Cable Saver
Project: Logo, packaging and display design for new product
Date: 2018
THE OVERVIEW
In an effort to innovate and grow, the product team at SRP Companies wanted to introduce a new product for our convenience store programs. The existing product packaging offered by the vendor was vague and lacking appeal, so they needed a designer to develop a new identity mark, packaging, and display.
THE VISION
Use the existing packaging and display dielines to create an identity mark, packaging, and display for the “Cable Saver”. The Cable Saver consisted of several different animal characters that could be used to protect phone cables and chargers. While it could be used by anyone, the targeted audience was a younger demographic of 9-25 years of age.
THE STRATEGY
Research kids packaging and products. Create an identity mark that was fun and appealing, while developing packaging and a display that would better convey what the product was used for.
The product team wanted to sell the “Cable Bite” product to their convenience store clients, but they did not like the current look, and felt that the packaging design did not adequately tell the story of the product. So I was brought in to not only redevelop the design and display but to also come up with a new name.
We landed on “Cable Saver” as the final name as it was still in-line with the current product and eluded directly to what the product does.
Image of the previous “Cable Bite” product and display design
Next, I researched the world of kids packaging and documented any themes, colors, textures, and images that may be fitting for the Cable Saver product. I began to see a trend in kids packaging that used bright primary colors, geometric shapes, and bubbly hand drawn typography.
I had a tight deadline on the project so I moved straight to the computer to produce different design renditions of the logo. I experimented with bubbly fonts that were fun and playful, and settled on a wordmark that consisted of white and purple strokes to help make the logo colorful and eye-catching. I then colored the tagline in a bright yellow color to compliment the purple stroke above it.
With the Cable Saver logo identified, I translated similar colors and themes found in my research, into the final packaging design that was predetermined by an existing dieline.
Dieline for the cartoon phone art that sits on top of the packaging background.
In the background, I set floods of pink and blue on angled planes to create movement and action, and used yellow dot patterns and circles over the background to add visual interest. These elements were prevalent in 2018 design trends, and helped to mesh with the geometric shapes that I was finding in other children’s packaging designs.
I also wanted to trim down the copy and replace it with photographs to help tell the story quicker to a fast-moving generation who don’t read much. This included the creation of a cartoon “how to” step-by-step so kids can easily see how to use the product.
Once I received approval of the logo and packaging design, I moved on to convert the theme into the counter display for the Cable Saver product.
I replaced the floods of blue in the background with yellow so the packaging would pop off the display and let the product stand out. I continued using the dot patterns and circles on the display, and photographs of the product in use.
I also wanted to clearly illustrate the problem by showing the frayed cable, next to the solution of a protected cable that is using the Cable Saver directly.
Image of the final Cable Saver packaging designs
Images of small, hand-crafted mock-ups of the display, that I printed and cut out to test the graphics in-house.
Image of the final Cable Saver packaging and display designs. The final piece was colorful and playful, and adequately told the story of what the Cable Saver is and how it works. The final product will be in convenience stores by 2019.