Carla Palette reclaims the power of pink in her loud and proud visual world for condom brand SNUG

SNUG is everything that every other condom brand isn’t. The London-based brand was born out of a desire to challenge the status quo in an industry dominated by generic fits, masculine stereotypes, and outdated narratives around intimacy. Designed for “the girls and the gays,” SNUG champions “living large – in every sense of the word,” says designer Carla Palette, who was entrusted with designing its identity. “It flips the narrative on objectification, leveraging the same bold gaze historically placed on women and femme-presenting individuals, turning it into a tool for empowerment, confidence, and cheeky repartee. SNUG’s story isn’t just about condoms; it’s about creating a brand that sparks conversations, dismantles stereotypes, and serves pleasure with a side of politics.”

For a brand that makes “snug fits for big packages,” SNUG’s own graphic voice had to be big too, unafraid to take up space, and Palette understood this. In response, she crafted a typographic visual language that’s impossible to miss on the shelf. The big, bold type is loaded with meaning. “In an industry where the conversation around sexual health and pleasure has often been muted, sanitised, or tiptoed around, SNUG refuses to follow suit. The typography mirrors the brand’s unapologetic attitude – strong, assertive, and impossible to ignore,” Palette tells us.

For the wordmark, she used a combination of Big Sexy Sans and Thunder, “two incredibly bold, unapologetic typefaces, each bringing its own distinct personality while complementing the other seamlessly,” Palette adds. To ensure they worked together perfectly, the letterforms were carefully customised and refined to mirror each other’s qualities, creating the illusion of a single, unified typeface. Palette also added an extra layer of roundedness to every letterform, softening the inherent heaviness of the bold characters. “This subtle refinement brings warmth and approachability to the otherwise punchy wordmark, ensuring it doesn’t feel overly aggressive or intimidating.”

Overlaid on every graphic across the brand is a big, hard-to-miss eggplant – a graphic mark that speaks to the brand’s irreverent tone of voice. “The eggplant isn’t just a cheeky emoji – it’s a universally recognised symbol of sexual innuendo in modern digital culture,” Palette tells us. “But it’s not just about humour. The eggplant serves as a visual shorthand for size – a central theme in SNUG’s story. It reinforces the brand’s focus on ‘tailored fits for big packages’ while keeping the messaging light, relatable, and culturally resonant.”

While the eggplant and the big type work together to attract attention, they’re also helped by the bright tone of pink the brand is washed in. The choice of the colour was born from an intention to step away from the stereotypes of the industry – where brands like Durex, My Size, and Crown Condoms lean heavily on masculine-coded blues – but it was also Palette’s way of flipping the script on the cultural connotations the colour carries. “Historically dismissed as delicate or unserious, pink here becomes a tool of subversion. By pairing it with bold, blocky typography and sharp messaging, SNUG reclaims pink as a symbol of strength, confidence, and unapologetic rebellion,” says Palette. “The choice also serves a strategic purpose. In a sea of blue packaging on condom shelves, SNUG’s vibrant pink stands out immediately, making it impossible to ignore. It challenges the industry’s visual stereotypes and signals that SNUG isn’t afraid to own its space.”