OUGD503 YCN - The Grown Up Chocolate Company - Project Pack

Project Pack:
As part of the brief a project pack was included which has the design templates for the box and outer sleeve. Logo's and brand guidelines are also included, which must be taken into consideration.

Logo's to include:

As one of the mandatory requirements the logo and strapline, ‘Nice try kids but it’s not for you’, must feature on both the box and the outer sleeve.

Template:

The design must wrap around the entire box and entire outer sleeve, and I might consider how graphics, images or text might be used in unusual parts of the packaging.

A panel of dimensions 8cm x 4cm should be set aside and left blank on the box, to allow us to incorporate ingredient and nutritional information.

I will need to either test printing this template at different sizes to find out which is appropriate to give the correct measurements, or I could go over the template in illustrator. I will definitely mock this template up, as at the moment it is hard to visualise how a design would appropriately fit on. Throughout the process I will need to make paper prototypes to see how the designs work on a 3D scale.

Brand Guidelines:

Type size is something to definitely consider, I am going to make sure that nothing is below 1.2mm (x-height), as this is more likely to be compliant with food information regulations.

Within the brand guidelines they have listed brand assets into a hierarchy of importance.

1. Brand logos - I need to make sure that the logo is always on the front of the product and that it is above any images or product name. Ideally they want it to be on a white background. The version on the brown background is to be used on the ends of the packaging if applicable.

2. Product Title - This should always be in the "Headline One" font.

3. Tasting Note - The tasting note, or product description should always be in upper and lower case for legibility reasons and I need to use the "Proxima Nova Alt Bold" font.

4. Strapline (only ever in the font provided) - The strapline should be the only type on product boxes in the this font style to allow it to be different to the rest of the on-pack messaging. It should only appear with an image of a kid pretending to be a grown-up. The line coming from the strapline can move around but it should never look like the kid is saying it.

This is something that I am really confused by as it says that 'It should only appear with an image of a kid pretending to be a grown-up.' But, within the project pack they have not included this image, so I am unsure how to proceed. I have decided to send another email to YCN so that they can hopefully help. 

5. Positioners/USPs - The two graphics are brand positioners or unique selling points about the products. "Handmade" is a stronger selling point and helps to justify the price point. "Not for little monsters" is more tone of voice, helping to differentiate the brand and strengthen the concept.

6. Tone of voice messaging - These elements again help strengthen the concept behind the products and add personality to the brand. These should be "hidden" away on box flaps or inside products. Something for consumers to find later on.

Looking at these brand guidelines has made me realise there are a lot of restrictions within the designs and not much room to be as 'inventive' as they say. However I do understand that it needs to work cohesively with their current products. When designing the packaging I am going to follow this hierarchy of information to make sure that it ticks all of the boxes.