Off Brand Energy is a hypothetical energy drink designed as critical commentary on contemporary branding.

I started with designing the can labels, continually refining design details such as color palette and composition, but soon realized that packaging alone was insufficient to fully communicate the concept. To better understand the brand through making, I developed a landing page alongside a 30-second video. One of the central challenges was balancing the familiar visual cues of an energy drink with the dark, serious undertones of the historical artworks. I aimed to create just enough visual dissonance to juxtapose the high-brow associations of art history with the mass-market accessibility of an energy drink.

Another key challenge was determining the context in which the product would exist. I centered much of the campaign around Goya’s Saturn Devouring His Son and mocked up a booth selling the drink outside the Prado Museum in Madrid, where the painting is housed. Situating the product within this real cultural setting strengthened the brand narrative and heightened the sense of dissonance.

I concluded the project by creating a 30-second video spot for Off Brand Energy that leans more heavily into the conventions of energy drink advertising while maintaining its critical edge. By pairing horror-inspired music with intentionally cheesy sound effects, the video reinforces the tension between spectacle and seriousness, ultimately underscoring the project’s critique of how easily even the most unsettling imagery can be absorbed into branding..