Nordic Dermatological

A skincare identity built on one idea: every product carries an ancient Norse glyph whose meaning mirrors what it does. The range reads as one family, while each formula gets its own mark.

The brief was Nordic dermatological — clinical, with a real sense of place. The trap is obvious: most skincare flattens "Nordic" into thin, white-space Scandi minimalism. I wanted it to mean something structural, not just set a mood.

The insight: runes were never decorative. They were carved as invocations — to protect, heal, strengthen, renew — which is the exact promise of a skincare product. Skin is a surface you mark and guard; a rune is a mark believed to guard. So each product carries a glyph mapped to its function. Glød ("glow"), the cleansing oil, is a bind rune of sun, flame, and dawn.

Exploration: accurate runes drawn as-carved read cold and archaeological. Color-coding each product fractured the identity. What held was near-monochrome restraint — let the glyph do the differentiating, and carry warmth through materials and light: amber glass, warm-neutral type, film-grain photography on stone.

The system: I redrew every glyph to one geometric family — shared stroke weight, common stave, consistent terminals — so they feel drawn by one hand and stay legible at thumbnail size in a single ink. A spaced serif wordmark (ceremonial) pairs with a quiet sans (clinical), tied together by a recurring three-dot motif. Palette: near-black, amber, pewter, stone, cream.

Where it landed: the point isn't one beautiful bottle — it's a language the brand can grow into. Any new formula gets a glyph chosen for meaning, drawn to the same grid, and it belongs immediately.