Complete branding for Cogumelado, from logo and packaging design to marketing and social media art.
Cogumelado is a Brazilian foodtech startup which makes highly sophisticated and flavorful mushroom based vegan caned food. You should try it if you have the chance. It's amazing.
Let's cut to the chase, shall we?
The logo design is largely based on the fact that their products undergo a very unique smoking process which makes them truly delicious, therefore it represents a mushroom (as a negative shape) enveloped in a classic but minimalist flame shape, with a carefully modified script font to make the whole set balanced, with added contour rawness to represent the organic spirit of the brand.
Developing the packaging was a long and complex project.
First, we had to find a suitable food grade can which could be printed with reasonable quality (and reasonable cost), which was harder than expected, as usual when it comes to packaging design.
Then I've carefully designed the labels, with a few things in mind:
- They should stand out from the competition and accurately represent Cogumelado's innovative and bold stance.
- They should be attractive in order to capture the customer's attention in visually competitive environments, such as supermarket shelves.
- They should be artistic and represent Brazil in colors, shapes and spirit.
To be honest, it wasn't easy convincing their associates and investors about this unconventional graphic design approach. They were expecting the usual "minimalist-typography-solid-color-flat background-more-of-the-same" thing.
It took a big leap of faith from their CEO to aprove this project, which paid off really well, otherwise I wouldn't be publishing it here.
Artwork:
CANS:
It's a hit, baby! People loved them so much that they've been reusing the empty cans for all sorts of creative things.
"If people don't want to throw it away, it means your package design is successful" -Sun Tzu.
(I'm joking. I just made it up.)
Anyway, we've decided to make it even cooler and enhance the product experience by adding a surprise beer coaster underneath the lid, with a cool recipe suggestion illustration on one side and its details on the other.
We've also made a special kit containing their two flagship products and a custom enamel mug, which comes in a very cool cardboard box printed with one of the artworks I've designed for their social media, in order to enhance the unboxing experience, which is something crucial nowadays.
People have two kicks when they buy things online:
1-At the exact moment of purchase.
2-At the moment of arrival and unboxing.
As a designer/art director/programmer/etc, you should always pay special attention on these two steps.
To wrap up the whole experience, I've also designed an accordion leaflet with institutional information about the brand and printed versions of the social media collage style artwork I've been designing for their Instagram, which has been a great success so far as well.
Talking about social media artwork, here are some samples of what I've been designing for them.
The goal here was to keep up with the bold branding we've been developing and design something really artistic and different from what people usually do for Instagram i.e; flat background with transparent png of the product upfront, a little drop shadow and minimal typography (boring...)
These are not quickies, if you know what I mean. Some of these took several hours to finish.
It's a serious creative challenge to wake up in the morning and ask yourself - what can I do today to display these nice little cans in a honest and artistically interesting context?
Not really for the faint of heart, I suppose.
The results and feedback have been excellent so far, though, and that's what really matters.
Their clients are happy. My clients are happy. I'm happy. It's as simple as that (or not, sometimes).
To wrap up, this isn't really my expertise, but I always liked stop-motion videos and thought: Why not?
It's too bad my cellphone's camera isn't really great, but they turned out cool enough for social media and I've learned quite a few new tricks in the process.
It's always nice for a designer to get out of the computer and go be creative in real life.
(And yeah, that's me singing a little acapella at the end as well...I'm a man of many talents...But I'm already married, just in case you think about it...)
So, here we are.
If you're reading this it's probably because you liked this little story (or maybe not) but either way thank you.
Leave a comment.
Let's talk about it.
Need something like this? Get in touch.
I'm not cheap, as far as freelancers are concerned, but I promise I can make you smile.
Oh, and don't forget to visit Cogumelado's instagram @cogumelado and buy some of their stuff if you're in Brazil; It's really delicious.
