DESIGNER'S CORNER

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 nonverbal—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 nonverbal behaviors such as body language, eye contact, facial expressions, clothing, and hairstyle—their "visual voice."

We subconsciously practice nonverbal communication every day and most of us aren't even aware of it. Now consider the visual communication potential of your brand's packaging. What is that packaging 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 and corporate? ...warm and inviting?

And almost as importantly: What are the visual voices of your competition saying in contrast to yours? There is 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, and 2) information overload.

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.

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 has become a $17 billion annual industry in the U.S. "What's more," notes Pink, "the industry is growing at an even faster rate in other countries." Pink goes on to say that prosperity might favor less rational sensibilities like beauty, spirituality, and emotion. "It's no longer sufficient to create a product, service, experience, or lifestyle that's merely functional," says Pink. "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 and 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.

A case in point is Organic Cottage, a natural food company devoted to delivering organic products from India to the abundant U.S. market. The company engaged Crave to help it create and package its 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 for Organic Cottage purposefully contrasts 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.

Crave designed Sugar Plum Fairy's visual voice to contrast with the category clutter and mainstream brand offerings and to appeal to discerning consumers who seek something special from their frozen desserts.

The enhanced water beverage category is overflowing with choices, but it was lacking a brand with a vibrant and modern visual voice that IQ H20 has brought to the party.

Information overload

It'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, and 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 every day 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, a small, all-natural baked goods manufacturer with big dreams of retail success. We designed a new packaging system that would enable the company to compete with big brands such as Sara Lee and 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 Sugar Plum Fairy visual voice was designed to contrast with the majority of the category, which was primarily communicating "Mainstream and 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 and 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 to the competition on-shelf. Our culture of abundance and information overload demands that brands develop a unique visual voice that not only tells your story but inspires consumers in the process.

Matt Cave is the founder and principal of Crave Inc., a brand identity and packaging design firm in Boca Raton, FL, specializing in food and beverage brands. Crave helps create, refresh, and package brands for a diverse array of clients from small entrepreneurs to Wal-Mart. Matt can be reached at matt@cravebrands.com.