A few more weeks of festive fun and feeding frenzy before the slimming brands are out in force bombarding us with new lose weight quick and ‘diet’ options… But, ‘diet’ actually means «what is eaten and drunk habitually» and is not about counting calories and restricting or choosing different food to lose weight.
There are many new ready meal and snack food brands that are putting the focus back on nourishment and optimum health which, ergo, helps maintain a stable weight. Not only are the products good but most also embrace design and its power to promote positive messages by designing out the bad and designing in the good. A lesson to be learned by the stick-in-the-mud slimming brands?
Certain brands, such as Slim-Fast, are trying to offer us convenient, calorie-counted meal and snack solutions but are still peddling a very dated image in terms of graphics and shots of pallid and insipid looking food…Yes, they are right in that as part of our busy lives, we want brands to take the hard work and preparation away but food should also be interesting and a pleasure.
Today’s consumer is looking for intimacy, engagement and interactivity with brands. And nowhere is this more important than with food which is an immensely personal and concentrated experience where you are focused and deeply in touch with the texture, taste and delivery of what you are eating.
UK company Graze provides hand-picked and healthy snacking options. The outer packaging uses the traditional brown cardboard, pizza-box style with just the Graze logo. But inside the sense of reveal, interaction and seduction of the senses is just sublime. The vibrant photo of grass comprising the inside front cover reinforces the healthy nature of grazing whilst the snacks are sectioned off and covered with a clear protective film; one section comprising an actual take-away snack pack. The packaging is also tactile, experiential, creative and offering variety.
Most food brands are starting to offer the consumer the chance to get creative and interact with the product. But, what many are failing to realise is that this also presents a ready-made opportunity for brands to mirror the creativity of the product through the packaging design. Taste starts with sight and so start dialling up on – and designing — that taste experience.