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Blogs in FdA Digital Media Design
15 years ago
Essay
Coco Pops Packaging Design
Packaging is not only used for concealing the product, it is also a vital tool for marketing the product and enticing possible consumers to buy the product. It can also be used to identify and attract the target audience. There are many aspects to the design of packaging and I will be looking at two of the main elements; Graphics and Typography.
As I have chosen to create a box for Cereal I will look at the two elements within the design of this product, mainly focusing on children’s cereal boxes, as this is my target audience. The reason I chose this target audience is because I like the character design and use of colours in this genre. I will start off by looking at the importance and connotations behind the design of the packaging.
As it was one of my childhood favourites I will focus on one main brand to analyse its design elements. I will look at one of the most popular cereals in the UK, Kellogg’s Coco Pops.
Coco Pops are a good example of children cereal as they have a lot of the typical conventions used to attract their target audience. As it is a children’s cereal they have used techniques such as colour, use of fonts, layout and character designs to portray a fun looking package. The colours they have used are clever, as they have wanted to reflect the chocolaty flavour of the cereal they have used brown for the main text but to make it stand out and attract kids they have used a bright contrasting yellow for the background.
It is important to make sure that the packaging stands out on the shelf in the supermarket, because it could look amazing and detailed up close but if it doesn’t attract the attention of the customer it is not doing its job.
I feel the character design for this specific cereal is pretty good, as the use of colours helps incorporate coco the monkey into the design. The connotations of the monkey are that he’s a bit cheeky and very playful. The fact that he is wearing a cap makes him sort of cool and because its blue it also contrasts the yellow and it helps widen the colour palette to incorporate in any further advertisement they may want to add.
The use of typography helps towards the overall marketing as the product name is in a bubbly rounded font, which stands out from the background. It’s almost balloon looking and has a thin white stroke and slight drop shadow to make it stand out even more. This font helps to come across clear to the customer but it also gives a feeling of fun as it implies the shape of balloons. I think this is nice use of font, as it will help kids relate to the fun involved with it and also to attract adults, as that is something they buy for kids. Also a key use of typography is within the Kellogg’s logo, it is a great logo as it does the job intended. It is a very clear logo with nice use of lettering and colour. I think the font is very good as it also symbolizes fun with the rounded edges; the fact that it’s joined up helps the customer to read through it. This is also helped by the fact that the letters are tilted from left to right. This helps guide the eye along the design and the ends of the g’s direct you down to the main section if it wasn’t on first glance. I think the use of colour is very good as this colour red stands out on most other colours.
Another integral part of kids cereal design is the free gift. I think this is one of the most important parts as kids love their toys, I think that the use of gift in this instance is effective as it is cashing in on the kids love of art attack (obviously slightly old cereal). I think it is eye catching as it attracts the audience mainly with the art attack logo and the ‘WIN’ in bold red with white stroke. The terminology used is trying to interact with kids as well ‘ cool prizes’.
In conclusion to this essay I feel that I have looked into the key elements of the Coco Pops design. I feel I have assessed the individual elements and looked at the reasons why it is so popular. I will take this on board when creating my own cereal.
Packaging is not only used for concealing the product, it is also a vital tool for marketing the product and enticing possible consumers to buy the product. It can also be used to identify and attract the target audience. There are many aspects to the design of packaging and I will be looking at two of the main elements; Graphics and Typography.
As I have chosen to create a box for Cereal I will look at the two elements within the design of this product, mainly focusing on children’s cereal boxes, as this is my target audience. The reason I chose this target audience is because I like the character design and use of colours in this genre. I will start off by looking at the importance and connotations behind the design of the packaging.
As it was one of my childhood favourites I will focus on one main brand to analyse its design elements. I will look at one of the most popular cereals in the UK, Kellogg’s Coco Pops.
Coco Pops are a good example of children cereal as they have a lot of the typical conventions used to attract their target audience. As it is a children’s cereal they have used techniques such as colour, use of fonts, layout and character designs to portray a fun looking package. The colours they have used are clever, as they have wanted to reflect the chocolaty flavour of the cereal they have used brown for the main text but to make it stand out and attract kids they have used a bright contrasting yellow for the background.It is important to make sure that the packaging stands out on the shelf in the supermarket, because it could look amazing and detailed up close but if it doesn’t attract the attention of the customer it is not doing its job.
I feel the character design for this specific cereal is pretty good, as the use of colours helps incorporate coco the monkey into the design. The connotations of the monkey are that he’s a bit cheeky and very playful. The fact that he is wearing a cap makes him sort of cool and because its blue it also contrasts the yellow and it helps widen the colour palette to incorporate in any further advertisement they may want to add.
