Better Not Younger: The Journey Behind the Brand

By Dear Future

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The true story of how Better Not Younger was born resides not with the genius mind of a designer or a long-time creative vision that just needed to be realized. It resides with the many women we interviewed in the development process, who were fed up with the stereotypical way they were being treated by brands, and who yearned for something that felt more representative of who they are today.

We were a brand-new design firm, just weeks old when we first met Sonsoles and it would be fair to say that we had very little experience in beauty or haircare. Rather than see this as a gamble though, Sonsoles saw our lack of experience as an opportunity. A way of bringing greater external objectivity to what was happening in the category. Rather than fall back on years of experience, the only way we could learn was by listening to the very women who we were here to serve.

There were some incredible insights that we heard that drove so much of what we developed for Better Not Younger.

“I might be old but I’m not beige.”

This was a theme we heard time and time again. Women over 45 are feeling the best they have ever felt. They are feeling full of life, yet the category was dull, bland and well…beige. We were determined to be the opposite and be bolder and brighter.

“Full of Life”

Whilst we wanted the packaging to be fun, colorful and full of life like our audience, we also understood that they have a real sense of quality and love craft. This led us to the idea of hand-painting all the boxes. Over the course of three weekends, we painted the patterns of the brand painstakingly by hand and scanned them in. You can still see the original brushstrokes on the boxes. The marginal gain vs creating them in a software program was about 1% but we felt that for this discerning audience, that level of care would be appreciated.

“Glossier for Gen X”

We heard from one woman whose daughter loved ‘Glossier’ – who said, “why can’t I have a fun brand like Glossier but built for my hair and designed for my sensibilities?”. We loved this insight and set ourselves the target of creating something as contemporary and fresh for our women as Glossier was for millennials.

“Our version of Millennial Pink”

And whilst we picked bright vibrant colors, they had a sophistication to them. It was our way of using color in a way that felt right for our audience. It was us finding our version of Millennial Pink.

The packaging journey never stops for Better Not Younger. We’re constantly listening to feedback from our many followers and are regularly bringing out new products and innovations. What’s clear though is that beige is no longer the only option for women and that your hip daughters may be using your products behind your back once more.