Design Process: Creating an Adaptable Identity for Home Fragrance Brand Diamond Candles

The Diamond Candles brand faced a time of transition. A transition between the familiarity of their current brand with their existing customer base and the need for a modern look for their new luxury candle line. By understanding this transformation, we created an identity system for Diamond Candles that supports the agility needed not only for this change, but also for continued growth.

Setting Up the Brand Shift

Diamond Candles is a home fragrance company dedicated to creating amazing products with the perfect fragrance and exciting experiences that bring people together.

We first developed a story surrounding their brand rooted in four facets: excitement, togetherness, scent, and quality. These four facets serve as the basis of the entire brand, woven throughout the story, the visuals, and all brand communication. We created these facets to be a measure of consistency as the brand continues to evolve.

Beyond the facts, we created a visual system. And in the world of design, a brand identity must function as part of a system, not as singular pieces. From color, to typography, to form, all elements need to come together harmoniously to create a brand. And this brand system must also align seamlessly with the customer experience.

Design Process Breakdown

The luxury candles are crafted to transport you to another time and place. From a fragrance perspective, they are inspired by cultures and spices from around the world. We wanted to create a visual pattern that matched the true essence of each candle.

The design process began with pulling together mood boards of luxurious and delightful colors, paired with patterns commonly found in the country of origin for each fragrance. For the Spiced Agar candle, for example, we researched the origin of agarwood—also known as oud, oodh or agar. A dark resinous heartwood, agar forms in trees in Southeast Asia. But the fragrance also includes spices commonly found in India like clove and sandalwood. So we collected patterns found in India and across Southeast Asia.

Now, admittedly, the process of identifying cultures that inspire pattern is not a new concept. There are plenty of brands, Uber included, that have used this same approach.

What sets Diamond Candles apart leads us back to the flexibility of an identity system.

Part of this system meant making sure each candle expressed the qualities of the four facets in their designs and their descriptions. The second part of this system was the visual structure. Each pattern is based off of a unique diamond grid structure.

By creating this structure, the brand now offers continuity amongst the luxury candles, a purpose for the word “Diamond” in the company name, and a basis for the entire brand as it expands into new home fragrance categories.