Palisade
360 Brand Development for the first Bioidentical Lactoferrin Gummies.
Visual Identity, Art Direction, Web Design, AI Image Creation, Email Design, Social Media
Strategy & Copywriting: Katie Nulty Web Development: Viney Bishnoi Photography: Valerie Marie Voithofer
A majority of women deal with iron or gut issues, and most spend a lifetime searching for answers and relief. Fatigue. Bloating. Dizziness. Tummy drama. Thinning hair. Enter: Palisade.
Palisade is a genuinely new kind of product: Bioidentical Lactoferrin Gummies, a new approach to iron and gut support inspired by human colostrum and designed specifically around women’s biology. Instead of relying on bovine colostrum, Palisade delivers human-bioidentical lactoferrin (the key protein found in human colostrum) that is: Vegan, Dairy-free! and Cow-free! Delivering 15× more lactoferrin than bovine colostrum in just two gummies. Now that’s a breakthrough in women’s wellness.
That innovation left us with an interesting branding challenge.
From the beginning, the strategy was “Great science. Good fun.” We wanted to build a new-age women's wellness brand that felt mature, discerning and elevated while making serious science feel easier and more enjoyable to add into your daily routine. We began treating Palisade less like a conventional supplement company and more like a beautifully crafted object or place: tactile, considered and slightly romantic.
The wordmark direction was clear early: an all-caps sans serif treatment felt right from the first round, giving the brand the confidence and low-key authority it needed against softer, embellished elements of the branding. Ultimately we focused much of the character of the mark into the S, introducing an unexpected ornamented serif treatment into the otherwise sans-serif construction.
That accent S went through many rounds of iteration, we wanted it to feel considered but not gimmicky, subtle but it shouldn’t disappear at scale, sculpted but not disassociated from the other lettering. The version we landed on was clean enough to live confidently on packaging and digital applications, while the S hinted at the more decorative, crafted world surrounding it.
Once we had our wordmark figured out, we knew we could lean fully into the decorative and ornamented for the brandmark. We built a stylized P, embellished into what reads as a modern monogram seal rather than a flat logo shape. Surrounded by an ornamental frame that feels somewhere between an heirloom seal, an stucco ceiling detail.
Importantly, we never intended the P to exist as a flat vector logo. We built it to carry dimension, embossed, debossed, or waxed. These treatments keep the brandmark tactile and specific to Palisade wherever it shows up, whether pressed into a gummy, stamped into packaging, or rendered as a wax seal online.
The inspiration of stucco ornamented ceilings naturally lead us to include graphic treatments to introduce small moments of craft into the brand. Little embossed corners, subtle overlays, add warmth and tactility. The more we started using these embossed graphic treatments we realized they were substantiating the feeling that the Palisade world has been made, pressed, molded and cared for.
We didn’t stop there, we used the same inspiration to craft iconography for Palisade. This wasn’t the brand to use standard clean-cut icons, Palisade called for adorned and whimsical iconography.
Initially anchoring the brand in milky gradients, to allude to colostrum, we build out an entire gradient world for the brand before establishing primary colors. These atmospheric gradients that move subtly through blush, violet, cream and yellow, seamlessly fading in and out of each other, established the sophisticated background world of Palisade.
When applied, the gradients feel understated enough to not be noticed at all, but subconciously setting the brand apart from other feminine branding.
Pairing the gradients with a mature plum violet as our signature brand color, supported by a softer violet, light grey and creamy neutrals creates a mature foundation. An accent coral color injects the brand with energy and optimism that also acts as our signal color for e-com executions.
Typography became another way to balance the two sides of Palisade: breakthrough science packaged in a soft, elevated experience. Rather than relying on the clean geometric sans serifs that dominate the supplement category, we chose PP Editorial Old as the primary display typeface. Its narrow proportions and elegant, slightly romantic character bring warmth and sophistication to headlines.
We paired it with Seasons Sans, an approachable sans serif that brings clarity and modernity to the system, particularly across longer copy, product information and digital applications. A third typeface, Suncoast, is used sparingly for statistics, eyebrows and scientific callouts.
The original strategy specifically challenged us to elevate the typical gummy experience beyond the cheap-feeling plastic jar and create something chic enough to leave on your kitchen counter. We developed a premium soft-touch pouch that feels tactile rather than pharmaceutical, using restrained typography and generous negative space. The gummies themselves are formulated and finished with an opaque, oil-coated matte surface.
In addition to a launch photoshoot, we relied heavily on AI-generated imagery for Palisades macros. AI let us create with a level of scientific specificity and consistency that would be difficult and expensive to achieve through photography alone.
Rather than showing ingredients as expected piles of powders or laboratory still lifes, we could exaggerate texture, translucency and scale. Against pale, clean backgrounds, the imagery feels fresh and sensorial without becoming clinical. AI allowed us to build an ingredient world as sophisticated as the formula itself.
The website is where the full system comes together at scale. Editorial typography, ornamentation and atmospheric background gradients establish Palisade's digital world.
Bold claims coexist with tactile imagery; clinical information lives next to a heart-shaped gummy; glowing, softly animated CTAs introduce small moments of delight. The result gives a complex idea space to be explained and the authority to feel credible.
Using AI as an art-direction tool allowed us to create a multitude of props and set designs early and build a much richer launch world around a single physical product.
Moving between 4-5 models and tools, each image was perfected and crafted to not feel hyper-stylized but rather minimal and paired-back to fit within the Palisade world.
For the launch photography, we wanted to retain the intimacy of the digital world we had created while adding real human texture. The direction is calm and assured: lighting stays soft and diffused, avoiding harsh direct flash or obvious sunlight, creating imagery that feels elevated without feeling overly produced.
Most importantly, Palisade was build for women who've tried the powders, and probiotics and are looking for something better. The lifestyle photography communicates confidence, pleasure and ease. It brings the original strategy full circle: a brand rooted in breakthrough science, but designed around the simple idea that taking care of yourself can still be one of the enjoyable parts of your day.
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