Fig. 1 In situ photo of product mock-ups

The Grown Up Chocolate Company

The Grown Up Chocolate Company is a high-end chocolate brand that was founded in Essex in 2011. ​ They specialize in creating chocolates that are reminiscent of childhood treats but made for an adult market. Their main line of chocolates includes flavors such as Superb Salted Peanut Caramel, Dark Chocolate Smoothy, and Crunchy Crispy Toffee Trilogy. ​ They also offer a build-your-own option for online customers, where they can choose from over 100 flavor options and customize the packaging with their own image.

The company decided to launch a new line of nut-free, non-dairy, vegan chocolate bars. ​ The objective of this new line was to appeal to what they described as their existing, primarily middle-aged female audience while also expanding their customer base to include a younger demographic and health-conscious snackers. ​ They wanted the packaging for this new line to communicate that it is more health conscious than their main line, but still indulgent and beautifully handmade.

The original line’s package design included a black and white photograph of a child dressed up as an adult with the tag line, “Nice try kid, but it’s not for you!”

Fig. 3 My first redesign

Fig. 2 Original package design by Toast Design (image copyright Toast Design)

For the brief, I created two sets of designs. The first set hewed very tightly to the existing brand guidelines and style. I kept the logo unchanged and used the same font for the flavor name. The idea was to invert the existing style. Instead of using simple images of children dressing and acting like adults, the new line would have adults playing. The tagline for the line would be, “Adult flavors you can eat like a kid,” indicating that the “free from” nature of the chocolates meant that the customer could grab one without having to perform the adult activity of worrying about the contents of their snack.

For a little extra pop of color to draw the eye and to make the flavor apparent without having to read, I replaced an object on the black and white image with a full-color image of the flavor. In the examples I produced, I replaced the hop scotch rock with a butter scotch candy, replaced a soccer ball with a blueberry, and replaced a skateboard with a banana.

For my second set of designs, I moved away from the branding of the main line in order to make the “free from” line more visually distinct. I focused the design on the the ingredients and made them the focus of the design with watercolor style images of the signature ingredient of each bar. I kept the The Grown Up Chocolate Company’s pink and brown colors for the logo, back, and ends of the package as well as the all caps, sans serif for the flavor name for brand consistency. However, I replaced the typeface on the company name with a hand lettered design intended to convey both elegance and playfulness.