We’re living in a world where the average person’s attention span is shrinking ©. And while people often turn to prescription pharmaceuticals as the most obvious solution, it’s also known to come with adverse effects. Thesis, a cutting edge nootropics product, offers a better, cleaner way to help increase focus through all natural mental supplements. Established by a founder who has firsthand experience with ADHD, Thesis became a successful startup, essentially establishing a new category of naturally derived cognitive enhancers. After acquiring serious investment from Unilever, Thesis brought Combo on board for a brand transformation. Our task was to stay true to the start-up’s origins while legitimizing Thesis as a category leader, moving the category itself into the mainstream.

As a category of one—with certain growth ahead—the challenge was not just to create a memorable brand, but also to establish an unfamiliar approach to mental focus as an attractive and accessible alternative solution to prescribed amphetamines. To make sure emerging competitors couldn’t encroach on its leadership position, Thesis needed to keep its edge as a product made by and for independent, free thinkers and anchor that cutting-edge spirit in established science.

Conceptually, we leaned into the idea of success, more specifically the kinds of success sought after and achieved by those who forge unconventional routes. Building a template approach as a way to profile people and stories as well as ingredients and information was our way of tying science to success. Our design team merged the bold individuality at the core of the brand with a cohesive system that offered consistency and repetition—two proven principles that go a long way in establishing a brand.

Taking inspiration from CT image mapping that shows how different parts of the brain light up, we honed in on a dot matrix as a simple yet incredibly flexible visual system. Using this dotted grid as the base for a cohesive design language, we created a logo as well as an entire product architecture system that assigned graphic patterning to represent Thesis’ different need states for enhancing logic, energy, creativity, clarity, motivation and confidence. Versions of the base grid came to life in a distinct way for each product with a color coded execution of the easy-to-understand primary color palette. In this way, static graphics could evoke movement when viewing, as a whole, one’s suite of individualized supplements—like freeze frames of brain activity as you cycle through your cognitive process—signaling the idea of fully unlocking your brain’s potential.

The type of consistency and uniformity we established was also intended to work as an individualization device. Based on a customer’s individual goals, they receive a product personalized to deliver the particular kinds of support they call for—that is, a personalized blend of need-state supplements. The packaging design was simple enough to work all together while being flexible enough that everyone could get a different mix without introducing confusion or inconsistency. We did a full website design to work as a personalization portal while validating ingredients and educating about nootropics as a leading-edge, science-backed solution.