Hey, I’m Lydia, the founder of Essnce Haus.

Building brand identities & packaging that inspire a new era of being and daily rhythm.

I take the chaos out of building brands that feel aligned, attract your kind, and outlive the ordinary.

What I help with:
🪩 Brand identity design
🪩 Packaging design (fully production-ready)
🪩 Ecommerce & launch collateral
🪩 Ongoing design support as you grow

Ready for your new era of brand? Drop me a DM

What you see vs what I see

Not every idea is going to cut it.

As you often learn.

Sometimes you have to go down many rabbit holes.

But eventually it leads to the right one.

Lydia Shaw

Brand & packaging maker | for the new era of wellness & lifestyle brands

The wildest place I’ve found a client.

I met the founder, Kris, on a dance floor in Ibiza (fun times)

Few years later, I designed his packaging for him.

It was also my first packaging job as a self-employed.

Still love the cans,
and the photography we did.

Just a reminder that clients can be found out in the wild.

Sometimes it’s from:
Random conversations,
Shared interests,
or, if you’re really lucky and live in Bali…in the sauna

Drop your best finding clients out in the wild story in the comments.


P.S. The cans 👇

The market is overcrowded.
Something we hear often.

2025 was the year of hydration, aka salt. 
(Flavoured, tastes great, so it’s a non-negotiable)

Whilst most brands differentiate through new formulas, flavours, pricing or identity…

What if there’s another way to do it?

For example

a. LMNT (the OG to me)
 For the serious peak-athletic performance joes - 

b. SULT (the underdog newcomer)
For your average joe, who’s mastering balance - dabbles in a bit of exercise but also can’t say no to a drink or 3. 

Similar offering, completely different market.

For sure, using your brand identity to differentiate is one way to do it.

But maybe there’s a bigger slice of the pie waiting for you by speaking to a different audience. 

The point…Look for the gap 


(LMNT Mango chilli / Sult Peach… thank me later)

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Founder

Building unforgettable brand identities & packaging designs for modern alternative
lifestyle, beauty & wellness brands full of heart & soul

Creative Director

Working as a freelance designer for a number of clients

Freelance Graphic Designer

Digital Designer / Art Director

International Web Designer

Currently a in-house Junior Designer at Bourne Leisure on the Haven/Caravan Sales team working mainly on the day to day promotional material ranging from adverts, DM’s, brochures to emails. Within 4 months of being at Bourne I was promoted to managing one of the brands, Owner Services, which meant managing my own time and working closely with the marketing team. Other great experiences have been being heavily involved in a number of creative campaigns including the Haven 2014 creatives and having the opportunity develop skills as a digital designer through designing info panes, landing pages, banners, animated giffs and having email coding training. Working along experienced senior designers has not only developed my knowledge and skills within design but it has also increased my confidence.

Skills learnt:
• Communications and Media – knowledge of media production, communication, dissemination techniques and methods
• Design - knowledge of design techniques, tools and principles involved in producing creative and compelling promotional material including strong skills in layout, colour and typography
• Knowledge of print and online production principles – including working knowledge of html/css
• Sales and Marketing – proven experience working with and serving the needs of the sales and marketing department including knowledge of the marketing campaign process and sales cycles
• Design and Web Software – experience using Adobe Creative Suite 
• Communications – strong written and verbal skills, great interpersonal skills
• Time Management – ability to balance needs of clients, manage to prioritise and set appropriate expectations, ability to work within tight deadlines with a strong focused attitude
• Self-starter - ability to operate with minimal management oversight
• Image selection – including resizing, formatting and image retouching
• Getting artwork ready for print 
• Working within brand guidelines 
• Understanding the entire design process

Graphic Designer

Welsh

Biggest mistake I see founders make.

Jumping straight into the design process.

Yes I get it, it’s the fun part. 

But let’s take a step back first and understand the lay of the land.

It’s something I like to call building on strong foundations. 

By gaining clarity and having a roadmap,
we create a brand that makes sense to you,
and save a costly rebrand down the road.

Keep it simple, silly.

If we’re asking customers to think about what the product is on shelf,
There’s a good chance we’ve lost them to the next shiny thing.

Whilst the fancy product names make sense to you,
If customers are scratching their heads…
they’re gone.

