Date of Birth’s colourful identity for ROCC brings disruptive and nostalgic energy to toothpaste

Melbourne-based branding agency Date of Birth have stayed local in their identity design for fellow Melburnians ROCC; a natural vitamin-and-mineral-enriched toothpaste company aiming to reduce the carbon footprint created through manufacturing – with the product’s tube fully biodegradable within seven years. Although environmentally-minded, Date of Birth wanted to steer clear of the typical aesthetic associated with organic, natural branding, opting for an unexpected collision of retro and contemporary. “Toothpaste isn’t something new, it’s something we’re all familiar with,” Designer at ROCC Michael Nguyen tells us, noting the change in perspective due to the environmentally-friendly context the product is in. “We expressed this through nostalgia,” Nguyen explains, “it looks like something familiar, but it’s interpreted in a new way,” finding inspiration in the challenging typefaces of the past – landing on ITC Zipper as the primary typeface of choice. “ITC Zipper was selected as we felt using a style that references nostalgia would be disruptive and distinctive,” Nguyen recalls, “our favourite part of the typeface was that we felt the rounded forms of the ‘O’ and the ‘C’ resembled teeth,” he adds, noting the subtle reference to the product.