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“Information can be beautiful.
Making these elements exciting and
new is part of the challenge of packaging
design, and it’s something I try to take a
fresh eye to with every project. Embrace
it, don’t ignore it!” Leigh Chandler,
creative director, Vault 492
“Make them bespoke where
possible. This gives you the
flexibility to integrate the labelling into
your brand storytelling.” Helen Hartley,
creative director, Elmwood3
“Challenge anything that’s
unnecessary. This will allow you
to work with the restrictions, finding
solutions that fit to ensure a holistic
piece of design where every element is
cared for. Of course, things can always
change but we set ourselves up in the
best possible way and are always quick
to adapt and look for solutions with
minimal effect on the design.” Steph
Oglesby, creative director, Robot Food4
“Be clued up on the limitations/
legals for different markets. For
example, the UK versus the US: both
have specific size requirements so
working the space around these to your
advantage is key. Colour can help make
legals look more integrated with the
design, but this comes down to what
market you’re in. Adding in little design
details or illustrations around the
barcode and contact details can help
add some personality to somewhat dry
information. Giving legals thought, care
and attention allows you to incorporate
them into the design and not left to
the last minute as an afterthought.”
Melissa Preston, design director, Hunger5
“Try to add a bit of personality with
added language to ingredients
listings. The trick is to make these
things clear and easy to read rather
than hiding them. People want to see
this stuff, it’s a good old school lesson
in grids and hierarchy.” Rachel Smith,
creative partner, & SMITHDESIGNING THE
FOOD LABEL
single-minded and focused. Clear and
concise. With a common thread that
links the brand’s essence to its visual and
verbal appearance.”
CREATE A BRAND WORLD
“The idea of iconicity is also paramount,”
argues Hartley. “If a brand isn’t iconic
then it’s not memorable. It’s vital to ask,
do brand assets imbue meaning for the
consumer and how do they generate an
emotional response?”
A multiple award-winning designer
with 22 years of experience in brand
design and brand strategy, Hartley has
worked on global and national brands,
including Coca Cola, Unilever, Nestlé,
and Selfridges. Hartley joined Elmwood
last year from WPA Pinfold where she led
the creative team for seven years.
“To generate a good commercial
income from packaging design
specifically is quite difficult unless you’re
niche and have a focus on a market,”
Hartley admits, who believes a distinctive
point of view and a standout set of
products and services is essential for
agencies to thrive in what has become a
saturated and fickle market.
“Flexibility and being ahead of the
curve is key because packaging is more
about being part of the wider brand
world and how you talk to consumers,”
she continues. “The most important
consideration, as a creative thinker, is
how to use your intelligence to create a
brand world.”
Reimagining the world of fudge,
Elmwood recently partnered with a client
to determine the product proposition for
Stirrd ,a premium sugar confectionery
brand, and then conceived the model
of selling this via a monthly online
subscription. Elmwood developed the
central brand idea of “Take life full on”
to communicate the spirit of full-on
flavour and indulgence. It used expressive
typography and drizzles to emphasise
that the products are freshly stirred by
hand and that the different flavours and
textures will ‘stir your senses’ in various
ways. “Stirrd came to life as a brand
through Elmwood’s bespoke naming
process, the name conveying the sense
that the product is raw, real, handmade
and emotive,” explains Hartley.
When London-based agency
StormBrands started out in 1994,
packaging for primarily consumer and
retail food brands was at the core of its
business, reflects Dilloway. “As we’ve
grown and our approach has evolved
to be more holistic, we’ve retained the
lessons learned from food packaging
and built on the realisation that media
agnostic thinking, where the brand’s
story is present in every touchpoint,
drives the most efficacious result.”
Dilloway and her team believe real-
life, real-time insight and immersion is
pivotal in providing the basis for a brand’s
strategy and creative look and feel. “We
have a toolkit of approaches to deploy, as
relevant, to reach the heart of a challenge.
Typically, we spend considerable time
in the market, living the lives of our
target consumers through our pop-up
agency model. We talk face-to-face with
large proportions of an organisation
in ‘temperature check’ interviews and
workshops and we audit and assess the
direct and indirect competitor brands
and markets.”
It’s a creative approach that has led
to work with Brittains Vodka and Tofoo
among others. “This said, it remains
true, particularly with fast-moving
consumer goods, that packaging should
be considered as the tangible reflection of
the brand’s core values – the brand lives
in the consumer’s hand,” says Dilloway.SUCCESS IN HAND
Of course, one of the most rewarding
aspects of working within packaging
design is being able to hold that final
piece in your hand. “We love seeing
people interact with the work, collect
it, Instagram it,” concludes Preston.
“It’s a rare experience to see your work
celebrated in comparison to other
disciplines of design.”
It’s a view shared by Vault49, which
challenges clients to step out of the
comfort zone. “We don’t have a clean,
minimal studio aesthetic; we love to tell
rich stories and they’re usually vibrant
and multi-layered and provocative,” says
Chandler. “The final product goes into
the hands of the people who buy it, and
the client wants to make the consumer
happy, so think about them first. If you
can articulate to our client why your
design will delight and benefit their
customers, that’s how you know you’re
on to something.”FOOD AND DRINK DESIGN
COMPUTERARTS.CREATIVEBLOQ.COMNOVEMBER 2019