Blue Marlin 'Sparks' brief: Insect Cuisine
The Brief:
Insects are a staple in the diets of countries all over the world. They are readily available and much kinder
to the environment than other sources of food, but how can we make this cuisine more appealing in
Britain?
Your challenge
Take the world of insect cuisine and sell it through design and experience. This involves creating a brand
identity and name, as well as method(s) of exposure. This could be through a restaurant, a pop-up shop,
a pack design, a food festival, a recipe book, an app or all of the above.'
My creative insight and solution
When researching into protein powders that were already on the market, a lot of them had strong similarities in terms of names and visuals, for example, the imagery of lightening bolts or ‘+’ symbols to convey the notions of energy. In order to narrow my target audience down, I decided to look more specifically into women’s protein powder packaging and there was such a lack in variety; majority were a stereotypical pink colour or drilled the ideas of the perfect female body image as being ‘slim’ and ‘beach body ready’. It was from this in depth research that I wanted to use the benefits of insect protein powder to combat the presentations of already existing women’s protein packaging. After further research into my initial ideas, I decided to tailor my product towards women more specifically (20+ years). I felt this was a suitable design decision because with the already saturated market for insect packaging, I didn’t feel as though women were being represented in the everyday sense, just as objects of desire and of superficial beauty expectations. I wanted to design a product range that focused more on the care and specific vitamin and nutritional needs of women, to make them feel good both inside and out.
For the thematic design of my packaging, I wanted it to have an illustrative approach, as first of all it’s something that I personally enjoy and haven’t had the opportunity to show my skills in a long time but also because it felt more suitable than trying to formulate visuals using digital technology. Through using watercolour painting and illustration methods, it gives my packaging a pastoral, gentle and soft appearance and emphasises the fundamentals; that it’s a purely natural product with nothing artificially added. The use of watercolour in particular emphasises this. With the insects, they work better as illustrations, as they don’t necessarily appear as life-like which should theoretically result in them being likeable and not off-putting or cringe worthy. As realistically I needed to develop a range of packaging, I chose to incorporate additional natural flavours (super greens, mixed berries and tropical fruits) that have the essential vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin B12, Iron, Zinc and antioxidants that women need more of to live a healthy, balanced lifestyle. Furthermore, I felt that the average western culture consumer would be ready to eat just purely insects as they are on their own.
Front of packaging.
Back of packaging.
Extensions
With the nature of my product, I thought visuals from the main packaging could be used on additional brand objects, such as smoothie bottles in this example.
Thank you for looking at my project!
