Premium natural mineral water in a tetra carton, a format that reads as dairy or juice, competing on shelf against glass bottles at ten times the price of regular water. The founders brought a name and a product. Everything else was built from scratch: the parent brand, the AQUA identity, the packaging, and the launch film.
A premium natural mineral water launching in a tetra carton, a format the shelf reads as dairy or juice, priced against glass bottles at ten times the cost of regular water.
The founders brought a name and a product. Everything else was to be built: the parent brand, the first SKU, the packaging and the launch film.
The BackBay wordmark drawn from Gotham with a single edit: the A's cut so a wave passes under the letters. Understated, and built to extend across future SKUs.
AQUA's front-of-pack typography built to carry the carton on its own, bold and stacked, made to hold a convenience-store shelf. The Himalayan illustration in sharp strokes and cold colour turned the tetra format from a liability into the brand's strongest asset.
I led brand strategy and design from the naming-stage brief to shelf, set the wordmark, the pack typography and the illustration direction, and directed the launch film. The team and I built the system out, and the Creative Director made the final creative calls.
The stop-motion launch film: the carton outline as a frame that bursts into colour, a celebration of life. Its frame-by-frame style went on to become the illustrator's signature.
Live since August 2025, fronted by its founders Bhumi and Samiksha Pednekar, with nationwide distribution from premium grocer Nature's Basket to India's rapid-grocery apps (Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart) and PVR, the country's largest cinema chain.
Official hydration partner for Quantum Entanglement by Indian couture designer Gaurav Gupta, followed by the NBA's India arm, Fast & Up and the salon chain Looks.
A founder-led, self-funded brand that went from zero to a nationwide launch without investor money. The identity was designed to extend across SKUs, and it has: Yellow is now rolling it onto a sparkling-water line.
