Startup Nopla Aims To Make 'Orange The New Green'

As consumers become more aware of our many existential ecological crises—like the growing pile of plastic garbage accumulating globally—many now seek more eco-conscious and plastic-free alternatives to daily personal and home care essentials. Entrepreneurs and designers are also getting in on the action.

Founded by Mia Morrison and Francesco Cappellini, Nopla is a new plastic-free brand started from a desire to create products that are both sustainable and user-friendly in the belief that we can live our best life while still treating the planet with respect. To do this, Morrison and Cappellini enlisted the services of creative agency Freytag Anderson to create branding and packaging for their startup.

“The brief was exciting, a new to market brand that wants to focus on creating and curating no plastic products for consumers. We wanted to create a brand that is on a mission to help us all find a way to a no plastic future,” says Greig Anderson, creative director at Freytag Anderson.

“From our initial conversations, Nopla was a startup on a mission. With the plastic crisis affecting our lifestyles and environment: whether it’s plastic littering the streets, microplastics found in your food, or particles polluting the air you breathe—it affects us all. Nopla wanted to help everyone to make a difference by designing and curating a series of everyday products and essentials kits for the home,” Greig adds.

Freytag Anderson began with a name that not only sounded good but was unambiguous concerning the brand’s mission. Nopla mashes together the words "No" and "Plastic," a clear nod to their philosophy and purpose. They developed a bright and vibrant color palette to stand out from the nascent yet competitive space, while the typography is modern and playful.

“One of the key aspects of creating the Nopla brand was that the founders Francesco and Mia were keen to make sure it was bold, vibrant, and fresh,” Anderson explains. “We chose an impactful orange and blue palette to counter the often bland, neutral tones that a lot of established environmentally friendly brands seem to choose–deliberately dispelling the myth that environmentally friendly products can't be colorful.”

Nopla’s current range includes bath items such as bamboo toothbrushes, shampoo and body bars, vegan candles, hydration accessories such as flasks, tumblers, and reusable straws, as well as upcycled baskets made from plastic bags designed by Ruby Parker.

“The Nopla brand was created to be accessible and flexible as it had to be applied in lots of different ways to so many products. A simple, customized wordmark in lowercase was created, and using the repetition of the circular forms contained within the letters, we created a series of circular icons which get used for products and packaging. We paired this with a playful brand language to appeal to the target market with messaging like ‘orange is the new green’ and ‘making zero waste heroes.' We also applied the brand to outer box designs, paper packing tape, and brand guidelines,” says Greig.

Nopla’s branding sets the company apart from other sustainably focused startups with the bright, vibrant, and fun approach to shrinking the impact our daily lives have on the environment. Rather than go with neutral and earth tones, Nopla leans in to the retailer persona, generating an exciting shopping experience with purpose.