As Jia Liao, Hot Pot Queen founder, shares on her YouTube channel:

Example A:
Chongqing Chilli Crisp (Original product name)

Whilst rooted in meaning for the founder.

To your average American = clueless = gone

But by adding a little more context, ‘Crunchy garlic chilli crisp’
removes that touch of friction.

Meant triple the sales, and the product became a bestseller.

Not bad. 

This isn’t just in packaging.

I’ve found this with my own brand, whilst I understand the lingo,
prospects didn’t. 

It’s hard to see it when we’re living inside the brand.
Zoom out and put yourself in the customer’s shoes.

And don’t forget, 
Keep it simple, silly.

I often get asked why I moved to Bali

Truth is, it was a split decision and the need to live somewhere hot.

In the same way I quit my job back in 2016 to travel, I then started freelancing. 
9-5 didn’t feel like me.
In search of freedom and a better way of living life (not forgetting the sun)

I see the same patterns with founders.

They see things a little differently. 
Maybe it’s spotting the gap in the market or flipping the whole thing on its head.

The point is, we’re not all meant to be the same.

You have to beat to your own drum.
Even if it means everyone thinking you’re a little crazy.

If you’re in the depths of building something new and struggling to finesse the right look for your brand, give me a shout. 

—

P.S. Still find it’s pretty wild that this is my mode of transport nowadays. Here’s the very first attempt (we've improved since)

BTS of branding a wellness hotel, Frequency

It's all fun and games until the standing desk gets stuck on standing, and you can never sit down 

Happy Tuesday friends ✌️

Is that whipped cream?

Vacation knows how to throw a plot twist.

There’s sunscreen brands.
Then there’s Vacation Inc..

There’s increasing pressure for brands to stand out, whether on shelf or online. 

Make your packaging work harder for you.
 
First things first, understand the lay of the land.

What’s the go-to packaging format in your category?

What’s your answer to a plot twist?

On neighbourhood Ogoh-ogoh creation watch.

Let me give you the debrief.

It’s coming up to Nyepi.
Bali’s Day of Silence.

It’s a national lockdown.
No fire or light.
No electricity.
No cooking.

The idea is simple: time for self-reflection. 

Funny, because digital detox is now a thing in Western culture,
as we’re all craving more downtime.

Yet Balinese culture has practised this for centuries. 

One of the best things I love is keeping an eye on the Ogoh-ogoh creations.

Each Banjar (neighbourhood/community) creates these handmade masterpieces,
parades them through the streets to fend off evil spirits,
then burns them in a ritual.

Terrifying, but quite the scene, tbh.

Honestly, one of the most creative cultures I’ve ever seen.

Why you’re in a spiral with your brand

Does this sound familiar?

“I dont know where to start”
“It looks like a hot mess”
“I feel embarrassed by how it looks”

When you first launched, you had one SKU - the hero.
It worked for where you were at.
But it lacked depth, meaning and growing power.

Now, a few years later, the sideline gig turned into a big deal.

Retailers don’t take you seriously.
Launching new products feels like you’re trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, because this identity was never built for you to grow.

If you feel confused by it, your customers feel it too.

Because when you build on shaky foundations,
the cracks eventually start to show.

In the messy middle and need some help?
Drop me a DM.

Most founders don’t struggle with ideas. They struggle with sticking to them.

My biggest hurdle in business?
Consistency.

Especially when it comes to social media.

We won’t talk about Instagram.
But LinkedIn on a whole has been consistent for the last 10 months.

Thing I’ve found is that you can’t post once and then expect things to fall from the sky.

It’s a long game.

The same applies to your brand.

Consistency isn’t about being dull.
It’s what helps you become recognisable.

When you show up consistently with
How you sound 
How you look 
You build trust.

That means:
- Not going rogue with your colour palette
- Not throwing in new fonts every other product because ‘it looks nice’
- Not having a new look every other week 

You don’t need new ideas,
You need to play the long game.

Too good to be a dupe?

Stop looking at your market for inspiration.
 
When you fish from the same pool as everyone else, you’ll likely end up looking the same, making it harder to stand out.

Our brains are wired to look for patterns. 
So when you break one, it’s one way to get someone’s attention.

Look in unexpected places, 
Bring your own fresh twist to things.

Yes, there’s a time and place for category cues.

Having something you can own is gold.

Because your brand’s too good to be a dupe.

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