Bringing sustainability to life through product and brand

Role

Brand & Packaging Designer: Led creative direction for packaging and sales materials, collaborating with internal teams to bring the brand to life across physical touchpoints

Overview

I partnered with mountainFLOW, an outdoor brand redefining performance products through sustainability—creating plant-based, biodegradable ski and snowboard wax designed to replace traditional petroleum-based alternatives.

As the brand expanded its product line, they needed a cohesive visual system that could translate their mission into physical touchpoints—from packaging to sales materials. I led the design of new packaging artwork and a lookbook catalog, helping bring clarity, personality, and consistency to how the brand showed up in the market.

The Problem

MountainFLOW had a strong product story—but their visual expression didn’t fully reflect it.

• Packaging lacked a cohesive, ownable visual identity

• Product storytelling wasn’t clearly communicated at the point of sale

• Sales reps needed better tools to communicate product value in the field

• Sustainability—a core differentiator—wasn’t fully brought to life visually

The challenge was to create a system that could bridge product, brand, and storytelling across physical formats.

Opportunity

Translate MountainFLOW’s mission into a visual language that feels:

• Authentic to the outdoor community

• Clear and educational (especially around sustainability)

• Distinctive on shelf and in use

Build a brand experience that works both in-hand (packaging) and in-conversation (sales materials)

Approach

1. Develop original packaging artwork

I created a new visual direction for product packaging that aligned with the brand’s core values:

• Designed original artwork that reflected the natural environments their products protect

• Balanced technical performance cues with an approachable, outdoor-driven aesthetic

• Elevated shelf presence while maintaining clarity and usability

The goal was to make the packaging feel as thoughtful and differentiated as the product itself.

2. Translate sustainability into a visual system

MountainFLOW’s products are plant-based, biodegradable, and non-toxic—a major differentiator in a category dominated by petroleum-based alternatives.

I focused on making that story immediately legible through design:

• Clear visual hierarchy to communicate product benefits

• Iconography and layout systems to reinforce eco-friendly attributes

• A tone that felt credible, not overly “greenwashed”

3. Design for real-world use (retail + field)

Packaging needed to perform in multiple contexts:

• On shelf (standing out visually)

• In a biker’s kit (durable, readable, functional)

• In rep conversations (quickly communicating value)

I designed with these real-world use cases in mind, ensuring the system worked beyond just aesthetics.

4. Create a lookbook catalog for sales reps

To support wholesale and field sales, I designed a lookbook catalog that:

• Showcased the full product line in a cohesive format

• Communicated product benefits and use cases clearly

• Gave reps a polished, easy-to-use tool for buyer conversations

This extended the brand beyond packaging into a sales enablement experience.

5. Build consistency across touchpoints

By aligning packaging and the lookbook under a shared visual system, I helped create:

• A more unified brand presence

• Stronger recognition across channels

• A foundation for future product expansion

Impact

• Established a cohesive packaging system with original artwork across product lines

• Elevated shelf presence and brand recognition in a competitive outdoor category

• Translated complex sustainability messaging into clear, accessible design

• Equipped sales reps with a lookbook catalog to improve product storytelling and conversion

• Strengthened MountainFLOW’s positioning as a performance-driven, sustainability-first brand

What I Learned

Designing for physical products reinforced a key difference from digital:

You don’t just design how something looks—you design how it lives in the world.

From shelf presence to in-hand use to sales conversations, every touchpoint needed to work together to tell a cohesive story.