Hot Sauce that warms your soul.
Hot Drops is a probiotic, lacto-fermented hot sauce brand that brings a refined playfulness to a category often dominated by machismo and visual chaos.
Through branding, packaging, art direction, and a thoughtfully designed website, Leigh shaped a distinct identity that stands out for its charm, restraint, and bold sense of fun.
In a market saturated with aggressive typography, flaming skulls, and hyperbolic slogans, Hot Drops takes a different approach. Its brand world is defined by clean lines, elegant typography, and a minimalist sensibility that puts flavor and fermentation at the forefront. The result is a packaging system that feels as premium as it is approachable—inviting without being loud.
Each flavor is distinguished by a singular, curated color—an intuitive system that brings cohesion and clarity to the shelf while also signaling the nuanced profiles inside each bottle. Whimsical illustrations and subtle typographic quirks add layers of personality, striking a balance between sophistication and spontaneity.
Leigh led the creative direction across every brand touchpoint, shaping a visual language that feels fresh, modern, and unmistakably Hot Drops. This distinctive approach has not gone unnoticed—celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay selected Hot Drops for his show Food Stars, recognizing both the product’s culinary integrity and its standout design.
By rejecting the tropes of typical hot sauce branding, Hot Drops offers something new: a spirited, considered take on heat that’s as delightful to look at as it is to taste.
Press Coverage
CREDITS
Photography:
Gary Ottonello
Printing:
Clone Printing
FONTS
Jean Luc (designed by Benoît Bodhuin), a high-contrast, expressive sans used for the Hot Drops logo, lends a quirky elegance to the brand’s identity
Anton (by Vernon Adams), a compact, impact-heavy sans serif, is used for headlines and display copy
Poppins (by Indian Type Foundry), a geometric sans with balanced proportions, is used for body text across print and digital.