Designing For The New Natural - Then vs. Now

What signals that a brand is “natural”? The concept has undergone a cultural shift in the marketplace. From a reaction against artificial ingredients and chemical-free materials, it’s expanded into a much more holistic concept that embraces values like diversity, quality, and integrity. This new perception has reverberated across categories and price points, changing how consumers make their shopping decisions.

Within this changed landscape, brands need to define what makes them natural beyond being “green and granola,” and explore how to translate that into a personality that is distinctive as well as true to itself. “It’s about leaning into the thing that makes you natural,” says co-founder Paul McDowall.

That means moving beyond traditional cues and codes--images like leaves, craft paper edges, and earthy textures—to develop a brand language that aligns with the product category but also stands out.

With so many layers, which ones to emphasize depends on the specific context of each brand: their products, their channel, and ultimately their unique story. Here are a few ways we’ve approached “the new natural.”

Digging Into the Brand Story

What do you do when your brand category is cluttered with competitors that capitalize on the same “natural” characteristics and are of similar quality? When everyone is
performing on the same level, it becomes even more important to identify and effectively communicate what sets a brand apart under this conceptual umbrella.

“There’s no playbook for designing a natural brand anymore,” says Adrienne Muken, Creative Director. “Each brand is going to have to dig deep in themselves to understand how they bring natural to the world.”
That was the challenge for Theo Chocolate. Their fair-trade, bean-to-bar process was no longer distinctive in the high-end, artisanal organic chocolate category, where such attributes have become standard. So we explored what else “natural” might mean for them.

Instead of focusing on just the ingredients, we honed in on the heart of what the company is about: the artistry, craft, and creativity at its small factory in the funky Fremont neighborhood of Seattle and the magic that happens when those ineffable elements are combined.

The result is an inspiring yet relatable story that dovetails with Theo’s goal of connecting the people who take joy in making high-quality chocolate and those who take joy in eating it. The visual expression has a cleanness and order but excites with a confident bold stroke imbuing the magic of its handcrafted artistry.

A Food Philosophy vs. Natural Ingredients

Sometimes even a shift within a category requires a new approach, forcing brands to reevaluate not just competitors, but also the challenges in that context. When Nutro moved from the specialty pet food niche to mass market, the brand wanted to set a new standard for natural pet food. But within that category, brands faced skepticism about quality thanks to fluffy claims about the benefits of “natural” pet foods and highly publicized scandals about contaminated or harmful ingredients.

To identify Nutro’s take on natural, we took our cues from a human food trend—clean eating, a philosophy that espouses high-quality, unprocessed, whole foods--and extended it to pets. Rather than presenting the food as an alternative or using euphemisms, we put the food itself front and center, celebrating its beauty, purity, and integrity in the visual and verbal language.


The food-first nature of the brand concept also reflects the transparency and simplicity in Nutro’s ingredient lists, conveying the authenticity that is at the heart of the new natural. It’s not enough for brands to present a natural brand—they need to live it through their practices.


“The new natural is about values, about the ingredients, about the business practices, the impact on the earth, the impact on communities,” says Paul. “If you don’t stay true to that, people will call you out on it.”

Optimism for the Future

Large legacy brands that haven’t integrated a natural focus must evolve or face irrelevancy in a marketplace where consumers increasingly expect all types of products to be better for them in some way. At the same time, navigating this environment without sacrificing brand equity can be tricky.

Palmolive’s traditional brand focus was on its efficacy and functional benefits: cleaning power that was gentle on the skin. A classic commercial featured Madge the manicurist surprising her clients: “You’re soaking in it!”
But that wasn’t enough to compete with new and smaller household brands with a strong natural focus grabbing a larger share of the market while highlighting issues like sustainability and environmental responsibility. Despite their popularity, we felt that the problem wasn’t Palmolive’s brand itself but rather a shift in consumer expectations.

“It's a fallacy that millennials and Gen Z's don't like big brands,” says Paul. “I think the issue is if those brands, big or small, are not fulfilling the needs or the expectations that they have.”

Palmolive took on the challenge of adapting its brand without diluting the promise of its efficacy—especially crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our goal was to pivot to meet evolving consumer preferences with a fresh, modern, and forward-looking take. Using this as a starting point, we thought about how Palmolive could emphasize its new-natural qualities and corporate initiatives—such as using less plastic and packaging, more recyclable materials, and eco-friendly ingredients—while staying true to its roots.

Building on the “sacred elements” of the green color and the clean typography, and classic images of shiny glass and dinnerware, we distilled that brightness and clarity into a sense of optimism. The “Ping” icon represents the efficacy but also a symbol of positivity, a north star. From the vibrant green hue to images of diverse, multigenerational families, the visual language signals positivity, cheerfulness, and enthusiasm for the future—connecting emotionally with the hope for a healthier planet.

Authenticity Is Everything

Savvy consumers quickly recognize when brands are greenwashing or otherwise failing to act according to the values they claim. “Natural” isn’t something brands can just tack on—it must derive organically from who they truly are. Big or small, legacy or new, the new natural requires brands to walk the walk—and they must keep up as the rules are constantly being rewritten.

Ultimately, “the new natural is very much an integral part of who you are, and how you talk to the world and how you show up,” says Paul.

In a landscape where “natural” is no longer one size fits all, uncovering what that means for each brand requires the effort of examining their values, stories, categories, and channels—but it also presents an opportunity to design a more meaningful identity that truly resonates with customers. And that is the true power of “the new natural.”

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