Colour

Colour influences your mood – whether you’re aware of it or not. Some well known traditional colour responses are: blue = calm, yellow = uplifting, pink =  frivolous, red = makes you hungry (macca’s and many food labels invest in red). Whilst colours per se are well known to give these responses – we like to approach colour in regards to “feel” so as not to discount unexpected colour combinations. I especially like surprising colour combinations that ensure the product stands out.

An example of an unexpected colourway is the reserved feel of the colour pallet for this gorgeous identity, designed by UK-based Studioh for the National Trust, and featured on Lovely Packaging here.

Its great to own a colour – Tiffany Blue, Cadbury Purple, Apple White/Silver – the brand names instantly conjure up their packaging design and colour, a win for brand recognition! So don’t discount unexpected colour combos, or define that packaging “must” be a certain colour too early on in the design process.

Greater than the sum of its part

Packs should look good on their own, but should look extra amazing when stacked on a shelf together. Consumers must be drawn to your display – and blocking through colour or other design elements to look consistent on a shelf is one way of doing this.

The identity for Japanese 100% Chocolate Cafe (wish I could read Japanese), commands attention on shelf through consistent design elements – it helps that the focus is on great typography and a complementary colour scheme. In Australia, Continental blocks through their “C” and the colour red – they even ran a consumer campaign telling us to look out for the new “C” on their packs (although personally I think their packaging is way to busy).

More info about this 100% Chocolate Cafe project can be found on Lovely Packaging.

Strategy

It goes without saying that your packaging should tie into your business strategy. Apple is a great example of ensuring their strategy of well designed, simple, good looking products is communicated right down to how their products look on shelf.

Apple packaging reflects its modern cutting edge approach.

I especially love products with a bit of humour… Dare you not to smile at these cute and quirky cows – the strategy here is to make you feel good, which in-turn applies to the “natural goodness” of the yoghurt inside. Again more brilliant work by Studioh.

Back in Oz, Nudie employs a similar strategy – humour to demonstrate authenticity and no BS – a core element of their identity – which is reflected in their all natural products.

Typography

Your choice of typography will say a lot about the brand. Old-school typefaces give a handmade, traditional feel. Organic, handwritten fonts say “natural”, “organic” and “additive-free” – I’m all handmade and all trustworthy (the new Be Natural range of cereal taps into this). Many cleaning products use bold uppercase sans serif fonts to shout out about their benefits (BAM - hmmm Bamersise – how did the ad agency get that one through?). And delicate, thin typefaces are found all over the beauty space.

This work by student Adam Gerstner showcases brilliant typography mixing an old world feel with a thoroughly modern aesthetic (view more about it here).

I’m dieing to get my hands on this beautiful Eleia olive oil – its simple, clean with absolutely beautiful typography. The idea “comes from the process of protecting olive trees from bugs by painting them on the bottom part with white protection paint” – so eloquently put by Greece based Bob Studio who is behind the work. It makes we want to pick up the bottle and slather it around Jamie Oliver style over anything that comes into view. More about the project can be found at DieLine here.

Tangible Feel

A product has to also feel nice to pick up, to touch and to use – does it feel as good as it looks and vice versa! Good design should go beyond just the graphics appearing on the pack.

Simplicity

Don’t feel the need to shout out every single positive benefit of your product – the design should speak for itself. Putting too many messages on a product makes it look cheap, and you run the risk of undermining what really does differentiate your product from the competitors. Don’t feel the need to cover every inch of space with imagery or words, a clean pack is often more compelling and interesting than one that is trying to do and say too much.

Case in point is the identity for 100% chocolate café – simple typography, bold use of single colour with a beautiful and very cool feel. The core product idea is simply and effectively tied to the packaging, and gives consumers a reason to come back for more – clear numbers are aligned to different chocolate mixes, inviting all chocoholics to discover what sweetner, country origin or flavour is best suited to their palette (I’m busy googling how I can get my hands on the whole range right now!).

Our identity design for Jasco art products shows a simple but bold design, with clean and simple typography and minimal messaging.

Research and Inspiration

It’s great seeing what appeals to consumers in other markets and countries, and there are many fantastic packaging compilation sites out there – many of the examples shown in the post are compiled from the following sites, which I highly recommend visiting. The differing packaging reflects local consumer tastes and can really make you rethink your approach to different design packaging projects.

http://lovelypackage.com/
http://www.thedieline.com/

MAKE IT LOOK GOOD
You are a designer, and your resume is about as close as you can get in expressing not only what your experience is, but also what kind of designer you are likely to be. I won’t even bother opening a resume sent in word – I know its not going to look good – and that no effort has been made in making the document look professionally designed.

Keep in mind what the main objective is of a resume – to present information – don’t let your creativity get in the way of readability. The recipient may print out your document to keep on file and refer to throughout the application process – your design should look good on screen, but also print easily (avoid setting it up as a long page spread, or at a large format not suitable for printing).

PERSONALISE
Take the time to find out the name of the “person who makes the decisions” and address your application to this person. It is pretty simple and easy to do, a call to my agency or a google search will unveil this information – I always look favourably on resumes addressed to me. You’d be surprised how many people don’t bother with this small but significant detail.

