Client: Deca · Acqua Plus
Acqua Plus leads the metal shower category in Brazil, and became the standard four competitors set out to imitate, not only in the product design but in the packaging as well. Here is the graphic redesign that gives differentiation back, and the structural rebuild underneath it.
In short
Deca's Acqua Plus defined the visual grammar of metal shower kits in Brazil and became hostage to it: four competitors copied image, colour and layout closely enough that the shopper stopped telling the leader from the copy. The redesign attacked both sides at once. On the graphic side, the shower kit enlarged at the centre and artwork running past the edges of the panels, so that three boxes side by side form a single shelf block, with no display and no investment from the retailer. On the structural side, a single carton with a universal moulded pulp tray that holds two component geometries and arrives pre-formed. The gains, all from this project: +50% units packed per hour, −20% material cost, two packs became one, eight SKUs in a single box and an FSC certified recyclable tray. The project received two bronzes at the Prêmio ABRE da Embalagem Brasileira 2026, one in Structural Design and one in Graphic Design.
The system
After the patent expired, I mapped the four brands that had copied the design of the product and of the old pack. The strategy I chose was disruptive: sell the shower by the part the user sees every day, the head the water comes out of. An oversized showerhead, with the attributes stated right above it: the pack sells and explains in a single glance, which is the entire job in DIY store self-service.
A single box serves two different products: the chrome kit and the D.COAT colour kit. The back panel solves this with two frames side by side: each version with its components drawn one by one, showerhead with wall arm, diverter, hose, hand shower and holder. No vague promise of a "complete kit": the shopper counts the parts.
Below the frames, a short line tells the shopper to check the barcode label: that is what defines the colour and the model inside. It closes the one remaining doubt and avoids the exchange at the till, which is the real cost of packaging that serves several SKUs.
The structural redesign unified 2 kits with different components and geometries. The graphic redesign brought it all into one clear solution that leaves the consumer in no doubt.
The sides are not leftover area. On each one, the product continues from top to bottom at close to life size: the chrome hand shower on one side, the D.COAT colour version on the other. The image cut at the edge is an invitation: it only ends if the shopper turns the box.
And whoever turns it finds the rest of the argument: the whole kit on the back, the attributes as icons on the top, the finish in detail on the sides. In DIY store self-service, where there is no salesperson, it is the pack that guides the visit to the product.
The project in one line
Acqua Plus defined the visual grammar of metal showers in Brazil, and then became its own liability: four competitors copied the packaging design and its way of communicating, with image, colour and layout close enough that the shopper stopped telling them apart. The redesign resets the Deca standard everyone had copied, and projects a new future scene in the DIY stores.
How it was done
A leader that no longer looked like one: four brands copied product and packaging, and every point of parity started working in the copy's favour. Internally, two models locked into two packs, with a glued cardboard tray, slow to fold and far too weak for heavy metal parts.
I mapped four brands selling products and packaging visually next door to Acqua Plus. When the leader's design becomes the category standard, the shopper reads "shower", not "Deca", and the weak tray was turning into a returns cost line.
Graphic redesign: the oversized showerhead at the centre, attributes right above it, an image that bleeds across the panels and turns into a shelf block. Structural rebuild: one carton with a universal moulded pulp tray that takes two geometries and arrives pre-formed.
+50% units packed per hour, −20% material cost, two packs became one, eight SKUs in a single box, zero loss from mis-assembly and a 100% recyclable, FSC certified tray.
The differentiator
The artwork runs past the edges of the panels, so three boxes side by side form a single billboard. Retail gains new ways to display the line without investing in any fixture, and the leader stands apart from the copy again.
A single moulded pulp tray takes two component geometries, with supports and cushioning zones that lock the parts. Because it arrives pre-formed, it removes folding and assembly, and the intuitive fit brought loss from mis-assembly to zero.
The proof
The same kit in both packs, one after the other. In the old one, the manual printed on the back of the box and the cardboard tray that has to be folded on the line. In the new one, the pulp tray that arrives pre-formed and locks every part in place. That is where the +50% units packed per hour comes from.
Recognition
ABRE judges graphic design and structural design in separate competitions, and the Acqua Plus was awarded in both in the 2026 edition. Bronze in Structural Design, for the universal moulded pulp tray that turned two packs into one. Bronze in Graphic Design, for the break that gave the leader its differentiation back at shelf.
It is Brazil's leading packaging competition, the same one that awarded the Pérola Line and the Deca Food Waste Disposer in 2025, and it is the route to the WorldStar: only the winners of a recognised national competition compete there.
The pack that taught Brazil about the product and won the WorldStar Marketing Gold.
Four cartons became one box and a pulp tray: assembly −50%, unit cost −21%.
Regulatory compliance across an entire packaging portfolio.
Building an anti-cellulite supplement brand without using a single weapon of the category.
Structure first: why the die-line is the real design →
Get in touch
If the answer is no, send me a photo of it on WhatsApp and I will tell you what I would do. If you are hiring, email is the usual route.
São Paulo (GMT−3) · Open to international roles and to projects