A Friend of Mine creates fun-filled packaging for carbon-neutral beauty brand Kester Black

B–Corp certified, vegan, cruelty-free, halal and carbon-neutral – these are just a few of the qualities that make Kester Black’s beauty products as good for the planet as they are for cuticles, lips, faces and brows. Founded in Australia by New Zealander Anna Ross as a ‘good-weird kind of beauty company’, Kester Black also donate 2% of all revenue made from their clean, ethically-made formulations towards social causes. Over two years, they’ve been working closely with Melbourne-based design studio A Friend of Mine on the substantial repositioning of their brand. Working across print, packaging and digital marketing platforms, the studio decided to embrace and evolve Kester Black’s historically bright, poppy and quirky styling within the new brand language. Their packaging has been completely overhauled to feature vivid colour combinations, playful typography, wavy die-cut edges and beautifully-crafted blind embossing and debossing. Alongside a custom ‘Kester Black’ liner pattern constructed from organic forms, the elements come together across the packaging to possess a positive, surprising and sophisticated attitude. A Friend of Mine’s design of the Hyperreal lipstick range extends the organic forms of the brand pattern, with playful shape decals used to represent the shape of each lipstick. By embracing striking colours, considered print finishes and understated typography, Kester Black’s new identity and packaging challenges the tired conventions of typical cosmetic products.