The challenge for this project was to design a brand for a new DTC (direct to consumer) mid-tier paper towel product. After being assigned an initial sketch, I designed the brandmark, packaging, shipper, and DTC platform.

This project challenged my knowledge on the aspects of branding such as brand expression, consistent elements, staying in-tune with my target market, and knowing the boundaries of pushing style and aesthetic among a brand's multiple platforms. 

BRANDING

P&G and Sterling Collaboration Workshop - Spring 2021

R E S E A R C H

Demographics for the target market is young, middle income, and with  a large household with children and/or pets. The persona I am designing for is the Household Hero. She has a busy and vibrant life, and loves the feeling of a clean home. Our Household Hero is budget-conscious, but makes room for affordable luxuries.

The design territory I was assigned was Vibrant Value which consists of bold colors and patterns that reflect the Household Hero. This design aesthetic is vibrant, approachable and human. 

A S S I G N E D   S K ET C H

I was assigned the sketch below to jumpstart the design process for branding. 

Some things that were working well in this sketch was the simple yet bold aspect to the packaging.
I received suggestions to play with color, typeface, and shape.

I T E R A T I O N S

I started playing with shapes and color combinations to discover which design fit the brand territory and persona in the most precise way. I found my pattern inspiration from the style board with the Mochila packaging and the Eloise chocolate package pattern. I began to search for other inspiration of similar patterns on Pinterest to expand on these styles to see what best fit our Household Hero. 

I found that a sans serif font would be the most fitting to use for the brandmark and info on the packaging since it reflected the simplicity of the original sketch and also led to opportunity for bold color. 

My clients and I gravitated towards the playfulness and fresh aspect to the half circle pattern. 

For my first iteration, I was stuck in between two color variations. The blue was feeling really clean while the yellow was more vibrant and inviting which fit with the style board. 

During this critique, I learned that unfortunately, my patterning resembled macaroni. To solve this, I experimented with extending the half circle shape and including the circles in the center. The emboss on the rolls also appeared to be a little chaotic. In response to that, I created a more structured and spaced out pattern for the emboss. I also received a suggestion to experiment with the brandmark and somehow include the pattern into the brandmark as the rounded typeface I chose already resembled the rounded shapes in the pattern.
The pattern felt built out of the text.

In the second iteration, I addressed the patterning and alignment issues, emboss, and added required verbiage to the package. After testing out different styles of the brandmark to incorporate the pattern into "Essentials," I found that my original brandmark with a few alterations worked best with the overall brand style that I was trying to achieve since it complemented the pattern with the dot of the "i" relating to the circle used in the pattern.

D T C   I N T E R F A C E

I was tasked to design a DTC platform for consumers to use to buy the product using a web and mobile interface, so that it can be directly shipped to them. This challenged my knowledge of  hierarchy and alignment.

I wanted to take this as an opportunity to use the same elements of my designed package and reinvent them in a new way so they relate to the entire brand, but are differentiated and increase more variety and interest throughout the Essentials brand. 

I observed what was working well with the package and implemented them in these layouts. Pattern, overlap and vibrance were a few concepts that were popping out to me. I applied the overlap in different ways, swapped colors, and scaled down the pattern to create a differentiated brand expression

For my first iteration, my clients felt that the brand message and vocabulary I wrote fit with the persona as well as the consistency of style and color usage. Some things that needed to be worked on were alignment and readability issues. It was also pointed out that the navigation bar had spacing problems that disconnected the navigation buttons. Lastly, the background pattern, though somewhat related to my packaging, was too different from the packaging as it didn't implement the circle in the pattern like the previous patterns had. 

 I had agreed that I had pushed the boundaries a little too much for the background pattern, so I changed the pattern in my second iteration to using the circle in the pattern to connect with the packaging more closely. I fixed the alignment, readability, and spacing issues which led to the final interface design. 

FINAL BRANDING FOR ESSENTIALS PAPER TOWELS

This was such a fun project! I enjoyed the real-life aspect of this project where I was able to present my ideas and work to my clients  from P&G and Sterling. It gave me a greater appreciation for branding and a drive to continue learning more and to delve deeper into brand design.