CASE STUDY

OCEAN BOTTLE

Ocean Bottle is tackling the ocean plastic crisis through beautifully engineered, refillable bottles, funding the collection of ocean-bound plastic via a global network of collectors. With strong DTC traction, a growing B2B arm, and an engaged community, the brand had momentum. I was brought in to evolve the visual language for scale, adding structure and discipline without losing its activist energy or soul.

The challenge was bringing coherence and hierarchy to a fast-evolving brand without breaking what people loved. Ocean Bottle needed a system that balanced activist energy with a more premium, lifestyle-led direction. It had to flex across digital, product, and packaging, sharpening structure and colour without softening purpose or impact.
The work began by identifying what needed to evolve and what should remain. The core idea, Small Bottle. Big Impact., was strong, but the visual system lacked the stretch to support scale. Working closely with the internal team, I helped define a clearer, more confident expression of the brand, built on contrast: natural and manmade, human and mechanical, raw and refined.

The new system reintroduced clarity through a refined typographic approach, warmer geometry, and purposeful pace. Colour, imagery, and graphic elements were aligned to build coherence without dulling energy. Designed to flex across social, packaging, policy, and product, the identity feels global and grown-up, while staying honest about the problem it exists to solve.
The refresh did more than elevate Ocean Bottle's look. It positioned the brand as a serious, design-led business with purpose at its core. Internally, the new system brought structure and clarity, enabling consistent application across social, packaging, email, digital, and retail touchpoints globally.

Within a year, Ocean Bottle secured £7m in new funding, signalling investor confidence, with estimated annual revenue near £13m. Instagram grew by 40 percent in four months, repeat purchase improved, and partnerships with brands such as Deloitte and Soho House strengthened credibility.

More than a million units sold have contributed to over 4.6 million kilograms of ocean-bound plastic collected. The identity now works as hard as the product, communicating certainty without arrogance and purpose without greenwashing.

The before

What came before: The brand had purpose, a strong logo and product, plus an engaged community, but visually, things were starting to fray. The condensed protest-style typography no longer felt right for a more premium, lifestyle-led audience. Paired with the geometric sans serif of the logotype, it felt forced and unresolved. Colour was often used clumsily, and the lack of a clear system meant designers were improvising wildly.

The after

Working closely with a UX Designer, product pages were restructured to improve clarity, hierarchy and conversion. A flexible colour system supported both light and dark modes, while highlighting the full product range with consistency and warmth. Each visual choice helped connect the practical with the purposeful, keeping the experience premium, clear and easy to navigate.

The new site brought clarity and structure to Ocean Bottle’s expanding product line, while elevating the lifestyle feel of the brand. A refined typographic system, bold photographic art direction, and cohesive colour use helped balance purpose with polish, building a premium user experience without losing the energy of the original identity. From product pages to social proof, every element was designed to support both storytelling and conversion.

To support long-term consistency, I created a comprehensive brand playbook. Designed for the in-house team, it codified the system and helped steer day-to-day execution without dampening creativity.

Social was a key space to build community and energy around the brand. It offered more creative elasticity than other channels, a place to flex the identity, dial up emotion, and layer storytelling through type, colour and imagery. The grid system balanced cohesion with character, giving the brand room to speak with confidence, humour and heart.