Kitao Cosmetics

Overview

Kitao Cosmetics is a skincare company specializing in matcha-based beauty and wellness products inspired by Japanese ingredients, rituals, and craftsmanship. As an Art Director, I helped shape and refine the brand’s visual identity system, ensuring the brand felt modern, premium, calming, and culturally grounded while remaining commercially viable for digital and retail audiences. This project focused heavily on brand strategy, visual storytelling, packaging direction, typography, color systems, and the creation of a cohesive design language that could scale across product lines, marketing assets, social media, and e-commerce experiences.

Year

2023

Industry

Cosmetics

Scope of work

Branding

Timeline

8 weeks

Overview

Year

2023

Industry

Cosmetics

Scope of work

Branding

Timeline

8 weeks

The Challenge

The skincare market is highly saturated, especially within the natural and wellness-focused beauty space. Many brands rely on similar visual trends, such as minimalist layouts, soft neutrals, and generic botanical imagery. This makes differentiation increasingly difficult.

Kitao needed a visual identity that could:

Feel premium without becoming sterile or clinical
Communicate natural ingredients and wellness authentically
Reference Japanese aesthetics without feeling performative or overly traditional
Appeal to modern skincare consumers across both Eastern and Western markets
Create a recognizable visual language that could scale as the product line expanded

The challenge was balancing elegance and restraint while still building a brand that felt distinctive on shelves and in digital environments.

Research & Creative Direction

The initial phase focused on identifying the emotional and visual territory the brand should occupy.

Rather than positioning Kitao as a purely clinical skincare company, the goal became creating a brand that felt:

Calm
Organic
Refined
Contemporary
Ritualistic
Handcrafted
Healing
Rooted in nature

A large portion of the creative direction explored the relationship between modern Japanese design principles and contemporary skincare branding.

Key visual inspirations included:

Japanese tea culture and matcha preparation rituals
Organic textures and botanical photography
Minimalist editorial layouts
Luxury wellness brands
Natural earth tones and muted greens
Contemporary Japanese packaging design

This research informed the visual system used throughout the brand guidelines.

Typography

The chosen type system balanced elegance and readability while reinforcing the calm, elevated feeling of the brand.

The typography direction emphasized:

Thin and breathable layouts
Sophisticated serif pairings
Editorial-inspired hierarchy
Minimal visual clutter
A balance between luxury and accessibility

The overall goal was to create a visual cadence that felt quiet and refined rather than loud or aggressively commercial.

Color Palette

The color system centered around muted greens, natural neutrals, and earthy tones inspired directly by matcha, tea leaves, stone textures, and organic materials.

The palette was intentionally restrained to maintain consistency and reinforce the premium wellness positioning.

The muted green tones became especially important in helping the brand feel recognizable while still remaining subtle and elegant.

Outcome

The final identity system gave Kitao Cosmetics a cohesive and recognizable visual language rooted in calmness, nature, and modern Japanese-inspired aesthetics.

The branding helped position the company within the premium skincare space while differentiating it from more generic wellness brands through stronger art direction, restrained design choices, and a more atmospheric visual identity.

The resulting system was flexible enough to scale across:

Packaging
E-commerce
Social media
Marketing campaigns
Product photography
Future product launches

You can view the live website for the brand here: https://kitaomatcha.com/

You can also view the full branding guidelines I created here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ag67tyiaxe1snlq4hqqvl/Kitao-Cosmetics_Branding-Guidelines.pdf?rlkey=4tvez424kn61bpqbrb5if29jk&dl=0