OUGD603 - Brief 2: Kakawa Chocolate | Collaborative with Charlie Rotherham
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Emily Lodge
Brief
Audience & Tone of Voice
Deliverables
The brief is to create branding and packaging for ‘Kakawa’, a luxury chocolate brand. The brand is to be sophisticated, luxurious and simplistic in approach. This is a collaborative with Charlie Rotherham.
The brand is aimed at those who have an appreciation for well made and luxurious chocolate goods. The tone of voice is serious and sophisticated to tap into the luxury market and show the authenticity and quality to the brand and its products.
Branding & Identity Product Packaging Range Proposed Extension
OUGD603 - Brief 2: Kakawa Chocolate | Collaborative with Charlie Rotherham
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Emily Lodge
Historical Research
Chocolate Brand Research
Aesthetic Research
To build the concept for the brief, initial research was into the historical background of chocolate. It was found that when discovered, cocoa beans had a huge cultural impact to the Mayan’s, was worshipped, and was even used as currency. This importance is something we wanted to get across in our concept as it shows an appreciation for the product and wanting to show the product in the best possible way.
Research into pre-existing luxury chocolate brands was also necessary for a variety of reasons. It allowed us to see the products and product ranges existing, as well as how these are presented, and how each of the brands represents itself in the market. It was clear from this that simplicity and sophistication is high priority in these luxury brands, with innovative packaging and effective presentation. The colour gold is also used a lot, playing on the luxury element of their brands.
Visual research allowed us to refine our brand identity. There is a large variety of packaging options for chocolate products, and working with the idea of being luxurious and sophisticated, simple packaging presented well has shown to be the most effective way of displaying this. The focus is on the product, with the packaging enhancing the visual of this. Colour usage indicates that a couple of strong contrasting colours creates a very consistent visual, even with a variety of packaging designs.
OUGD603 - Brief 2: Kakawa Chocolate | Collaborative with Charlie Rotherham
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Branding Development To emulate the quality of the brand, a variety of words were looked into to be used as the brand name, the main one being ‘Savour’. This related strongly to the idea that the chocolate is something to be cherished and is special. We decided on ‘Kakawa’ as the brand name. ‘Kakawa’ is the initial word used by the Mayans to describe chocolate on its discovery. There were two ideas for an icon, the first being cocoa beans, and the second being the original Mayan imagery for cocoa.
Emily Lodge
Typefaces & Colour Scheme The cocoa bean was chosen as we felt the Mayan symbol would move the brand more in a direction where this would have to be referenced a lot more, moving the focus onto the use of this instead of the products themselves and the overall simplicity of design which we wanted to get across.
The typefaces chosen for the logo are individual, with a secondary typeface chosen for all written content. This was so the logo would stand out when alongside the body copy. The typefaces chosen for the logo are representative of the contemporary feel of the brand, with a supporting serif typeface to contrast and add the sophistication. The primary colours are dark brown and gold, with a supporting colour in dark blue. These three colours are sophisticated and mature, hinting at luxury.
OUGD603 - Brief 2: Kakawa Chocolate | Collaborative with Charlie Rotherham
Packaging Development & Mock-ups A variety of packaging mock ups were created in the development stages of this brand. Initial boxes involved the use of large margins surrounding the products, however these were refined to have no margin, but have individual elements to each piece of packaging. For a luxurious feel, gold foiling and vinyl was added. Small details to the packaging were also added in having thick bases to each box and a patterned sheet overlying the products. To enclose the boxes, wraps were added.
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Emily Lodge
OUGD603 - Brief 2: Kakawa Chocolate | Collaborative with Charlie Rotherham
Full Product Range The full range is built up of three separate elements - Bars, Boxes and Jars. The branding across all of these is consistent, with use of gold against an off-white or brown. Each product has its own description. As well as this, a short paragraph detailing the brands promise to the customer is on all, cementing the quality of the products along with the simple and sophiticated design of the packaging.
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Emily Lodge
OUGD603 - Brief 2: Kakawa Chocolate | Collaborative with Charlie Rotherham
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Emily Lodge
Bars
Selection Boxes
Jars
The chocolate bars are the main focus of the brand, with twelve indiviudal flavours. Representative of these, each flavour has its own unique colour. Each bar is wrapped in gold foil and placed in individual boxes, each with the colour code, product name and description. The top flap slots into place behind the cocoa bean on the back, creating a slick and sophisticated appearance.
There are three selection boxes, each individual. These are created to be identical in stock and appearance, each with a foiled logo and wrap, but each is built differently. The first box - Classical - is a large rectangular box which holds the three plain chocolate bars side by side. The second box - Definitive - is a tall thin box holding the nine flavored bars stacked. There is a circle window in the side, becoming visible when the lid is lifted. The third box is a small gift box for truffles to be placed.
There are two jars - Cocoa Powder and Truffles. The first - Cocoa Powder - is a small jar ready to purchase as it is. The second jar -Truffles - is a larger in-store jar where truffles are taken and placed into the small gift box. The jars are identical in design, with gold vinyl stickers on front and back, following the same design as the chocolate bar boxes. They each have a label with a product description.
OUGD603 - Brief 2: Kakawa Chocolate | Collaborative with Charlie Rotherham
Proposed Extension The brand can be expanded to its own retail space, decorated in a luxury but simple way to represent the brand and its values. With a contemporary and simple design throughout all retail material and interior design, the quality of the products and brand is shown clearly.
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Emily Lodge