Branding

It’s not just competitors you have to deal with on shelf. Sometimes it’s the shelves themselves.

Fussy is a great product. But it isn’t the loudest. That combined with small canvases means it’s often overlooked by consumers or hidden by the fixtures and fittings.

It’s always worth looking at your product in its competitive environment and designing with that in mind.

#Marketing, #Design, #BrandDesign, #Packaging

Here is a section of the supermarket that can always look a bit of a mess.

Transparent labels on 2 L transparent bottles have never really sat well for me. As well as the obvious recyclability issues it tends to cheapen the look of the product.

I can see how on a design visual the brightly coloured liquid coming through the transparent label could provide a strong backdrop for the branding however the real world application of this is anything but.

These transparent labels tend to knock back the coloured liquid and mute the colour giving a very different level of transparency to that the bottle provides.

The various ridges and channels in the bottom itself under this label, then provide another element of business and distortion. The overall effect looks a bit of a mess and as you can see in the image when you take a step back on shelf there is no impact at all.

Given the obvious sustainability issues and the fact that this compromise doesn’t offer a better branding solution, you have to wonder why this method is chosen at all

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We’ve all been there, that state of complete confusion in the hotel where you have no idea if it’s shampoo, or shower gel.

Just when you think you’ve worked out, the following day you forget and start to wash your hair with hand cream!

Have a look at the attached, this is a particularly bad example. The product type is listed on the bottom of the label in very small type. The colours don’t help much either.

Uniformity has its appeal, it’s great for a brand to contain products that immediately work as a family however this can lead to issues when the consumer is trying to navigate within the range as per the example attached.

The Goldilocks zone is somewhere in between, consistency with clear differentiation

Never create another problem for the consumer, they won’t thank you, but they will remember that rather than solve the problem you created another.

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Should the brand colour signal problem or solution?

You’ll be amazed at what consumers take in subconsciously.

Whilst red can provide a great beacon on-shelf, it’s not possibly the best colour to use for a product that aims to soothe and cure an itchy scalp.

Always cue the benefit. When consumers scan packs they decode the emotion before reading the words. Great brands in this space solve the problem rather than remind the consumer of it.

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Brand colours are hugely important, it’s your way of owning a shelf and providing a quick and efficient visual shortcut for consumers to find your brand.

It’s also important that whatever brand colour is chosen is relevant for the brand and supports all the products in the range.

Here’s an interesting example from Chicago Town. Blue is often a good neutral colour. Many other colours work with it, especially when you’re looking at flavour communication but getting the right blue can make all the difference.

In this case the neon bright blue with the vignette into the darker colour tend to look very cold, the opposite of what a pizza should be .

When is paired with other cold colours as per the purple flavour banner here, it can start to cue more Halloween than sizzling pizza oven

Often, it’s not about throwing everything out. It’s just about picking a more appropriate hue.

Get that right, and it can have a significant increase in both sales and consumer perception of the brand.

#Marketing, #Design, #BrandDesign, #Packaging

Always make sure your architecture works with your pack.

If you have a wide and varied product range, it’s important to create a packaging architecture that allows for consistent and optimised placement of every element.

Your brand logo, product descriptor, key messaging and imagery should each have their own space and be allowed to breathe.

No element should be fighting with another. And the placement of one element shouldn’t compromise everything else around it.

This Birds Eye pack is a good example of exactly that issue.

The food photography feels cramped into the bottom of the pack, while a large amount of empty space sits around the logo at the top. The result is an architecture that feels uncomfortable and slightly forced.

The issue seems to come from the need for the brand icon to sit above the wave containing the product information. That wave also creates a very confined space were longer product descriptors need to opt for a much smaller font

While this might work in principle, across different pack formats and products it can create areas of dead space.

And that’s valuable space.

Space that could be used to better showcase the product, communicate its benefits and, ultimately, make the pack work harder on shelf.

A strong packaging architecture isn’t just about consistency. It’s about creating a flexible system that can adapt across your entire range without forcing individual packs into a layout that doesn’t suit them.

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Silver can be a tricky colour to manage under supermarket lighting.

