(2025)
Featured Project
UX Design
Wise + Foolish
My Business
Services
A24: Design in Cinema
Featured Blog
Brand Reflection: Aesop
(April 2024)
01 / The Power of Design IN THE Aesop universe
As someone who has never maintained anything resembling a skincare routine, my recent obsession with Aesop feels wildly out of character. But in hindsight, it makes perfect sense—Aesop is a masterclass in design-led brand building, and I’m absolutely the target market for a company that treats every touch point like an architectural thesis. I’ll admit that I’m the type to “judge a book by its cover,” and clean, intentional packaging can sway me before I even know what I’m buying.
But Aesop’s appeal goes far beyond a beautifully labeled amber bottle. When I stepped into their Wicker Park store for the first time, the architecture nerd in me immediately thought, “Yep, I live here now.” That reaction wasn’t accidental. Aesop has built a wildly successful global brand on the belief that context—space, form, and sensory detail—can elevate even the simplest daily rituals. In an era where you can have a gallon of face wash delivered for seven bucks, they’ve proven that design can justify both desire and price.
02 / Wabi-Sabi as Brand Philosophy
Aesop was founded for people, as designer Jo Nagasaka puts it, “for whom the fantasy of the traditional beauty industry is too extreme.” Instead of chasing perfection, Aesop embraces Wabi-Sabi, the Japanese philosophy that beauty is found in natural imperfection. It’s a bold stance in an industry obsessed with flawless skin, airbrushed imagery, and sterile perfection.
What makes Aesop compelling is that this philosophy isn’t treated as a marketing tagline—it’s a governing design principle. You see it in their materials, in the aging of their packaging, in the way product labels prioritize storytelling over glamour shots. Aesop isn’t interested in masking flaws. They’re interested in redefining what beauty looks like when authenticity leads the conversation.
03 / Retail Architecture as Brand Language
Aesop’s retail stores are arguably their strongest expression of brand identity. Each one is architecturally unique, often co-designed with local studios to reflect the cultural and material landscape of its neighborhood. There are no cookie-cutter rollouts. Instead, the brand prioritizes raw textures, natural materials, and atmospheric lighting—spaces that feel closer to art installations than retail fronts. This approach does two things exceptionally well. First, It creates emotional stickiness. You don’t just remember the product—you remember the experience.
Second, It reinforces their values. Imperfection, material honesty, and locality are physically embodied in the space.
It’s retail architecture as storytelling—proof that physical design still matters in a digital-first world.
04 / Packaging Design: Imperfect Luxury
I genuinely believe Aesop could place a used piece of gum on a marble plinth and I’d still consider buying it. But their packaging is, in its own right, brilliantly executed. Aesop’s signature amber bottles and aluminum tubes strike the balance between utilitarian and elevated—industrial materials softened by simple typography and generous negative space.
The aluminum tubes, in particular, are an intentional design choice. Unlike the industry’s standard silicone tubes, aluminum creases and collapses over time, taking on a lived-in quality that aligns perfectly with the Wabi-Sabi ethos. Aesop even photographs their tubes partially crushed to signal that this aging is not a flaw but a feature.
It’s luxury that’s allowed to breathe—and even decay.
05 / Digital Presence
Aesop’s website extends the brand’s minimalist, Wabi-Sabi sensibility through a calm visual language and thoughtful micro-interactions. The off-center compositions, ample negative space, and soft typography evoke the same sense of restraint present in their physical stores.
That said, the digital experience isn’t without its blind spots. The homepage hero lacks clarity and visual hierarchy, diluting the impact of otherwise beautiful photography. Navigation also feels less intuitive than expected for a brand so committed to intentional design; finding specific products requires more effort than necessary.
It’s a reminder that aesthetics alone don’t solve UX problems—something Aesop’s digital team would benefit from hearing. Aesop, if you’re reading this: call me.
06 / TAKEAWAYS
Aesop demonstrates how powerful a brand can be when design is not an accessory but a belief system. They “show, don’t tell” at every turn—from material choices to architectural decisions to visual language. Few brands commit this deeply to a holistic design ecosystem without drifting into repetition or self-parody, but Aesop manages to evolve while staying radically consistent.
Their approach serves as a reminder that: imperfection can be luxurious, design can be a vehicle for cultural critique, and a brand’s values are most convincing when embedded in every detail, not just written on a wall.
Aesop uses natural materials to challenge artificial beauty standards and uses raw form to celebrate individuality. They’ve built a world where imperfection isn’t something to conceal—it’s something to champion. And for a brand selling clean skin, that might be the most beautifully messy design choice of all.
© 2035 CARSON ALFORD