising with Ourlyfe’s designers, industrial designers and manufacturers.
In early discussions of how to create our unique, plastic free, powder hand wash, we had to decide our design principles. Were we niche, ritual, mass or utility? In the spirit of health and wellness, it was important to have a ritual element to encapsulate the daily ritual of cleansing and introduce our powdered hand wash as a daily part of life. As a new and first to market product, we knew our biggest challenge was to change peoples hand washing behaviour. We're asking people to press for their soap, rather than pump and while we do require an extra step, we hope for the love of our planet, our supporters embrace Ourlyfe's new cleansing ritual.
the next step was to decide our aesthetic language to communicate our brand effectively. Were we a quiet, active, aesthetic or functional?
We decided, we’re a functional, aesthetic brand with an active element.
At this point we knew we were entering the aesthetic of Modernism. Our product needed to be artistic and functional and as a sustainable brand, the element we most aligned with was nature.
In nature we see our future. It’s bringing art into our every day life. Our ingredients are found in nature, naturally antibacterial plants, plant oils and clays to cleanse and nurture our skin.
Therefore our founding design principles are positioned in the natural elements of Modernism with a connection to our Earth, at its most raw!
In saying this, the idea for Ourlyfe didn’t just come from the Earth, it also came from a space of deep contemplation and personal challenge. The problems I addressed in my previous natural and organic skincare business of harsh, irritating ingredients had been solved. I knew our business struggles during covid offered an opportunity to change and be more aligned with our true ethos based in wellness and our organic world. We evolved to offer a unique innovation to solve the problems of plastics in our daily life and while doing so found our true purpose.