The use of typography helps towards the overall marketing as the product name is in a bubbly rounded font, which stands out from the background. It’s almost balloon looking and has a thin white stroke and slight drop shadow to make it stand out even more. This font helps to come across clear to the customer but it also gives a feeling of fun as it implies the shape of balloons. I think this is nice use of font, as it will help kids relate to the fun involved with it and also to attract adults, as that is something they buy for kids. Also a key use of typography is within the Kellogg’s logo, it is a great logo as it does the job intended. It is a very clear logo with nice use of lettering and colour. I think the font is very good as it also symbolizes fun with the rounded edges; the fact that it’s joined up helps the customer to read through it. This is also helped by the fact that the letters are tilted from left to right. This helps guide the eye along the design and the ends of the g’s direct you down to the main section if it wasn’t on first glance. I think the use of colour is very good as this colour red stands out on most other colours.
Another integral part of kids cereal design is the free gift. I think this is one of the most important parts as kids love their toys, I think that the use of gift in this instance is effective as it is cashing in on the kids love of art attack (obviously slightly old cereal). I think it is eye catching as it attracts the audience mainly with the art attack logo and the ‘WIN’ in bold red with white stroke. The terminology used is trying to interact with kids as well ‘ cool prizes’.
In conclusion to this essay I feel that I have looked into the key elements of the Coco Pops design. I feel I have assessed the individual elements and looked at the reasons why it is so popular. I will take this on board when creating my own cereal.
Character design
Here are a few sketches for my character design. I decided to stick with a favourite of mine which is Jamie Hewletts Murdoc from Gorillaz. Heres the start of my tracing
Change of plan
I realised i have to use my name through out so i am going to elaborate on the roarke n rolls idea and create a music based cereal.
Sketches
As i have decided to do cereal now i have started to do some sketches for a few ideas i have had. The idea i like most at the moment is Cowboy Crunch. I thought it would be a good idea as kids loves cowboys, as with the Milky bar kid it makes a good mascot.
I have done an initial sketch for the layout and two main characters one a young cowboy and one a cactus. I got this idea from Golden Nuggets in which they have the gold miner and his donkey friend. I thought this could progress to be a good idea as i could elaborate on the theme by having horseshoe shaped cereal and giving away a free cowboy themed gift.
I have done an initial sketch for the layout and two main characters one a young cowboy and one a cactus. I got this idea from Golden Nuggets in which they have the gold miner and his donkey friend. I thought this could progress to be a good idea as i could elaborate on the theme by having horseshoe shaped cereal and giving away a free cowboy themed gift.
Cereal Killers
Whilst doing research on cereals I have come across this book called Cereal Killers. It is a book containing a collection of illustrators and designers interpretation of cereal designs. There are a fair few which are really quite good but i have selected a few which i like to post.
Other Packaging...
In this post I will look at other possibilities for my 'packaging yourself' project. I have a selection of different products to see if I want to take them further in terms of my own designs and ideas.
As I have a love for trainers an obvious one which came into mind was a shoe box for a pair of trainers. I particularly like the way adidas have used simple colours and their branding 3 stripes to create this well known shoe box. I think it would be an interesting packaging area to look into but i feel it may not be using my AI skills to the fullest and I will not be pushing myself to create an outcome.
Next I have looked at washing powders. Firstly there is the Tescos value washing powder, this is clearly of a lower standard than that of one of the leading brands 'Bold'. I like the design of the bold packaging as they have incorporated water and the circle which may represent the washing machine. I also think that the use of colours are effective as the contrasting colours really stand out and the different tones of blue really help it look like actual water. The font also adds to the brand name as it is actually bold, the slight embossing adds to it further by making it more impacting.
As I have a love for trainers an obvious one which came into mind was a shoe box for a pair of trainers. I particularly like the way adidas have used simple colours and their branding 3 stripes to create this well known shoe box. I think it would be an interesting packaging area to look into but i feel it may not be using my AI skills to the fullest and I will not be pushing myself to create an outcome.
Next I have looked at washing powders. Firstly there is the Tescos value washing powder, this is clearly of a lower standard than that of one of the leading brands 'Bold'. I like the design of the bold packaging as they have incorporated water and the circle which may represent the washing machine. I also think that the use of colours are effective as the contrasting colours really stand out and the different tones of blue really help it look like actual water. The font also adds to the brand name as it is actually bold, the slight embossing adds to it further by making it more impacting.
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