Alexa, how do you get hair like Alexa?

If you’re Meghan Markle or Alexa Chung, every day is a good hair day. Their tresses just sort of tumble in a woke-up-like-this way. Not too styled, but just styled enough.

The secret to their longed-for locks is the hairdresser George Northwood. He’s been doing Alexa’s hair for years and – in beauty circles, at least – has become known for his signature ‘undone’ look.

When George Northwood and his team were launching their own range of hair products, they realised the words needed some styling and shaping of their own. We brushed our hair and set to work.

Made Thought had created the visual identity. And George Northwood already had the UNDONE name. We liked it, so we took it and made it the idea that ran through everything, starting with the names of each product in the range:

UNDIRTY, UNDAMAGED, UNPARCHED, UNPOLLUTED: getting a range of product names to work without competing with the overall brand name is harder than it sounds. Get it right, though, and the whole brand comes togeher.

Like lots of branding projects, running with Undone (so the name becomes the brand), seems obvious now. It wasn’t.

When George and his team looked at other beauty brands’ words, they knew they didn’t fit with him. If you’ve ever stopped to read your shampoo bottle in the shower (it’s an occupational hazard for us), you’ll know why. The norm is a weird mash-up of nutrient-rich hydration science and transform your bathroom into a paradise hyperbole. It’s rare that anyone washes their hair in a gushing fountain by a lagoon, and we weren’t about to add to that particular genre.

Luckily, George also wanted to demystify (or should we say undo?) all this beauty speak. And we knew that the range needed a tight idea and a different tone to stand out. So, along with the names, we gave the tone an “Undone” style of its own.

Originally, George Northwood’s team were only planning to sell the UNDONE range online and in their Fitzrovia salon in London. But once Boots’ buyers saw the how the UNDONE brand came together, they wanted in. This is a big coup for an upmarket hair salon’s first range (and they’re a good, accessible price for fancy shampoo and conditioner too).

The beauty world has just unwrapped UNDONE and it’s fair to say there’s a lot of love for George Northwood’s new products out there. And now our work has been featured in Vogue, so it’s air kisses all round.

You can buy UNDONE from Boots or direct from George Northwood.