Protect Your Tattoos With Electric Ink, Youthful Nonconformist!
By: Casha Doemland
Up until recently, tattoos were taboo and if you had one, you often heard remarks like “you know that’s permanent, right?”, "it's going to look cute now, but how it is going to look when you're old and wrinkly?" and "how are you ever going to get a job with that?". To all of those individuals asking those questions, here's a single answer for you: times have changed.
In the United States alone, $1.65 billion is spent on tattoos annually, and that's just the money reported to the government. 47% of Millennials have a tattoo, and more times than not, they're showcasing their artwork. While yes, some jobs in the corporate world prefer a little discretion, the overall acceptance of tattoos is shifting.
"With all the money, time and pain that millions of people invest into their tattoos, we thought why focus on creating just another skincare brand?" starts Simon Forster, Founder of Electric Ink Skincare and Robot Food. "Instead, we choose to create a brand that would stand out, serve a purpose and speak to those unspoken to."
But, this project didn't start off with a potential client or a brief, rather, it grew from an inspired idea. "We looked at the category, and our audit found there was a high percentage of people with tattoos who were massively underserved by existing skincare brands," says Forster. "There were a few immediate aftercare products available through specialist retailers, but nobody was really taking this high growth sub-culture seriously."
So, Robot Food brainstormed and produced Electric Ink, a 100% vegan, cruelty-free skincare brand. This brand delivered some much-needed love to inked folks around the globe by providing a collection of products that not only soothe and hydrate your skin, but also enhance the color of the ink, prevent fading, and help rejuvenate both the skin and tattoo.
When it came to the packaging design, they knew they had to be careful with finding the right balance between mainstream and counterculture. "The design had to blend tattoo credibility with trusted skincare cues in order to appeal and feel premium," shares Forster.
What better way than work with a tattoo artist who is known and respected in the community?
"We spotted Tom Gilmour’s work early in the design process and could immediately picture what his work would bring to the designs," begins Forster. "Tom's old flash sheet style is amazing and hugely credible in the scene as bands like Blink 182 and Pixies have commissioned his work previously."
Each box features Tom’s Americana Traditional flash, with the logo in black script and the name of the product in a vibrant color. As for the product itself, it’s minimalistic and mirrors the front of the box with just the name of the product and Electric Ink’s logo.
By choosing Tom as the illustrator for the box, it helped Electric Ink achieve their goal of having a desirable and respected line in a large subset of mainstream culture.
"So much of this project has been trusting our gut," states Forster. "We're just thrilled that the brand we've built and invested in has succeeded in the way that it has because it means we've created something distinctive that really resonated with the people."
Trusting their gut was the right call because somewhere along the way, industry insider Stu Jolley would soon become their partner and help create the range of products alongside a specialist manufacturer in the UK.
Now, Electric Ink has distribution in eight global regions, and they're now available in UK's largest health and beauty retailer, Boots.
Tattoos are growing in popularity, with 1 in 5 adults having at least one, and as the world evolves, the beauty and personal care market must change with it. Electric Ink is simply one step ahead of the curve and wants to keep your skin, as well as your ink, as fresh as the day you got it.
