Designing Brand Packaging: A Guide Through the Creative Process

1. Class Introduction: Hello, I'm barley. I'm a graphic designer and I specialized in brand packaging. I have worked for over 20 years in London for many leading design agencies. Andi have been fortunate enough to work on some very big name brands on DSI. Them appear on the shelves off UK retailers. I also run my own company, bright Green Brands, where I try and help more ethical, environmentally aware organizations with brand design work, but also my own food photography and illustration. So I'm going to pick one of these rebranding projects on Walk You through the creative process from start to finish, which I hope will give you a great idea off what is involved in a brown acting design job. This glass should be helpful to existing graphic Designers who want to know more about brand packaging design process on may be at this to their list of services they can offer to their clients, or to students who feel that brand packaging hasn't bean covered on their calls as much as they like it, too. Andi light snow a little bit more and see if it's right for them or possibly other creatives. For example, Indus traitors who would love to create their own range of products, but just don't know enough about it. This will be more of a guide through the process rather than hands on class. However, you do have the option if you feel confident and comfortable doing it. Teoh, either take the projects I've done and put your own spin on it, or take a completely different name on projects on and see what you come up with for each different stage. In following classes, I shall break down each process on. We'll look at each stage as a separate class project on work on them together. On you can comment on each other's work on my coming since suggestions on we'll get a bit more involved. So I hope you enjoyed class, and it gives you a much clearer idea. What is bold in friend 2. The Client Brief: Okay, So I'm going to walk you through this project from start to finish. I've chosen a job that was a complete joy to work on it. Waas the rebranding off on Indian inspired range of snacks sold in the UK I was very lucky that the client had seen my website and contacted me, asking if I could meet up to discuss rebranding his range of products on this kind of inquiry doesn't come along very often on when it does rabbit straight away on go meet them which, of course I did. The client already had a name for the brand Duke Off Deli. Andi was selling a range off Indian street food inspired biscuits at local food markets on with other ideas for further quirky anger Indian products later on in the pipeline, I instantly loved the name Duke of Delhi. It just had something about it. And I just knew I had to be able to do something great for it. The client told me that his goal was to eventually get onto the shells of high end retailers in London on Dhere, realized that his current design just wasn't good enough. It wasn't ever gonna get him seen by the right people he waas making and selling these products as a sideline outside of his normal 9 to 5 job. So, of course, he had a limited budget, Uh, for the amount that you could spend on this, which was just about enough, but not as much as ideally, I'd like to have charged, uh, sometimes if there's a project that you just have to work on, you just have to compromise and work for a little bit less money. I knew that this was gonna be something special. Andi. I trusted my instincts on Agreed to work forever. He could've fought a lot of the time. A potential clients won't reveal a budget upfront, and they'll ask you to provide a quotation or a costing for the work that they won't produced. This is something you'll have to sit down and work out, probably for each new job that comes along. It's quite time consuming, Andi, yet just sitting work out all the time. You think you're going to spend on every different stage on door quite often. Lead nowhere and you won't even hear back from the client, but something you have to do on and get used to 3. Brand Personality: when I first start working on a new brand I like to send through. My brand definition questionnaire to the client has a series of questions which really helped uncover what the personality of the brand is going to be. An example of some of the questions, Uh, what is your Brian vision? What you Brian values Who? Your competitors? What makes you different from your competitors? And what is the desired tone of voice? The answers I get are always extremely helpful, both for me and for the client. Uh, it really ensures that we are both on the same page that we both agree what we think the brains should be. 4. Brand Name Generation: police projects. The client already had a fantastic name, which I certainly wouldn't have recommended Changing it was already a great example of a quirky and original name on with the potential to add even more personality through the branding. However, this isn't always the case on the client might have a brilliant idea for a product or range of products, but no idea what's call it or sometimes a terrible idea of what's cool it, and you have to persuade them, not Teoh, and come up with something better. So in this case, part of your creative offering might be brand name generation. As with the look of the brand, the name also needs to fit with the brand values. As a good example, I had to come up with the name on the branding for a range off, freshly roasted and ground spice mixes, because when you open the pack, they just have this outstanding amazing a roller on because they're roasted ground and packed straight away. I came up the name Spice Almighty. On First of all, it sounded like thievery. British expression. Christ Almighty on it also sounded like the film Bruce Almighty, so it just kind of just work straight away. The illustration was done by a very talented food illustrator called Omar Win. She also happens to be a skill share teacher. So do a search for Omar Win on, find out what she does on and maybe take some for classes. Quite different. Example. Waas. A range of products that I have just launched with one of my clients. I become a co owner of a brand. We realized that there was quite a big gap in the market for an overtly Greek brand in the UK There are a few brands out there, but nothing really said Greek or looked all that Greek. So we thought, Let's great one, the name we came up with needed to just let's be very overt and tell people