1. The Design Challenge

Create a non-alcoholic beverage brand for Gen Z which doesn’t feel like a compromise

2. The Solution

The Brand Logo & signature

The Brand Manifesto

The Product Range

Out of Home Application

The Meet Us Poster

The Personas Bios

3. The Rational

Insights

1. Most of alcoholic beverages have 3 components:

1. Bright and colourful design
2. Product made with exotic ingredients
3. Exotic origin
4. Some have functional or health benefits (e.g. Gatorade, Red Bull, kombucha drinks)

2. The market is dominated by very big brands like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Fanta, Sprite and on the other end, very niche brands.

3. The small brands do not provide a good reason to buy / apart from the ones with functional health benefits.

Scope

What I am trying to do is to create a non-alcoholic brand and range of products (drinks) which provide a motivating reason to buy without including functional/health benefits. The reason for this is, I want to make it a design/branding challenge, and not a brief depending on product, functions, and R&D capabilities which are very hypothetical and out of my scope as a designer.

Self-Reflection

Interestingly, when I evaluate my foundation project on creating a brand and range of beverages (Nature Roots), I observe that, based on the research and analysis I have done for this project, it falls in the bright and colourful category and position with exotic ingredients and origin. I think it still is a visually appealing design and range, but plays within existing category code. Therefore, I really want to step up in design and proposition impact for my final year project. So I gave myself the following design challenge: Create a brand, visual identity and range proposition, which is both visually appealing, stands out from the established design codes and really provides an explicit reason to buy it. 

What my Design needs to solve

Big brands have the advantage of having big marketing budget to convince consumers to buy them. Smaller brands rely mostly on their pack design (the only 24/7 365 days a year medium ) to convince consumers to buy them.

Point-of-sales material and social media also play a role, but to be associated with the brand in the mind of consumers, they need to have Design consistency with the whole proposition. Therefore, I want to solve the following design problem: how to create a branded proposition, which is able to convince consumers to buy it without the advertising and media money ?

Here are the success criteria I defined from the market analysis I did, the self-reflection vs my foundation beverage design project, and the Gen-Z Target Audience. The deliverable should :

1.       Stand out, but not using the flashy colours that competition already use.

2.       Be dynamic but not confusing.

3.       Be relatable to generate social media conversations.

4.       Have strong distinctive design elements / icons / characters

5.       Carry the reason to buy without long explanations nor other media exposure.

I will still include in my scope, Advertising and Merchandising, to confirm that my Visual Identity can go beyond Pack Design and enable a brand to claim an ownable territory, and have distinctive assets and tone of voice. Still, I will set as a mandatory that the Pack Design should not only explain the product, but really be a medium in itself, communicating the concept and the reason to buy.

4. The Evaluation Based On The Success Criteria

Brief : Create a non-alcoholic brand, visual identity and range proposition, for a Gen Z audience, which is visually appealing, stands out form the established design codes and really provides an explicit reason to buy it. 

Criteria 1: Stand out, but not using the flashy colours that competition already use

• Background colour is stable, calming and soothing. I think it provides an anchor crating a serene mood which is consistent with the serious topic : helping communities in need. It has a light connotation to earth which grounds the whole design in naturality. This colour is very differentiated for a soft drink, without overpowering the design balance, giving the forefront to what is most important, the characters.

Critera 2: Be dynamic but not confusing

• The background colour also helps because it provides stability. Then the vibe comes from the strip lines and the different layers around the characters.

Criteria 3: Be relatable to generate social media conversations

• Making real people “own” and “author” each products makes it authentic and relatable.   The fact that each ambassador not only serves a cause but has some personal passions makes them multidimensional humans and triggers the desire to connect with them. Their invitation to the audience to connect on their Social Media channel + the QR code link to their accounts brings the community and the relation to life.  

Criteria 4: Have strong distinctive design elements/icons/characters:

• One real person authoring each product is highly distinctive.
• Using their real handwriting on the product design and other graphic assets makes it really distinctive.
• The typefont I created for the Brand Logo is unique and carries a lot of personality.
• I used my own  handwriting for the signature below the logo “Connecting Humans for Good” is a strong distinctive design statement.  

Criteria 5: Carry the reason to buy without long explanations nor other media exposure

• I combined 3 design elements that I placed on the can itself, to communicate an explicit reason to buy :
  • The brand signature systematically placed below the logo : “Connecting Humans for Good”
  • The product denomination that I chose to enrich with emotions : “Still drink made with Love”
  • I decided to add an even stronger more rationale reason in the text area close to the character : “50% of the profit goes back to his/her community”, which definitely makes it very clear why you should buy the product to do Good.

Now let’s start Drinking Good and Doing Good!