Client: DoseBiome | 12 Months | 2018-9
What does a fresh take on oral wellness look like?
DoseBiome needed to position its innovations — including qii, a science-backed oral health beverage — as approachable, consumer-friendly brands in a highly competitive functional beverage and wellness market. With inconsistent packaging, unclear hierarchy, and limited cohesion across touchpoints, qii needed a stronger visual and verbal identity to connect with its target audience. The challenge was to translate complex scientific research into clear, relatable experiences while balancing regulatory accuracy with lifestyle appeal.
Aqil led branding initiative efforts across packaging, digital, and in-person touchpoints, ensuring that scientific credibility translated into consumer trust. His role bridged the worlds of science and consumer culture, ensuring that the brand was not only evidence-based but also engaging and aspirational.
Transformation Phase 1
Laying the Strategic Groundwork
Aqil began the project with secondary research, analyzing market trends, category growth, and competitor positioning to better understand qii’s target consumers and key decision drivers. From these insights, he developed personas that informed the brand’s messaging framework and core values.
Through a competitive scan, Aqil identified how other wellness and beverage brands were positioning themselves to attract similar audiences, uncovering whitespace opportunities in tone, visuals, and storytelling. These findings shaped qii’s brand positioning and guided the creation of an initial visual moodboard to anchor design exploration.
He then conducted primary research interviews with scientists and internal team members to gain a baseline understanding of the technology behind qii, its benefits, and the team’s aspirations for how the brand should be perceived.
Transformation Phase 2
Translating Research into Brand Clarity
Aqil led two visual explorations to present alternative directions for brand elevation. The chosen direction introduced refreshed colours, expressive graphics, and fluid motion elements, balancing scientific credibility with a hip, modern aesthetic. The result positioned qii as a next-generation functional tea brand; one that feels both clean and dynamic, embodying the concepts of cleansing, movement, and everyday vitality.
Collaborating closely with the CEO, we redesigned qii’s packaging to feature clearer product propositions, stronger visual hierarchy, and more inviting design elements. The new layout improved readability for key messages like “Drink daily to promote oral health,” while modernizing the overall look and feel.
Throughout Q2 & Q3, Aqil also collaborated with various stakeholders to develop easy-to-understand concepts for the company's new product initiatives. This test-design-refine-retest cycle aimed to find the most impactful way to introduce the company's new line of innovations. This led to the development of multiple brand options that were created for various target demographics.
The impact
Finalist at the World Beverage Innovation Award
The new branding enhanced market clarity and consumer engagement, positioning qii as a fresh, accessible oral wellness product, with sales spiking 25%. DoseBiome was recognized as a Finalist in the World Beverage Innovation Awards 2019, with the brand system providing a scalable foundation for future product lines. The work demonstrated how participatory design and branding can bridge biotech innovation with mass-market adoption.
Reflection
“My time at DoseBiome highlighted the value of collaborating with like-minded individuals while honing my design skills across varying fidelities in the dynamic environment of a startup. It’s also a reminder that while rigorous market research is essential for clarity and positioning, truly great products demand great visionaries. Behind every data point is a founder’s conviction, and it’s that clarity of purpose, not just consumer insight, that propels a brand from good to groundbreaking.”