Melbourne-based Strangelove Drinks constantly challenge convention. Following on from the success of their Tonic and Soda ranges, StrangeLove saw the sparkling water category was in dire need of a good shake up.

They engaged us to develop “Another drink by StrangeLove”, a range of sparkling waters destined for high end grocery, cafes and restaurants. Creating intrigue and a strong shelf presence were key, while retaining the StrangeLove challenger attitude.  Inspired by the seemingly simple letter/number combination ‘H2O’, we began exploring this fascinating and complex chemical concoction.  

Our exploration conjured up musty old periodic table charts from sixth form chemistry class; a timeless graphic icon which opened up opportunities to leap into new territory. We discovered a graphic parallel in ASCII code, which represents text characters in computers and other digital devices. The language of chemistry was akin to computer programming code and led us to investigate.

The imagery for the three products is made by multiple individual text characters forming a cohesive whole. An image of a pear, apple and drop of water emerge from the code, a homage to how coding creates imagery in computer graphics. This offers the potential for hidden messages using the text characters. We had found a way to communicate a lot within a very minimal framework.