Hello Lover

The Challenge: Change the perception of sex from ‘naughty’ to ‘self-care’ How can we empower our audience to embrace their sexuality and create a safe space where they can freely explore one of life’s greatest pleasures? For too long, sexual pleasure has been marketed with a veil of shame. History says that sex toys are naughty and should be kept secretive. Sex and intimacy are an integral part of human wellbeing and the world of sex products should reflect what a well spent intimate moment means for all.

The solution: A sexual wellbeing platform that encourages inclusion, education and offers a curated range of pleasure products. Through design, we created a digital platform where the Hello Lover audience can freely explore one of life’s greatest pleasures. Defying the typical sex store demeanour, our solution invites the Hello Lover personality out to play, crafting an identity that is inclusive, fun, empowering and traverses the sex and self-care categories. Calling upon characterful type, spicy colour pairings, creative layouts and lifestyle imagery, we captured a unique and modern identity that sets the stage for Hello Lover to conquer its mission.

Confidence boosting. Curiosity inducing. Connection influencing. The design impact of Hello Lover is one of changing the conversation for good, and lifting the burden of shame to reveal happier healthier humans. A safe space for the comfortable, the curious and the confused, we’ve created a community Where everyone feels included, learns from, and engages with in a wider brand experience that’s just as pleasurable as the products. Setting a new standard for the sex category, we are influencing brands in the space to share our vision so that making sex self-care is no longer the exception, but the rule.

This project presented a societal issue embedded in history and emotion, requiring an adequate research process. Following our strategy and design process, we conducted a survey to deep-dive into the psychographics of the target audience to uncover their raw emotions and values attached to ‘sex’, and what ‘self-care’ means to them. With perceptions of sex often handed down within families, targeting a younger market of 25-30 year olds was important as this demographic is highly responsive to change and open to having uncensored conversations. In collaboration, we built a vision of what we want the future of ‘sex’ to look and feel like for individuals. We unveiled how our audience wants to feel about ‘sex’ and when shopping for sexual pleasure and wellness products. The results produced five keywords; comfortable, safe, empowered, excited and guilt-free. These keywords were our north star throughout the design process, thoughtfully weaved into every element and touchpoint of the brand identity and website. During the design process, we explored how we can influence people to feel in line with these keywords and blend the meanings of sex and self-care. Using colour, shape and messaging we ensured a sense of familiarity, ease, accessibility and playfulness.