Do you see voices? Package Design Magazine Article
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Designer’s Corner, May 2007 Do you see voices? Packaging is a Brand’s Visual Voice By Matt Cave Let’s face it, we judge books by their covers—contrary to what our moms have always tried to teach us. We form first impressions in the time it takes to blink our eyes. It’s human nature to meet someone for the first time and form an unshakable opinion about them before any words have been exchanged at all. A study conducted in 1973 proved that 93% of communication is non-verbal—not what we say but how we say it. Prove it to yourself by thinking about how much information you can read from a person’s non-verbal behaviors such as body language, eye contact, facial expressions, clothing and hairstyle— their visual voice. We subconsciously practice non-verbal communication everyday and most of us aren’t even aware of it. Now consider the visual communication potential of your brand’s packaging. What is it communicating to shoppers in the blink of an eye? Is it telling the visual story of your brand’s promise? Is it saying delicious? Is it softly whispering or obnoxiously shouting? Is it communicating premium or ultra-premium? cold & corporate or warm & inviting? What are the visual voices of your competition saying in contrast to yours? There’s no better time than right now for you to gain a better understanding of what designers have known intuitively for decades—that visual communication is the single most powerful form of communication. There are two key reasons why the time is right for you to fine tune the visual voice of your packaging—(1) our culture of abundance & (2) information overload. Our culture of abundance In his book, “The Whole New Mind,” Daniel Pink brings to our attention that we live in such an era of abundance that “self storage—a business devoted to providing people a place to house their extra stuff—has become a $17 billion annual industry in the United States, larger than the motion picture business. What’s more, the industry is growing at an even faster rate in other countries.” Dan goes on to say that, “It’s no longer sufficient to create a product, a service, an experience, or a lifestyle that’s merely functional. Today it’s economically crucial and personally rewarding to create something that is also beautiful, whimsical, or emotionally engaging.” In this culture of abundance, brand identity & packaging strategies need to work better and smarter than ever to help your product get noticed, considered and purchased. Simply put, consumers have an abundance of choices so you must inspire them if you expect them to pick up your brand. At Crave, Inc. we believe that a brand's visual voice can be the key tipping point for ultimate success.
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Article I wrote about the importance of crafting a well planned visual voice for retail brands. All brands have a visual language and are communicating something, Make sure you know what yours is saying.
Transcript of Do you see voices? Package Design Magazine Article
Designer’s Corner, May 2007
Do you see voices? Packaging is a Brand’s Visual Voice
By Matt Cave
Let’s face it, we judge books by their covers—contrary to what our moms have always tried to teach us. We form first impressions in the time it takes to blink our eyes. It’s human nature to meet someone for the first time and form an unshakable opinion about them before any words have been exchanged at all. A study conducted in 1973 proved that 93% of communication is non-verbal—not what we say but how we say it. Prove it to yourself by thinking about how much information you can read from a person’s non-verbal behaviors such as body language, eye contact, facial expressions, clothing and hairstyle—their visual voice. We subconsciously practice non-verbal communication everyday and most of us aren’t even aware of it. Now consider the visual communication potential of your brand’s packaging. What is it communicating to shoppers in the blink of an eye?
Is it telling the visual story of your brand’s promise? Is it saying delicious? Is it softly whispering or obnoxiously shouting? Is it communicating premium or ultra-premium? cold & corporate or warm & inviting? What are the visual voices of your competition saying in contrast to yours?
There’s no better time than right now for you to gain a better understanding of what designers have known intuitively for decades—that visual communication is the single most powerful form of communication. There are two key reasons why the time is right for you to fine tune the visual voice of your packaging—(1) our culture of abundance & (2) information overload.
Our culture of abundanceIn his book, “The Whole New Mind,” Daniel Pink brings to our attention that we live in such an era of abundance that “self storage—a business devoted to providing people a place to house their extra stuff—has become a $17 billion annual industry in the United States, larger than the motion picture business. What’s more, the industry is growing at an even faster rate in other countries.” Dan goes on to say that, “It’s no longer sufficient to create a product, a service, an experience, or a lifestyle that’s merely functional. Today it’s economically crucial and personally rewarding to create something that is also beautiful, whimsical, or emotionally engaging.” In this culture of abundance, brand identity & packaging strategies need to work better and smarter than ever to help your product get noticed, considered and purchased. Simply put, consumers have an abundance of choices so you must inspire them if you expect them to pick up your brand. At Crave, Inc. we believe that a brand's visual voice can be the key tipping point for ultimate success.
Let’s talk about the case of Organic Cottage, a natural food company devoted to delivering organic products from India to the abundant United States market. The company engaged Crave, Inc. to help them create and package their new brand to appeal to a traditional Indian shopper as well as the mainstream health conscious consumer. After a category audit, Crave determined that the visual voice for the Organic Cottage brand needed to communicate “Vibrant, Natural, Cross-Cultural, Authentic and Indian.” The visual solution was designed to contrast with the majority of the category, which was primarily concerned with communicating “Ethnic”. The result is a brand gracefully rooted in culture and poised for mainstream retail success.
Information overloadIt’s no secret that we live in a fast paced culture that is quite overwhelming at times. We’ve got time sensitive information coming at us from all angles about our finances, security, war, the future of our planet, and we don’t seem to have enough time to keep up with it all. On top of that, we have an estimated 30,000 marketing messages vying for our attention everyday in this country. The situation doesn’t get any better in
retail environments, especially when faced with the packaging on the shelves of today’s overwhelming grocery stores.
Take the case of The Sugar Plum Fairy Baking Company. The small, all natural baked goods manufacturer with big dreams of retail success, engaged Crave, Inc. to design a new packaging system that would enable them to compete with big brands such as Sara Lee & Mrs. Smith’s in the frozen desserts category. After a preliminary category audit and discovery session, Crave determined that the visual voice for The Sugar Plum Fairy brand needed to communicate “Special, Dreamy, Delectable, All Natural, Handmade and Gourmet.” The visual voice was designed to contrast with the majority of the category, which was primarily communicating “Mainstream & Average.” As a result, this new brand is enjoying a successful, initial launch and effectively telling the Sugar Plum Fairy brand story with a visual voice that speaks to shoppers’ hearts & minds in an environment that is overloaded with information.
These package design examples demonstrate the importance of identifying a brand's most relevant and effective visual voice in relation the competition on-shelf. Our culture of abundance and information overload demands that your brand develop a unique visual voice that not only tells your story but one that inspires consumers in the process.
Matt Cave is the founder & principal of Crave, Inc., a brand identity & packaging design firm for food & beverage companies. Crave helps create, refresh and package food & drink brands for a diverse client list ranging from entrepreneurs to Wal-Mart. Matt can be reached at [email protected] or 561.417.0780.
The visual voice of Organic Cottage was designed to engage with an inspired color palette, a refined logo, and textural details that capture the essence of the brand's Indian heritage.
The visual voice of Organic Cottage was designed to engage with an inspired color palette, a refined logo, and textural details that capture the essence of the brand's Indian heritage.
