The Client
Francesco Cafe.
A small upscale breakfast and lunch spot.
Francesco Cafe.
A small upscale breakfast and lunch spot.
The Brief
Gourmet homemade chocolate which is produced by the cafe.
They plan to sell the chocolate as a take-away item for the café and have also reached an agreement
with a local medium sized gourmet supermarket who have agreed to stock their product.
The owners wish these regional factors of Ghana to be evident in the branding and design (look) of the product.
They also have strong beliefs in minimising their impact on the environment through sustainable
practices so this must also be considered.
In the first instance they will be creating two different flavours of the product:
1. Dark (70% cocoa) &
2. Roast Almond Dark (45% cocoa)
Gourmet homemade chocolate which is produced by the cafe.
They plan to sell the chocolate as a take-away item for the café and have also reached an agreement
with a local medium sized gourmet supermarket who have agreed to stock their product.
The owners wish these regional factors of Ghana to be evident in the branding and design (look) of the product.
They also have strong beliefs in minimising their impact on the environment through sustainable
practices so this must also be considered.
In the first instance they will be creating two different flavours of the product:
1. Dark (70% cocoa) &
2. Roast Almond Dark (45% cocoa)
They require two packaging designs – one for each product. You are required to develop the branding and 3D packaging form. Due to this being a dark chocolate in most cases it is not consumed in one sitting. Therefore, the packaging must be able to be closed again once opened.
Branding
This is to differ from the café branding as this is a standalone product. Develop a
name and brand concept taking into account the details in the product concept section.
This is to differ from the café branding as this is a standalone product. Develop a
name and brand concept taking into account the details in the product concept section.
Process
As the product had to reflect some form of the regional factors of Ghana, I investigated and compiled various images that related to the area. There were ancient structures, traditional fabric patterns which carry a lot of meaning, regional plants and animals. While undertaking this research, it became clear that Ghana is a country that has been impacted by both the slave trade and colonisation. So I felt it best to stay away from the more traditional cultural symbols in the packaging design as I did not want to add to this colonisation. So I chose animal patterns. These unique patterns still evoke the idea of Africa as does the exposed gold foil - gold being the a major export for Ghana. The animals I chose were the Civet and the Zebra. These patterns contrast each other in shape and form being one is stripes and the other spots.
We were also required to come up with a brand name and again research was undertaken. The word Akwaaba was chosen as it is a traditional greeting given to travellers, meaning "Welcome". While I did want to maintain cultural sensitivity in the brand name, I felt that a the use of a term such as "welcome" would be less impactful than appropriating cultural imagery.
As the packaging had to be resealable, I got to work figuring out a shape that could be formed and closed easily without requiring glue. These started out on graph paper which also allowed me to calculate the amount of material that would be used in making the packaging, so as to keep that down to a minimum of wastage. A final design was chosen and a prototype constructed.
A small marketing survey was undertaken to gauge emotional responses to the product, brand loyalty and motivations for purchase. Along with a survey of retail displays in both premium and supermarket settings.
Final Print Artwork
Artwork iteration and ideation sketches
