Werklig avoids the gym-bro codes for supplement brand
The supplement market already had the science: nutritional supplements benefit people of all ages and fitness levels, not just athletes and optimisers. What it didn't have was a brand that translated that insight into positioning and design. Helsinki-based Werklig has created the brand identity, naming and packaging for Suprey, a Madrid-founded supplement company launching with plant protein and electrolytes — built around a visual language designed to sit on a kitchen shelf, not in a gym bag.
More than ten competitor types and a gap none of them filled
Werklig and Suprey's founding team identified more than ten overlapping competitive categories during the strategy phase — from muscle-building corporates and premium fitness brands to pharmaceutical players, supermarket private labels, personal brands, influencers, and fashion and lifestyle companies extending into supplements. In a workshop format, they mapped Suprey's perceived advantages against leading brands in each category to isolate which advantages were genuinely unique.
"Suprey's approach — science-based supplements tailored for everyone, not built around the imagery of elite performance — was surprisingly absent from the market. The scientific argument already existed. What we saw was that no brand had translated that idea convincingly into positioning and design," explains Liisa Puolakka, Head of Strategy & Foresight, Werklig.
The resulting positioning — "evolved nutrition for all" — gave the design system its brief: credible enough for the science-aware consumer, warm enough for a market rooted in Southern European food culture, and visually distinct from both the AG1 optimiser aesthetic and the pharmacy-adjacent conventions of the Spanish and Portuguese supplement shelves.
“In general we felt that too much hyperbole would be wrong for this brand. You need to pull back just before that point.”
Liisa Puolakka, Head of Strategy & Foresight, Werklig
Naming chemistry after pleasure, not performance
Three brand values identified through workshops — joyful, tenacious and pioneering — set the parameters for every creative decision. The challenge was finding a register that could carry scientific credibility and warmth at the same time, in a market where those two qualities tend to belong to different brands.
In naming, earlier directions such as Lightning Powder and Lightning Dust were discarded — they pushed too far toward playfulness and lost the scientific register. The final names layer multiple references into single words: Sweetpeace contains sweet (taste), pea (pea protein), sweet pea (botanical association) and the idea of peace of mind around safety and efficacy. Hydust, the electrolyte product, landed on the balance between chemistry and accessibility that Lightning Dust missed.
"In general we felt that too much hyperbole would be wrong for this brand. You need to pull back just before that point — like with Lightning Dust," says Liisa Puolakka, Head of Strategy & Foresight, Werklig
The packaging uses a monochromatic base palette that creates contrast for the product-specific colours to work against. The product colour range avoids both the high-saturation cues of sports nutrition and the muted earthiness of wellness-coded design. The Sweetpeace tubes use textured materials with subtle embossing on the logo — a tactile quality intended to elevate the daily use experience beyond the standard supplement container. Typography pairs a logotype rooted in sports-world conventions with FK Screamer and FT Regola for titles and body text — typefaces that read as softer and more lifestyle-oriented, creating a deliberate tension with the logotype's harder register.
"High quality needed to come across, but in a way that was approachable and human — something that fits a home environment rather than a gym. The colour palette of the packaging is gentle and calm, avoiding typical sports clichés, but also the overt softness and earthiness of yoga-coded design," adds Anni Koskimies, Lead Designer, Werklig
Photography for the brand features people across ages and body types. The casting brief focused on energy around enjoyment and longevity rather than competition or peak performance — people doing what their bodies allow them to do, as Werklig describes it, rather than winning.
