Client: Esoterrec
Project: Brand Exploration, Logo Design, Website Design and Build
Giving nutrition supplements a strong tactical edge
When the founders of Esoterrec, an ambitious performance‑nutrition start‑up first approached Hiatus, they possessed nothing more than a bold vision and deep operational expertise drawn from elite military units.
Whilst they had no name, no logo and no web presence, the brief was clear: create a complete brand ecosystem fast enough to meet a challenging launch window, and make it resonate with an audience that distrusts hype but prizes authenticity and field‑tested grit.
We began by exploring hundreds of linguistic pairings before presenting the findings in a Brand Explorer report to the founders.
The team selected the name ‘Esoterrec’ a portmanteau that grafts ‘Esoteric’ (knowledge understood by a select, specialised group) onto ‘Terre’, the French word for earth.
Together they evoke both classified‑file mystique and elemental power, the perfect verbal shorthand for products developed by soldiers yet sourced from nature.
With the name locked, we crafted a modern word‑mark whose split‑plate letterforms nod to military kit while staying clean enough for premium retail shelves. To reinforce the dual narrative, we built a colour palette of muted mineral greys and khakis shot through with a single infrared accent, hinting at covert tech beneath rugged surfaces.
Next came the website.
Too many nutrition sites bombard visitors with pop‑ups, banners and competing calls to action, so we imposed a strict zero‑clutter philosophy. User‑journey mapping reduced the architecture to three core paths, Shop, About Us and The Mission, each sign‑posted with microcopy shaped by the OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) to mirror how tactical athletes process information.
By uniting covert‑ops credibility with grounded, earth‑derived ingredients, the brand meets its audience on their own terms and sets a new standard for performance‑driven nutrition.
See our work at https://www.esoterrec.com/
