Studio Study: Aesop Bath

We found ourselves in Bath for the afternoon and walked passed the Aesop store in Bath. Naturally we had to peruse… while I wasn’t personally shopping, I decided to take a couple snaps. Time and time again the Aesop brand comes into conversation when clients are asked about references or inspirations for their own brands. I thought it would be a good idea to capture some of the store to highlight aspects like packaging and environment design.

Environment:

The shop and product layout is pretty flawless, allot of attention to detail and not a bottle or box out of place. Careful consideration and curation of products and placement, creating a plethora of ‘moments’ to take in each part of the store. What I also loved about the space itself was the generous use of ‘Bath Stone’ that echoes the surrounding architecture. Each Aesop store is created to reflect the environment (city) of which it is situated which means not two stores will be the same.

Packaging:

The fragrance box packing as a calming spectrum of colour and minimal layout to front with key details kept to back or side making the product look and feel confident and luxurious. Carefully considered type hierarchy between logo, title and description of each fragrance. The same can be said for the branding on the fragrance bottles and the approach of printing directly onto the bottle adds to the high-end feel. The skincare packaging is almost the opposite with allot of text and information visible on both box and label. The trick here is the careful consideration of typography and layout which helps to give the product a more scientific feel though also transparent as no information seems to be hidden. This is also largely emphasised by the text appearing in multiple languages depending on product.