Brief 8: Final Swirls brand identity/mockups and evaluation

New typeface is softer, reminiscent of old ice cream brands and ads on ice cream vans. Also goes with the softness of the swirled ice cream flavours.

Although in feedback it excited me to try and come up with mr whippy esque packaging and dispensary for Swirls, as a competitior in the ice cream market in supermarkets where this would be sold it would be tricky to stack the product on shelves and making it a dispensary would be more specialist for ice cream vans themselves, which is a possibility of this concept. However, for the main competitor market, keeping it as a tub and letting the nostalgic yet clean contemporary branding, and classic flavours be the attraction feels the most appropriate.

EVALUATIONAfter being inspired by a visit from branding/packaging agency Robot Food, the idea of rebranding something outdated was so exciting to me! Coming up with the list of initial ideas and taking notice of old products when out and about was always enjoyable to me, but this stepped it up another level.

When I go in to an environment I am always noting the designs around me, and for this initially I was going to rebrand Vienetta as it seems like a childhood memory but still exists! The play on childhood nostalgia and the unique structure of the ice cream seemed like an enjoyable concept to work with my design taste.

The idea struck to create my own brand whilst designing the Vienetta box itself and through feedback (which is always so crucial in design process) where a whole new brand started to emerge when designing. Vienetta is recognisable and 'classic' as some expressed in feedback, whereas the initial designs I was showing had a ice cream van esque charm and already had it's own 'swirls' identity emerging from the swirl illustration I used. Through this feedback I felt empowered to go for it and come up with my own brand identity as for portfolio it would show a bit more initiative perhaps.

The brand became 'Swirls' to give it the nostalgic but simple and honest swirled affect in the concept ice cream, in which I chose to give classic and unusual supermarket flavours such as Blueberry to still give it a quirk in the market. The target audience remained the same (teens to old) and so did the place on the market, against competitors such as Ben and Jerrys and Cornetto etc.

The design throughout was intended to be contemporary, simple, yet have the exciting flair that the images you see on ice cream vans have which add excitement to the brand.

The most challenging part of this was accepting the true feedback that the original logo looked too rigid and 'Nike' ,and changing it to a softer typeface to mimick the ice cream, and also product mockups.

As far as product design, I know it isn't my strongest point but through my design I feel the concept and idea strike with the target audience as through my work this year I am continuing to want to build on designs that stands out and has a quirk to it. I aim to learn how to make brilliant mockups as the mockups of these don't enhance the brand identity as i'd like them to.

As well as this, within the last feedback session was a really exciting discussion about how 'Swirls' could be packaged differently to amplify it's nostalgic element, coming in a mr.whippy esque dispenser. Although envisioning this was spot on and I would want to experiment with this idea further if it wasn't just a concept, for my aim for this to be a supermarket contender trying to think of a way this would stack on shelves against competitiors with ease, as I am not strongest at product design anyway, was difficult for me. Despite this, I am happy with the ideas the brand identity gave people which indicates it has impact on consumers and the idea of the ice cream is clear.