what it waas. So we chose the Greek kitchen, which is here. Yeah, I wasn't trying to be too clever. I wasn't trying. Teoh be too wacky. Sometimes you don't need to be clever 5. Inspiration: So now you're ready to go on. Start designing. All right on Personally, I like to get inspired first. I used to in the olden days keep loads of scrapbooks on die, cut out random things from design magazines, pick up leaflets, just stick in anything that inspired me. But I don't get scrapbooks anymore because in the digital age it's not necessary. I have folders of sub folders with all sorts of different subjects from brand identity. Teoh Packaging. So fruit photography to finned illustration. Of course. Another option is Pinterest. Ah, a great way to just keep a record easily of anything that inspires you online. So just pin it straight away and it's there on one of the boards also, right. Still, I can't help it, but I collect packaging. I I might buy something I like the look off on. Keep it put on the shelf for a while. Put it away. Get out again. Just like to have a load of reference to inspiring things. Another tip is try going shopping. Um, if you're designing a lovely premium olive oil, then why not go out and look at other lovely breeding olive oils? See what exists already. See what the category design cues already see what other people are doing on, and you don't have to follow them, but it's good to be aware of them on. Also, look around other categories going Look what posh wines or I looked at the whiskey category to see how crafted typography looks on other packs on just to get you inspired and get you thinking in different ways. Also, try to be open to inspiration coming from unexpected places. Uh, carry a little note pad around with you. Make sure you've got your phone charged or a little camera so you can just snap anything that you think I'll wow, that's amazing on. But I'll forget it. Record it right now might be walking down the street on DSI, the way the shadow goes through the trees and costs beautiful shape on the people. You just might think that's an idea for the pack I'm designing or you just don't know something could just inspire you. A leaf could inspire you while you're walking in the woods on, and that could be the spark that creates the idea. So be inspired. Wherever you are, be open to be being inspired. But don't try too hard. They might not happen. You might happen. You never know. For this project in particular, it was quite easy for May on having traveled around India, I dug out my old photo albums. Um, just while I was there, I had an SLR, and while traveling around that, it's snapped everything that was inspiring me and handwritten type on a wall or train station signs or this color Lorries, Taxi's Everything was just inspiring in India. So I had a great scrapbook already of lots of creative stuff yet to sport back all the memories of the and emotions, the colors, the feelings, the smells, the sounds that is through the bizarre India. 6. Brand Identity / Exploring Concepts: again, just like you may already be given a brand name. You may also need to work with an existing brand logo. But if you're given the freedom and creativity to do so, then starting off by designing the brand identity or logo is probably a great place to start, rather than just going straight to sketching ideas on and coming up with designs on. What I will often do is start by asking questions on writing lists of words, um, resisting the temptation to start drawing. So I find it could just help me come up with thoughts and ideas and concepts which might not come if I'm just drawing what I think something might look like for Duke a deli. I very much doubt I would have come up with the idea that I did. If I hadn't started off by asking myself a series of questions, I asked myself, Who is this fictional Duke? There couldn't be a dupe of Delhi cause that doesn't exist in India. So who is he? Is he an Englishman traveling around India pretending to be nobles royalty? Or is he an Indian gentleman in England with um, with very eccentric attitude? off thinking he's part of the royal family. This ask himself who? Easy. Who is this guy, Andi. Then how would he travel on I'm I was thinking to myself. I thought, Feels in England's. He would probably be in a royal, wholesome carriage, but if he was in India, then he would be on top of a royal elephant on, and I sketch both options while I was writing out these lists and answers and just a little sketch by the side of a horse and carriage and royal elephant. And then the idea just came to me straight away on Put the thing together and you go Royal carriage being pulled by an elephant. And that was it. I came up some other ideas and concepts on, visualized them on and went back to present everything to the client. But I still had in the back of my mind that I wanted this elephant encourage to be. The ones had to go through on, and I presented them and got to that one in. The client said, That's it, That's the one. And, yeah, I was extremely happy. He is extremely happy on. We knew that we just come up with something special. Looking back now, I maybe think I probably shouldn't have presented any other concepts. Still, just presented the one that I knew was right on, which reminded me off the time when I went for an interview. A company could turn a dark coughs she's worth looking up on with three stuck Worse on, and I showed him a portfolio and he liked my work but didn't have any jobs on offer. At the moment, Andi asked me how I was going to call Fisher, and I said, Yeah, it's OK but they seem to present quite a lot of concepts and they end up going the safe option. So lots of my ideas aren't getting picked. I said, How do you make sure the client doesn't go with the safe option? And you just smile and say we don't give him one 7. Developing Chosen Concept: Once you have a winning concept, then it's time to start refining and crafting the style of it. Both the logo and the typography were done extremely quickly on just to get across the idea on You don't know if the client's gonna go that concept, so there's no point crafting it and crafting it in spending days, getting it looking perfect when they let's just no get it and guy with something else. So I wanted the packs to look colorful, uh, even though they want to be premium. So I kept a single color for the logo and the graphics on and just had one bright color background across each pack for the flavor variety and then