Nocturne is a self-initiated fragrance house I built from the ground up, treated with the same process I'd bring to any client: strategy first, then design. 

The brief was familiar: a fragrance inspired by the city after dark. Most fragrance branding solves that with common approaches such as moonlight, mystery, or gold foil details. I wanted to solve it with something more specific: what does after dark actually look like in an urban environment? Concrete, streetlight, wet pavement, the quiet stretch between one train and the next.

That question shaped everything downstream. An archetype chosen deliberately against category convention, Creator and Explorer rather than the more expected Lover or Magician. A material-first approach to the bottle and packaging. Sandblasted glass, a textured concrete-like cap, no gold, no ornament. And a running checklist I held every decision against throughout the project. 

The case study covers the strategy behind Nocturne, not just the finished system: positioning, personality, the reasoning behind each material and typography choice, and how those decisions translated into the bottle, packaging, and campaign work. 

I'd love to hear what you think, especially if you enjoy seeing the thinking behind a visual identity as much as the final result.

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🧠 GROWTH TIP 06/30: DON’T START WITH WHERE. START WITH THE FEELING.

Most travel apps start with one question: “Where do you want to go?” That works when the user already knows the answer. But a lot of travel discovery starts earlier, with a much less specific thought: I want to go somewhere, I just don’t know where yet. That idea became Traveling Up, a travel randomizer concept.

Instead of asking users to work through dozens of filters, the product starts with just three signals: 🌍 how much time they have 🎭 how they want the trip to feel ☀️ what kind of climate they prefer

The destination stays a surprise. Hypothesis: removing destination selection from the first step could move users faster from vague travel intent to genuine interest in one specific trip.

What I would test: • Destination first search vs Mood first randomizer • Randomize start rate • Destination save rate • Plan this trip CTR • Time to first interesting destination

💡 Growth insight: in discovery products, uncertainty is not always friction. Sometimes it is exactly what creates curiosity and moves users toward the next action. This concept came to me after a particularly inspiring trip. And I think it is the first mobile concept I have created purely for myself, rather than for a client project, in roughly three years. So this one has a little more freedom, art direction, and product experimentation in it.

06/30 complete.

If you enjoy seeing mobile product experiments like this alongside the growth thinking behind them, follow along. And if this direction resonates, a reaction helps me understand which ideas are worth exploring deeper next.

#MobileAppDesign #TravelApp #TravelAppDesign #MobileUX #UXDesign #ProductDesign #GrowthDesign #TravelTech #InteractionDesign #UIDesign #ProductStrategy #MobileProduct #AsolDesign

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