Scoville
A spicy ice cream for a major Russian delivery platform — designed twice. The first version was ready, approved, and killed by the retailer. The second had to be built from near-zero in days, without losing the product's character in the process.
Why
Scoville — a sauce brand known for heat — decided to enter the ice cream category with a provocative product: vanilla ice cream with spicy pomegranate topping. The distribution target was Samokat, one of Russia's largest express delivery platforms. The brief was clear: packaging that earns shelf space and communicates the contradiction at the heart of the product — cold and spicy, delicate and aggressive.
What
We researched the category thoroughly before touching any design tool — online references and physical store visits, mapping every existing ice cream format on the market. The first version was built around a central character: a Simpsons-style illustration that anchored the entire visual concept. When Samokat rejected the collaboration due to the creator's association, the design lost its focal point. Not just a face — the entire visual hierarchy had to be rebuilt. What stays, what becomes the new anchor, what communicates the brand's edge without the character it was built around. We solved it. The final packaging went to production, hit Samokat's catalogue, and is selling.
How
The pivot was the real design challenge. Starting over isn't the hard part — starting over while keeping the product's personality intact is. The spicy-cold tension that defined the first version still had to read in the second, just through different means. I directed the redesign from the outside: reviewing at every step, identifying what worked and what didn't, keeping the energy of the original concept alive in a completely different execution. Two weeks total — one for the version that didn't ship, one for the version that did. The constraint didn't weaken the result. It sharpened it.
What it looks like
What we delivered
One killed mid-process, one shipped — both built from scratch
Including full pivot and rebuild after retailer rejection
Live in catalogue, expanding store list
Cold and spicy — had to survive a complete visual overhaul
Need packaging that stands out?
Tell me about the product — I'll find its visual voice.
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