It's a fantastic feeling to work on projects that are inspiring, fun and creative. I wouldn't trade my craft for anything right now. It feels a bit braggy but it's been many years since I've felt as creatively fulfilled as I have over the past few months.
It's worth jumping off a cliff to follow your passion.
What are we reading, what are we sharing? Another entry in our series Links For A Monday brings you some of our most-shared or most-talked about links of the week. Often it’s brand news, retailer studies, trends or even design inspiration.
New Book, I Wonder What It Feels Like To Be Dsylexic, from Sam Barclay does an amazing job of using design to visually show the challenge of dyslexic readers, allowing designers to take a struggling reader’s challenges into account. | Kickstarter
Coke introduces a “cold-activated” can ala Coors | BevNET
Kraft answers a consumer petition and cuts the dyes from it’s Mac N Cheese | BrandChannel
Brian Sozzi/Belus Capital Advisors
Is presentation a big reason dollar stores are taking over from discount chains? The photos in this article seem to present a pretty good argument. | Business Insider
Should women be the real target of mobile marketing? Not only are women more active and engaged with brands, but “moms” are the top users of social media and mobile devices. | Social Media Today
We are such suckers for a good process story. Do you know it can take up to 66 steps to make a good ipad case? | Vital Design Group
Can we stop worrying about Millennials yet? Great cartoon story by Matt Bors | Medium
We love to spin a good yard and bring brand stories to life through design. Some of the tricks of the trade showed up on the TED blog last week when writer Andrew Stanton (WALL-E, Toy Story) shared his experience of telling engaging stories. | TED Blog
Originally published at The PKG Blog - http://pkgbranding.com/links-for-a-monday-4/
Loving the hand-drawn type of Mateusz Witczak | Mateusz Witczak
How much food will $5 Buy you around the world? | GOOD
Starbucks brings the feeling of their stores into grocery | Huffington Post
Is Bill Murray the ideal hero of a brand? When it comes to spontaneity and authenticity, he might be. | Corey Richardson
Is the high price of sugar pushing US confectioners overseas? The battle through the eyes of Dum-Dums. | The Lollipop War - Planet Money
Can we rescue the lost art of handwriting? | Fast Company
A picture sells better than 1000 words. | Wired
You Don't Have To Pander | Seth Godin
Originally published at http://pkgbranding.com/links-for-a-monday-2/
You probably won't be surprised to discover that I sometimes peruse the internet for packaging news, design inspiration, brand trends, etc. I often share amongst my team and clients some of the more interesting things I come across. Today, I thought we'd share them with you too...
We are totally enamored with the food photography and styling of What's Cooking Good Looking (check out those artichokes!) | What's Cooking Good Looking
"The biggest obstacle to good work is ego. I can no longer suffer divas. If you want to be “an Artist,” you should probably go and work in an environment where you don’t have clients." | How to Work with Creative People
Is Photoshop Remixing The World? | YouTube
Food Industry and the Hourglass Economy | L.E.K. Consulting
A Facebook Fan is worth $174? | Mashable
Consumers may allow you more expansion for your brand if you let them visualize your ideas | AdAge
Trash Cafe - A pop up coffee shop made entirely of food packaging | GOOD
Originally published at http://pkgbranding.com/links-for-a-monday/
Your sub-optimized packaging may be hurting your brand. No other element in your marketing toolbox is as important of packaging. As the “face of your brand,” packaging is featured in advertising, consumer promotion, web, and of course, at the point of purchase. You can’t afford packaging that doesn’t work its hardest all the time.
So what’s the problem?
Problem: A lack of consumer perspective.
Do you really know what impression your brand is making? Packaging decisions are often made based on internal stakeholders’ opinions—without regard for what the target audience truly believes.
Solution: Ground your brand in reality.
Listen to what current and potential users have to say so you know where to optimize. You’ll capture their attention…and dollars.
Problem: Packaging no longer reflects shifted consumer expectations.
Convenience, sustainability and health all have different accents then they did five years ago—heck, even a year ago. Failure to optimize gives upstarts the entry point they need to steal share. From you. Not the brands that keep up.
Solution: Constantly audit your category and competitive set.
Gauge how packaging stacks up against emerging and relevant trends. Are the assumptions you were working from yesterday still relevant? If not, evolve.
Problem: Shoppers are bombarded with packaging options at shelf.
But this dynamic is strikingly absent throughout the brand packaging development process. Too many bad designs are approved in conference rooms where not one competitive item is present.
Solution: Develop packaging in context with the competition.
Analyze your packaging and the brand story it’s telling in the way a consumer would experience it. Does it differentiate the way you intended when placed next to your #1 competitor? How about that up and comer? Partner with those who embrace environmental development. Technology has made gaining an “in-store perspective” more possible than you probably imagine.
Problem: Many brands suffer with packaging that doesn’t reflect intended differentiation, or worse, tells a completely different story—and even worse, wastes A LOT of money.
As a marketer who’s poured blood, sweat and tears into developing a unique positioning for your brand, how do you make sure your packaging is doing what it should?
Solution: Embrace first impressions.
Consumers read into every color, font and icon choice, each conveying a different impression about your brand. Validate your packaging with them so you know that it’s communicating what you want it to.
Problem: You’ve redesigned your package...but nothing happens.
Solution: Understand—and admit!—your packaging has a problem.
