packaging explanations

For all of these, I decided to go with the logo with “hot” incorporated into the word chocolate. It first I was a little hesitant that it might not be as readable (people would just see chocolate), but the more I thought about it, the more it grew on me. First, I want people to think chocolate first; it is the primary component of hot chocolate, and I want to give off the impression that the brand uses real chocolate, not imitation materials. So in this respect, I think the emphasis on chocolate is good. And also, I feel like most of the packaging underneath would say something to the effect of “hot chocolate mix, or 8 servings of hot chocolate, etc,” so I would hope that would clear up any possible confusion about what type of chocolate it is.

Also, I liked that the logo itself was a little simpler, and would lend itself to more packaging designs and versatility. And on last note, I really couldn’t ask for better luck, as one of the previous comments noted, that the letters HOT are perfectly spaced in the word chocolate. So I think I’m finally set on this logo design.

Now I’ll talk a little about the packaging drafts I posted:

Draft 3 – I was trying to keep things simple, while still using the “swirl” imagery that I think represents hot chocolate pretty well. I wanted to emphasize this particular flavor in the packaging, so if I moved forward with this design, the raspberry background color would change depending on the flavor. I do have to say on this one, the raspberry color looks much pinker in this post – just FYI!

Draft 4 – This one is a bit of an inverse of draft three. The swirl and background colors are switched, and again, the raspberry colored box would change color with the flavor. Of these two, I think I would lean towards this one, as I want to make sure the brand looks cohesive despite any color changes. I think by having the smaller square of color change, the brand would be more recognizable as a unit on the shelf, versus having too many competing colors.

Draft 5 – This one went an entirely different direction. The six colors on the back would represent each of the six signature flavors in the line, so then I tried to mirror that on the front just having the individual square of the flavor for this box. I like the idea behind this one, but I’m not completely satisfied with the result, I think it might be too simplistic. I tried playing with some of the effects we’ve been talking about in class for the squares on the back, but I wasn’t completely satisfied with that either. So I guess this one is sort of a work in progress if I would chose to go in this direction!

Draft 6 – For this one, I changed two major things from the previous draft. First, I added in the “chocolate chip” part of the logo. I wasn’t sure if maybe since the logo was entirely text, if it needed some sort of identifying graphic to accompany it, especially for the back of the packaging. Again here, I added the highlight on the chip in the color of the flavor, and that would change depending on the flavor in the box. However, I’m thinking that might be so small that no one would really pick up on it! Also, after playing with the scribble effect, I added that behind the logo on the front. I kind of like how this looks, or I was also thinking it could represent torn paper, that the main logo on the front could be two additional pieces of paper attached onto the front (giving some texture and dimension vs. being printed flat on the box.) The only problem I might see with this idea is cost wise – I’m trying to keep this as a Target-esque brand, so I wouldn’t want the packaging costs to drive up the price too much.

So I would definitely love input on these drafts! I know I have a lot of work ahead of me this week to finish up, especially since I really want to hear about portfolios tonight too. But I hope once I have this first packaging design solidified, the rest of the products will come easier as they should look fairly similar for a cohesive marketing strategy.

By next week, I hope to have this packaging complete with at least two or three different flavors to get a feel of how it would look on the shelf, I would also like to put together a postcard this week to advertise the store and the specialty flavors they have. And then if there’s time, I might try to work on either a cup or sleeve for the cups at the store, and/or the individual packets of mix that come in the box. Hopefully I can have these done by early this week too, so there’s still time for feedback before I get printing. I’m realizing I definitely should have moved along a little faster with the logo part of this project so I’d have more time for these products at the end…