Burnout among creative professionals has reached epidemic proportions, with 70% experiencing it according to the Mentally Healthy 2024 survey.
House of Adjaycent recognised this crisis as an opportunity to redefine how design can address emotional wellbeing through Re:Label, a conceptual skincare line that transforms routine self-care into moments of psychological repair. The project emerged from personal experience rather than market research. “The team, all creatives ourselves, has experienced burnout at some point in our careers,” explains Jay Liu, Founder, Art Director & Designer at House of Adjaycent, who worked on the project alongside Claire Chang and Darryl Cheong. “During a casual gathering, we found ourselves discussing self-care rituals that had helped us decompress, especially in the wake of the pandemic. Beyond the usual candles and room sprays, the conversation turned more tactile.”
Each product in the trilogy corresponds to distinct psychological challenges faced during creative burnout. Re:Frame supports reframing harsh self-criticism, Re:Surface aids quiet re-emergence from uncertainty, and Re:Claim helps restore centre during overwhelming moments. The names deliberately guide users through a compassionate journey toward healing and empowerment. House of Adjaycent transformed these emotional states into tangible design elements that invite pause and reflection. Each ingredient list reads like poetry, offering emotional cues such as ‘a splash of clarity’ or ‘a full pump of quiet strength,’ turning cleansing routines into mindful self-check-ins. Hand-drawn illustrations deepen this emotional layer, with subtle motifs woven into the packaging as visual cues – a throne, a doorway or a shooting star that gently speak to the user.
The typographic approach reflects the emotional duality many creatives navigate. “Pangram’s PP Eiko and PP Mondwest anchor the identity,” Liu notes. “Selected for their editorial sensibilities, the two typefaces pair as a typographic tension between serif and pixelated, soft and structured, mirroring the emotional duality many creatives navigate.”.
House of Adjaycent made a conscious decision to avoid AI-generated visuals entirely. “It reinforces the packaging’s commitment to authenticity and the rawness of human creativity,” Liu explains. “In a scene where generative AI continuously floods the market with predictable content, consciously choosing to avoid it signals a respect for the craft, time and intention in this exercise.”
The colour palette underwent a dramatic transformation during development. Originally featuring dusty orange, olive green and soft lilac, the design shifted to pure white UV ink printed on transparent stickers when the translucent bottles arrived. “Each label would inherit the hue of the bottle beneath it, shifting subtly with every blend,” Liu reveals. “No two bottles ever look or feel the same. The print technique also introduced a raw, grainy texture that can be felt when holding it.”
This approach deliberately departs from the polished aesthetic of luxury wellness brands. The monochromatic scheme and tactile textures symbolise the beauty of imperfection, reinforcing that being human means being in progress. The identity strips away gloss and replaces it with clarity and acceptance, communicating that wholeness doesn't require meeting external ideals. Re:Label invites users to become authors of their own healing process. The initial bottles come pre-mixed for immediate use, but the true ritual begins when they’re empty. Users can refill and remix their own formulations, transforming skincare into a personal act of reinvention. Each element reinforces the message that creativity and vulnerability are strengths, not weaknesses to overcome.
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Content taken from House of Adjaycent