When “nothing” happens, it may be the result of solving for a problem that didn’t exist. Uncovering packaging’s strengths and weaknesses is the first step toward design greatness. From there, you have the opportunity to offer a truly compelling reason to purchase—to “stick the landing”—and deliver on the brand promise you worked so hard to create.
Originally published at http://pkgbranding.com/top-5-problems-with-your-packaging/
Let's start with the old news: Consumers are overwhelmed by noise. Bombarded by a constant drone of messaging fighting for their attention. And it's impossible to escape from all this noise in the modern retail experience. Online or offline, the number of brand messages screaming like 11-year-old girls at a One Direction appearance is enough to make consumers tune out every message.
How can you stand out in a world of desperate 11-year-olds?
Be quiet.
UK retailer Selfridges is running a "No Noise" campaign during the first three months of the year. Working with architect Alex Cochrane, the retailer developed a "quiet store" within the "boisterous store" where all distraction and noise is left at the door.
You even have to leave your phone at the door!
To celebrate minimalist design, Selfridges elicted the help of several CPG brands, including Heinz, Clinique and Levi's, asking them to remove all branding and let their products' silhouettes and color palettes speak for themselves. (Interestingly, this forces a brand to discover its true visual equity.)
The NY Times wrote last July about the simplicity trend as a response to the fast pace of modern Americans. Themes like "honest talk" and "simplicity" are becoming more prevalent as consumers feel stressed by the noise—confusing, complicated, more, louder messages attacking them.
Still, that's all well and good. But what if you're not a well-off British retailer with money to experiment?
We've seen a few CPG brands get quieter all on their own. Our favorite comes from BOH tea. When introducing a new Chamomile product, BOH decided to separate itself by focusing directly on the calming characteristics of the tea, not printing on the packaging at all. This seems crazy, right? But if you're a consumer looking to relax with a cup of chamomile and you encounter the scene below, it's the whispering packaging that captures your need for relaxation—and your attention.
Unilever has added the U.K. brand Simple to it's U.S. skincare lineup as a direct response to the overwhelming nature of the personal care category. Based on the philosophy of using "no dyes, artificial perfumes or harsh irritants that can upset your skin," the Simple brand story is attempting to reflect purity by appealing to consumers who may feel inundated by too many, too loud, too busy options within the personal care category. With a brand story that shoots for white, clean and pure, with just a touch of class, Simple has partnered with actress Allison Williams to reinforce its brand messaging, and tries to distance itself from multi-pronged, many-product skin care regimes.
Help Remedies has developed its brand story specifically to combat the chaos and confusion of over-the-counter medicines. With every pharmaceutical company in America (maybe the world !) trying to solve your every problem with one pill, it has become a point of confusion for consumers to guess correctly which medication will truly help with the problem at hand. Help Remedies' mantra is "Less Drugs, Less Dyes, Less Confusion, Less Waste, Less Greed and Less Self-Indulgence." More Help. Just what the consumer needs.
Maybe your brand story isn't a quiet one. And that's okay. But maybe, deep down, your brand is an introvert. Or maybe, by shouting your brand story like a post-late-night extended commercial for an amazing product we all just can't do without, you're turning people away from your brand without even realizing it.
Just some contemplative food for thought.
Originally published at http://pkgbranding.com/quiet-is-the-new-loud/
The designer in me has always sought out inspiration from friends, colleagues, books and magazines. As the Internet continues to evolve, it feels easier and easier to stay on top of trends and design research, but in the past three years Pinterest has totally revitalized my drive for inspiration.
My natural inclination has always been to tack up inspiring images on a cork board next to my work space. Being surrounded by my discoveries has always created a happy, productive and creative work environment. Thanks to that continuous Internet evolution, my work process has evolved, too. I no longer need a physical board of stuff now that well-organized inspiration is only a quick search or click away.
Here's the thing though; I am not alone. Pinterest has become one of the fastest growing social sites on the web reaching more than 45 million people a month—and they aren't all designers. In fact, very few are. While my own love of Pinterest may have originated with design inspiration, it's not just designers who want to feel inspired. It's for everyone. (Yes, even men.) Pinterest is for the mom who wants a new recipe to replace same-old-Tuesday-chicken. Or the 20-something barfly who wants to look great at the club come Friday night. Or the college professor who's looking to shed a few pounds and needs a reminder why she's ignoring the grumbling in her tummy.
Pinterest does something unique that marketers should pay attention to: It speaks the language consumers use more and more often—pictures. The world is becoming increasingly more visual. Attention spans get shorter, the world gets busier and we are less likely to read all the words we come across every day. Too busy to even type out 140 characters into a tweet? Take two seconds and turn your morning commute horror story into an Instagram instead. Want to find a fantastic new bag for a weekend getaway? Search it on Pinterest to review far more than you could at any single online store.
Beyond the natural fit for e-commerce, I think marketers have struggled a bit to define how Pinterest can help them engage consumers. There are several brands doing a great job engaging through Pinterest:
As the site continues to evolve, Pinterest wants to work with businesses to help them navigate business and integration challenges. Ultimately, Pinterest presents an opportunity to fit your products into the life of your consumer without the hard sell. Keeping top of mind in today's busy atmosphere is the constant challenge, so if you can engage consumers where they're already looking to be inspired, that should inspire you, too.
Originally published at http://pkgbranding.com/why-should-your-brand-follow-pinterest-consumers/