What looks fantastic for a product on a design visual may not work as efficiently in store.

It can often result in products completely blanking out and disappearing on shelf

This is accentuated if the metallic substrate is curved as it picks up every reflection and every detail from those products around it rather than showcasing its own

Any copy, iconography or communication on this substrate becomes almost impossible to read.

Adding a tint of white or matt varnishes to the substrate often helps to minimise this while still keeping a metallic finish.

#Marketing, #Design, #BrandDesign, #Packaging

Choosing the right packaging format is just as important as what you put on it.

This example from the bread aisle is a good reminder of that.

Once the wrapper is applied, everything starts to work against the design. The material creases and folds, and suddenly the brand logo, product information, and even the barcode begin to disappear into the distortion.

Flexible packaging like this introduces a few consistent challenges.

First, graphic distortion. What looks clean and considered in flat artwork can quickly become warped once wrapped around the product.

Second, predictability. It becomes difficult to control where key information will land. The back of pack in particular is hard to orientate, as folds and movement shift what is visible.

And then there are the crimp areas. These effectively dictate what can and cannot be seen, yet they are often the least stable parts of the pack.

When you step back, the usable, undistorted surface area is actually quite limited. There are only a few safe zones where communication will reliably hold.

That is what makes this type of packaging so challenging. It is not just about designing the graphics. It is about designing for the behaviour of the material

A good comparison is Cadbury Creme Egg.

It uses a similarly unpredictable format, but the design is built with that in mind. Bold graphics, flexible layouts, and branding that can withstand distortion without losing impact.

That is the opportunity here.

Not to avoid flexible formats altogether, but to work with them. To understand where distortion will happen, where visibility is strongest, and how to place the most important elements accordingly.

Because ultimately, great packaging is not just about how it looks flat on screen. It is about how it performs in the real world, creases and all.

#Marketing, #Design, #BrandDesign, #Packaging

Standing out on shelf is never the problem. Standing out in the right way is where it gets interesting.

This cooking oil pack is a great example of that balance in action.

It takes a very modern approach. Clean, minimal, and deliberately stripped of traditional category cues.

The vertical logo works hard. It catches the eye and creates a strong, contemporary presence.

But in doing so, it also starts to borrow heavily from visual language we typically see in personal care.

The format, the finish, even the overall feel. It leans closer to something you might find in a haircare aisle than in cooking oils.

That creates an interesting tension. On one hand, it drives standout. It looks different, which is valuable in a crowded category.

On the other, it moves away from some of the cues that signal taste, quality, and authenticity. The things people instinctively look for when choosing a cooking oil.

There is an opportunity here.

How do you keep that modernity and distinctiveness, while reintroducing just enough category cues to reassure and guide?

Because borrowing from other categories can be powerful, it can refresh and reframe. But without the right balance, it can also create a small moment of doubt.

And in food, that moment matters.

The most effective designs tend to stretch the rules, not ignore them entirely.

#Marketing, #Design, #BrandDesign, #Packaging

Standing out on shelf is never the problem. Standing out in the right way is where it gets interesting.

This cooking oil pack is a great example of that balance in action.

It takes a very modern approach. Clean, minimal, and deliberately stripped of traditional category cues.

The vertical logo works hard. It catches the eye and creates a strong, contemporary presence.

But in doing so, it also starts to borrow heavily from visual language we typically see in personal care.

The format, the finish, even the overall feel. It leans closer to something you might find in a haircare aisle than in cooking oils.

That creates an interesting tension. On one hand, it drives standout. It looks different, which is valuable in a crowded category.

On the other, it moves away from some of the cues that signal taste, quality, and authenticity. The things people instinctively look for when choosing a cooking oil.

There is an opportunity here.

How do you keep that modernity and distinctiveness, while reintroducing just enough category cues to reassure and guide?

Because borrowing from other categories can be powerful, it can refresh and reframe. But without the right balance, it can also create a small moment of doubt.

And in food, that moment matters.

The most effective designs tend to stretch the rules, not ignore them entirely.

#Marketing, #Design, #BrandDesign, #Packaging