A New Kind of Kick’s sophisticated identity for Brains Pure CBD avoids typical cannabis tropes

With an enormous influx of CBD products on the market, the challenge for A New Kind of Kick in their identity for global wellness company Brains Pure was to create something different to the crowded pharmaceutical industries’ disposition for uninteresting, cannabis-iconography-focused brands. Invigorated by Brains Pure’s dedication to quality, the London-based branding agency built the brand from the ground up with authenticity and calibre at its core.

The subsequent identity is one more akin to fashion and culture than that of CBD infused paraphernalia, utilising a refined colour palette, premium printing processes and a grounded typographic pairing. Opting for Colophon Foundry’s Nib and Milieu Grotesque’s Maison Neue, A New Kind of Kick’s Design Director Robert Loeber tells us “the typefaces are a really nice balance between classic and modern,” noting the contrast between the traditional forms and organic construction of Nib, and the authoritative edge of Maison Neue. “It’s a great workhorse on everything from web to packaging,” Loeber adds. Exploiting the juxtaposition of the typefaces is Brains Pure’s distinct monogram; which is referential in its form to the molecular research behind the products, while also providing a stable, established and trustworthy tone. The shape itself is adopted across the extended brand as a signature graphic device, used “to hold the truths for each product,” Loeber recalls.

Working in tandem with the sophisticated typography is the inclusion of drawing and photography across the brand courtesy of British photographer Jim Marsden. “We commissioned Jim to shoot beautiful landscapes around the Lake District,” Loeber explains, using these on the inner sleeves of the product packaging, and redrawing the landscape’s skyline as a blind embossed detail on the outer side. “We want to steer clear of cannabis imagery and leaves,” Loeber concludes, “and instead build the range from the ground up with the idea of natural purity at its core.”

A New Kind of Kick

Brains Pure