BRANDING/ ILLUSTRATION
Duration: 5 days
Illustrator, Photoshop
Mission:
Started by two women chefs, Petite Palate is an entirely organic line of gourmet baby food that is packaged in portable, eco-friendly containers which can be served right in the package. The pre-portioned sized meals are not only convenient but incredibly delicious.
The idea of Petite Palate came to the owners when they had their first-born babies around the same time. They wanted to provide healthy and nutrient rich food for their children but quickly realized the baby food industry was missing one thing: FLAVOR. The second part of their mission, but equal in importance, was to create food that was sustainable to the environment.
I was given 5 days to do a complete overhaul on their visual identity as the company had previously failed and was in need of a re-fresh.
WHAT WENT WRONG?
Aside from the visual identity which was dated, busy and lacked any element to make them stand apart from competitors, the main reasons for failure were:
01.
Timing: they started company in 2007 right before the recession.
02.
Limited options: not providing other options aside from frozen food.
03.
Lack of advertising: they had no investors to help market the product.
04.
Flimsy containers: they used thin paper material that easily ripped.
A NEW IDENTITY:
I began with re-designing the logo and wanted to keep everything simplistic and organic feeling. While I didn’t love their packaging, I did want to keep the illustrative element but in a modernized way, which would be done by illustrating the ingredients in a bold and colorful way.
Packaging
After branding was completed, I dug into their original product. Frozen baby food.
The number one complaint in their product reviews was that while parents loved the thought of an eco-friendly container, the second they thawed the food out, the container would fall apart because the paper was too thin. So I decided to use sturdier containers that are still made of paper products and recyclable but strong enough to remain intact.
Following that, I resolved the issue of limited options by adding glass jars that have a stable shelf-life and take care of the issue of wanting ready to serve baby food as opposed to having to deal with thawing.
I also added fruity oat bars and smoothies to the line in order to obtain brand loyalty and focus on the customers future needs.
Accessorize
I continued the eco-friendliness by accessorizing with items that reduce waste both in and out of the kitchen such as a redesign of the cookbook with a more modern layout and full-page images to add to visual interest along with an apron, bib and reusable tote.
Advertising
Being this is one of the most important elements for a businesses success, I found it important to create advertising presence digitally with facebook and instagram ads, within the grocery store, and by building brand awareness through mass scale advertising and co-marketing with Amazon + Whole Foods.
