Case study

Enhanced global e-commerce through brand renewal

Project type

Brand

UI/UX

Client

Lava Art

Year

2017-2019

My role

Lead designer

Contribution

Brand strategy & identity
UI/UX design
Packaging
Marketing materials

Brief

In order to realise their dream of global expansion, Lava Art needed to re-examine its business strategy, brand identity, mission and vision, as well as the visual appearance of their product. Their new identity needed to communicate the unique sales points of their products, scale to accommodate a larger portfolio, and enhance customer experience online to further support brand loyalty.

Lava Art's renewal was one of my first large-scale projects where I led the entire process from beginning to launch and beyond..

Lava Art’s original brand was tailored to the Scandinavian market and centered around a single product: a compact cushion foundation in four shades. Although customer feedback was positive, the limited offering hindered growth and competitiveness.

To scale into new markets and expand their product line, Lava Art needed a refreshed brand strategy and a cohesive visual identity aligned with their evolving goals.

Business goal

Improve marketing ROI and increase sales through renewed business & brand strategy

Challenges

Despite having rich data from past marketing campaigns and purchase behaviour, we lacked clarity on the why behind customer decisions.

The previous brand strategy cast too wide a net, making it difficult to create targeted content or identify consistent pain points across diverse user journeys.

What keeps our customers coming back, and what are their needs and pain points?

How does our product fulfil the customer's needs - or doesn't?

How do we communicate our uniqueness through our brand, visuals, and website?

What keeps our customers coming back, and what are their needs and pain points?

Customer research showed a clear disconnect between Lava Art’s product quality and its visual identity. While users praised the product, the brand felt dated—more aligned with traditional competitors—leading to a predominantly 45+ customer base.

To reposition the brand, we benchmarked both emerging and established cosmetics brands, analyzing portfolio size, pricing, and perceived quality. Our goal: a scalable identity for a mid-range, high-quality brand that resonates across age groups and adapts to new products and categories.

We also uncovered UX pain points: country-specific domains made navigation confusing, and international customers from Norway, Denmark, and Sweden couldn’t order while abroad. These limitations were holding back global growth and reach.

The old website relied heavily on text over images.

How does our product fulfil the customer's needs - or doesn't?

While reviewing Lava Art’s flagship cushion foundation, we uncovered an overlooked selling point: the product was fully vegan. Existing messaging emphasised quality ingredients, dermatological benefits, and cruelty-free certification… but never highlighted its vegan formulation.

A test campaign revealed strong resonance with this positioning, uncovering a significant untapped market. This insight became central to the brand realignment, positioning Lava Art as both skin-friendly and environmentally conscious through its clean formulas and commitment to sustainability.

Lava Art's old visual identity was very clinical, and mostly attracted customers in the 45+ age group.

How do we communicate our uniqueness through our brand, visuals, and website?

Results

We repositioned Lava Art as a mid-range, high-quality brand with a strong commitment to sustainability. This value proposition was embedded into the packaging and visual identity, paired with a refined, minimalistic logo. Logo development posed the greatest challenge, requiring careful stakeholder alignment to balance brand evolution with recognition.

To ensure consistency across touchpoints, we introduced a custom, hand-drawn pattern applied across packaging and marketing materials, reinforcing the brand’s crafted and conscious feel.

In parallel, we redesigned the online store to better reflect the brand’s values and streamline navigation. We replaced fragmented, country-specific domains with a unified site featuring region and language selectors—an essential move toward global scalability.

Our new approach shifted the main target audience and focused on nature.

Conclusion

Lava Art’s rebrand began with a key insight: their marketing wasn’t reaching the right audience. Through a collaborative, research-driven process, we uncovered new opportunities that enabled the brand to evolve meaningfully. Both customers and stakeholders embraced the refreshed direction, highlighting the power of bold, strategic change.

Business impact

The new identity immediately shifted the customer base toward our target demographic. Marketing ROI improved by over 60%, demonstrating the effectiveness of aligning brand, messaging, and experience. We also increased brand loyalty and gained several high-value collaborations with influencers.

Translating brand values into product design

A standout USP, the refillable cushion case, had been under-communicated. We redesigned the starter kit to offer a choice of stylish, reusable cases, enhancing both sustainability and personalisation. This not only reinforced Lava Art’s values but also improved product appeal and retention.

Since rebranding, Lava Art has expanded into new product categories and successfully reached a global audience.

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