created some illustrations off the spices or the individual flavors for a variety on but in a slightly Indian style. I also loved the idea that the elephant could walk across the pack so he could be in a different place on the horizon on each different variety. Both the logo and the typography were done extremely quickly on just to get across the idea on You don't know if the client's gonna go that concept, so there's no point crafting it and crafting it and spending days getting it looking perfect when they let's just no get it and guy with something else. So both the typography and the logo needy is a lot more careful consideration. After deciding on a classic British sensory front on and working on the elephant in carriage, it still wasn't quite how I wanted it to look. I was extremely lucky, though, too, be talking to a design, a friend of mine on just asking his opinion on what I've done so far. And he said, Yeah, I love it, but maybe you could get my girlfriend's Teoh have a look at the logo. Her name is Vanessa right on. She's basically a professional logo illustrator on and has redrawn many big name, well known brands. So to get her to do it would be amazing. Yeah, I got in touch with her, and she agreed to do the job for a vastly reduced fee. Andi Yeah, and the results were amazing. She just picked up so many little nuances and made it look so much better than I could have done. Andi just got a real knack for adding little touches like the little white hand on the side of the open carriage on the tassel, swinging on the elephants. It was just a little just beautiful little touches everywhere and just added so much more personality. It was just great to see it come back because I old wow, I am. Why didn't I think of that? Why can't I do that? Sometimes you just had to admit that someone else could do something better than you can. I also had the amusing idea off having a traffic jam, Indian style on the back of pack. If you ever traveled in India, then will be familiar with scene where account decides to just sit itself down in the road and no one does anything about it, cause cows are generally considered sacred and wash it so they can sit pretty much wherever they want. But the traffic just stops. As Vanessa had gone the extra mile, Andi provided me with the elephants in all stages of walking. I decided that I could use that as an animation for the website. So the little bit of work and tweaking and bending legs around, I managed to create a GIF for the website of the elephant walking and then stopping and then being stuck in a traffic jam. So that was a nice little addition that I could give to the client. 8. Pre-Print Artwork: So now we have the final logo on and the PAC layout on and have applied it to different varieties. What it's like to do is create the pre print artwork for this project. It was quite straightforward job because it was just in flat color. Illustrated Andi. It was from the biscuit packs. It was just a folded over piece of card square cut. I can talk about creating print ready artwork in later class and talk you through some of the more technical issues that you might face. One little tip I will give you for now is it's always best to set up one artwork and work on that one. Andi keep making changes. Asking the client is this right? Is that riot? Onda has got all the information on it on pick the longest title pick, the one with the most ingredients and because once that's approved and finalize and the client says yet, that's definitely okay. You can then duplicate that on just re type in Well, the other information that title the ingredients change the background color. Andi. That should be a hell of a lot easier than receiving changes every time for six different varieties and applying it to six different varieties. So get one pack signed off first before you start applying it to everything else. 9. New Product Development: As I mentioned earlier, the clients also had ideas for some more potential products. Quirky Anglo Indian style, uh, mixtures of ideas. One of them, the one that he worked on next waas the Bombay mix but mixed with slightly quirky ingredients. The 1st 1 was a Bombay mix with orange PC's, a Bombay mix with chocolate chunks. We had this great new product or packaged in silver tiffin tins and wrapped in brightly colored labels. And the idea that I had had for the back of pack for biscuits just suddenly became clear that that could wrap around a tin. It's just perfect. We had the traffic jam already created. We just put it on the tin pick up 10. Um, turn around. You got a traffic jam. What's going on there while these people waiting? It's because there's accounting the right. Sorry. Yeah, it's just I last little idea, which was reused for another pack, which became more popular than the Biscuits. And he eventually managed to sell those into Fortnum Mason. Um, which is when he Yeah, he reached his goal of getting into you posh London retailers. You don't get much posher than the shock where the queen goes on and then after that, because he had come up with the idea. Bombay Mix with chocolate chunks, suddenly a QWERTY, and we could do it the other way around, flip it on its head and have a chocolate bar with Bombay Mix inside. So we created a range off chocolate bars with slight, again, slightly quirky flavors. Indian Spice, Chocolate. We have Bombay mixing side, so it's slightly crunchy, slightly spicy. Um, it's kind of like an Indian Willy Wonka. So yeah, the personality just kept getting quirkier and more interesting and and started selling more products. We also made it to the final off the Virgin Startup Food Entrepreneur Awards, judged by Sir Richard himself, Andi there Hemsley sisters. 10. Thank You: so thanks for watching. I hope you enjoy the class on Bond. It's giving you much better insight Andan idea of what's involved in a typical brand packaging design project on If you want to know more than I shall be doing some new classes looking at each stage in more detail on, we can do a class project on start a discussion on you can ask me questions. Talk to each other And, of course, you can put the work in your portfolio and start building up somewhat showing how you do brand packaging design If you want to know more about what I do on Seymour examples of my work Too bright green, Brian. And please do at any comments, thoughts, suggestions, what you like about the class, what black to the future to come into box below. I don't think. See you again. Gracin