Gaudy Octopus Nails
Nailing a viral look for the Gaudy Octopus brand
Nail artist Valori Boss built a cult Instagram following with her intricate, gothic-inspired nail art, but her business was limited to one-on-one appointments. When she decided to launch at-home gel nail kits, the challenge was translating that dark, handcrafted artistry into a scalable brand.
When creating Gaudy Octopus' visual identity, I embraced a Victorian maximalist aesthetic with heavy ornamentation and whimsical serif lockups—think gothic apothecary tins or ornate bank certificates from the 1800s. The primary logo balances industrial rigidity and intricate flourishes, while the color palette is deliberately restrained to black, bronzy golds, and warm brown sugar tones.
For packaging, I designed a dramatic, vertical layout where a clear film window framed each nail set like curated curiosities under glass. Soft-touch coating and gold foil detailing reinforced the brand's artisan roots. Lifestyle photography was shot with soft prismatic lens flares and featured hand models with oracle-like gestures emerging from deep, warm shadows—keeping the focus on the nail designs while maintaining the Gaudy Octopus edge.
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Gaudy Octopus Nails
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Visual Identity, Packaging Design, and Custom Website Design
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Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), Beauty
Building a Shopify site that feels like a Victorian curiosity shop.
Gaudy Octopus’ website needed to feel less like a transaction and more like stepping into a digital Victorian apothecary. I designed the experience to mirror the brand's gothic, ornate aesthetic, leaning heavily on dark backgrounds, decorative flourishes, and product photography that felt artistic and edgy rather than catalog-perfect.
Since 95% of customers were mobile users coming directly from Valori's Instagram, the mobile experience wasn't just important—it was the entire strategy. The site had to feel like a natural extension of scrolling her feed, with seamless navigation and an immersive, limited-edition drop vibe.
