Current
Identity, packaging, and a two-line product system for a premium hydration and clean-energy brand, built on a single idea. Stay in your current.
The idea
Energy and hydration have a volume problem: everything in the aisle shouts. Current does the opposite. The name carries the whole concept, three ways at once, an electrical current (energy), a water current (hydration), and being in your current (flow). Built on one line, stay in your current, the brand turns clean energy and hydration into a calm, premium ritual.
The mark
The wordmark is set in a heavy grotesk, and the bottom of the letters fills with a live water current that shifts to the flavor’s color. The logo isn’t static, it’s a system: the current flows, and its color is the flavor. One mark, an entire range.
Two lines, one current
Rather than a wall of flavors, Current splits into two product lines, peers by occasion, not quality:
- Hydration (white): everyday clean energy and hydration. The flavor-colored current flows up and wraps the can. Fluid, refreshing, all-day.
- Performance (black): the same clean base, formulated for training. Solid matte black, the current contained to a focused glow. The water current becomes an electric one, form following the dual meaning of the name.
My role
Art director across the whole system: naming and positioning, the wordmark and the water-fill mechanic, the flavor color language, the two-line brand architecture, the full packaging suite (eight SKUs, front and back), and the product art direction. Current was art directed, designed, and produced end to end.
Deliverables
- Brand identity & the responsive water-current wordmark
- Flavor color system (the current shifts per flavor)
- Two-line architecture, Hydration & Performance
- Eight-flavor packaging suite, front & back
- 3D / product visualization and key-visual direction
Art direction, end to end
The process behind the current
Current was built brand-first: the mood gathered, the rules written into a book, then the spot boarded and timed before the campaign went wide.
Research & direction
Water and voltage
The board held the two halves of the name in one place: caustic light through water, electric blues, matte black hardware, bone paper. Two product lines were already hiding in it.
The brand book
Rules that hold water
The guideline document: the water-cut wordmark and its construction, the two-line colour system, type and usage.
Storyboards
The two-line story, boarded
The two-line story boarded: hydration white in water light, performance black in base glow, the campaign world between them, closing on the line. Stay in your current.
Animatic
Timed against the pulse
Boards timed in Coveboard against a pulse bed: white line, black line, city, resolve. The campaign sections below are the payoff.
Animatic cut in Coveboard ↗, the AI-integrated pre-production and editing platform I designed and built.
Identity system
Every flavor, front & back
Hydration
Everyday clean energy and hydration. Light, bright, and calm. The water current that keeps you in flow, all day.
Performance
Built for training, with a clean performance blend. Focused, charged, and intense. The electric current you reach for when it's time to push.
Water & stone worlds
Botanical & nature
Fruit & flavor splashes
Energy & charge
Campaign
Out in the world
Current doesn't whisper from a shelf. The campaign carries one idea into the places people already move through, a Times Square takeover, a rain-slick bus shelter, a platform poster, a thumb-stopping social frame. Same mark, same current, every surface.
Times Square Takeover
Billboards
Lifestyle
Social & Digital
R&D
Process & experiments
A look behind the final system, the explorations, dead ends, and directions tested on the way to Current. Naming and wordmark studies, packaging tests, and hundreds of environment and flavor concepts.
Logo & wordmark studies
Packaging & studio tests
