Oddity’s pragmatic identity for IMMI matches the menstrual tracking watch’s accessible approach

Designed as an affordable and, crucially, accessible gadget for low-income communities, IMMI is a menstrual tracking watch that doesn’t require charging or a smartphone connection. Set to be distributed via women’s health charities and educators to best support those who would benefit from the technology.

In need of an identity and packaging system equally as accessible – and affordable – as the product itself, IMMI collaborated with Hong Kong-based design studio Oddity to craft the brand’s tranquil visual identity. Beginning with a pragmatic choice of calming hues that make up IMMI’s colour palette, Founder and Creative Director Alice Mourou tells us, “we were looking for cost-efficient production,” swiftly deciding on a purely monochromatic use of text. “We decided on day one that this brand identity should be printable on any office printer,” Mourou explains, using simply black ink on easily accessible paper stocks. “Conceptually we were leaning towards soft skin colours from pale nude to tan and dark chocolate tones,” she notes, “with accents of nature-inspired colours such as green and violet.”

Taking the concept of the body’s form and figure into the brand’s typographic output, Oddity developed a bespoke display typeface for IMMI’s wordmark; crafting a striking construction that contrasts its accented ink traps with soft curves – inspired by the visual rhythm of the human body. “We were encouraged by the graphical nature of IMMI’s name to play with the lines,” Mourou explains, recalling their “generic” initial exploration of clock hands and cycles. “This search for softness led us to ink traps in the symbol,” she tells us, resulting in a set of thoughtful, reserved and compelling letterforms, firmly grounded in the brand’s story.

Supporting their wordmark is Grilli Type’s sans serif GT America, which is effortlessly implemented across the brand’s stark packaging system. “At first we were looking at GT Zirkon as it was conceptually in line with the ink trap direction,” Mourou recalls, however, found the pair’s corresponding ink traps to compete with each other. “We decided to pick a functional typeface that felt as narrow as the symbol yet had a neutral character that worked great for both print and web,” she adds. “After tests, GT America appeared to work best with the IMMI symbol,” Mourou concludes, combining together to form an effectual and utilitarian aesthetic ideally suited to IMMI’s practical, progressive and propitious venture.

Oddity

IMMI