Take the time to write individual cover letter’s tailored to each position/company you are applying to. A blanket cover letter looks like you send your resume to everyone and are desperate for ANY job. Look at the website of the company you are applying for, make sure their work aligns with your design aesthetic and career goals – don’t waste your time or mine on a job you aren’t that interested in.

DON’T SEND WEBLINKS ONLY
I always specify that I would like a pdf of selected work included with an application. I find it frustrating when designers don’t follow this simple instruction – I usually don’t have time to trawl through a designers online portfolio in the initial stages of the application process. Asking designers to edit what they think are relevant projects that demonstrates their abilities is an important step in finding well aligned design staff – someone who hasn’t done this comes across as lazy. By all means include your url at the end of the pdf – if I like your work and am keen to see more I will look at it.

OLD FASHIONED SNAIL MAIL
If you are really keen to land the job, don’t just rely on a Seek application – send a hard copy via snail mail to the creative director, post an article on your blog describing why you should land the job – be creative. At the end of the day you want to stand out – in a positive way (don’t be pesky, sending a million and one emails translates into annoying rather than professional).

PRESENTING YOUR PORTFOLIO IN PERSON
If your resume looks good, shows that you have suitable qualifications and experience you may just land a face-to-face interview. Many applicants are nervous about this stage “job interviews” by definition are often scary. However, if you’ve got a great portfolio, full of work you are proud of be confident and try to enjoy the process.

There are a few things to remember when presenting your portfolio in person – the first important one being “EDIT”!!! You need to show work that you enjoyed, that expresses who you are as a designer or that taught you something. Don’t include everything you have ever done 5 – 10 key projects will be sufficient.

Make sure you can elaborate on the projects you have included and why you have included them. Be able to explain what the creative problem was you addressed, how you addressed it and how you arrived at the solution.

Put lots of thought into how you work will be displayed. I’ve seen many people trip up when they can’t get to things or can’t discuss their work eloquently. Consider the following: if you have hard copies can you get them out/put them away easily? Does the photography/screen grabs do your project justice? Is the portfolio neatly laid out in a sensible order? Are the printouts big enough to see when presenting across a table. Have you developed a supporting slide show – if only showing your portfolio electronically will everyone you are presenting to be able to see it?

LEAVE BEHINDS
Again I can’t emphasise enough that you are a designer – its your job to get you clients noticed, their brands recognised and presented in a consistent, engaging and interesting way. Think of yourself as a brand – how do you want your potential employer to see and remember you? Consider designing a leave behind brochure or document that outlines some of the work in your portfolio, or perhaps has a couple of case studies. At the very least a business card with your online portfolio details is a great idea.

ATTENTION TO DETAIL
At all stages of the application and interview process make sure you are considering the small details – check your spelling, turn up looking neat and tidy, don’t turn up late, don’t turn up too early, keep your online portfolio up-to-date…. All the usual things – at this stage of the process everything you do, say and present is being judged.

Good Luck!

• Better Service: Fundamentally this is the key reason we use account managers – they are experts at client service, designers are experts at designing – assigning each to the roles they are best at means that designers can concentrate on getting high quality results out without being interrupted (Often clients like to go through changes or feedback on the phone which means that work the designer should be doing isn’t getting done).
• Complimentary Skills – much is made of the differing personality types that fill a Design role versus an Account Management roll – putting animosity aside these two diverse skill sets come together to ensure that our client gets fantastic, creative, high quality design solutions – that are delivered on time, on budget and with zero mistakes.
• Additional Skills – Account Managers usually have a marketing background (or other relevant industry experience), adding crucial insights into projects – in fact at Purple Goat we call our Account Managers, Project Consultants and Marketing Consultants – in view of the additional skills they bring to the table
• Less Mistakes – An account manager is an extra set of eyes on a project, double checking that all changes/feedback has been implemented and ensuring designers haven’t forgotten when something is needed
• Deadlines – With an account manager project managing the job, we’ve found that projects can be run more professionally and are kept to deadline.
• Spellcheck – Designers are notoriously bad spellers – I like to call it “creative spelling” – for some reason super organized people who generally fill Account Management roles are usually awesome spellers and can pick up on designers woeful spelling
• Account Managers are better at saying no (politely) – Designers are usually out to please – sometimes client suggestions are just not a good idea, sometimes someone who is not so personally involved and attached to the design is needed to give another opinion. On the flip side of this designers are passionate creatures and often put their heart and sole into a project – when someone has a different view to theirs it can sometimes get a little heated.
• Big Picture – account managers will have a big picture view of a project and can help to interpret what the client “really” wants
• Business Perspective – having client service and design resources separate allows us to run a professional creative agency ensuring projects are run effectively and efficiently. Account Managers allow us to be proactive instead of reactive – and this ensures our clients get the best possible service and creative solutions possible.

Clients that prefer to deal directly with designers usually feel it gives them more control and a quicker turn around. However, this is really a false economy – if a designer is working on a number of projects and there are a number of clients calling/emailing/requesting changes time is spent account managing instead of designing therefore making the process less efficient. Designers often need time to think about and mull over a solution – being interrupted all the time means that they can’t get into the headspace that is often needed.

In larger projects its great to get our designers involved up front during the briefing stage with clients, however when it comes to day-to-day management and maintaining ongoing feedback/changes a (good) account manager will always add an additional professional edge and insights to a project.

Would love to hear your thoughts on the benefits/negatives of an account service agency structure.