Mintlet approached Brand Nu's Radim Malinic with an open brief to create the logo, branding and packaging designs for its new multi-currency pre-payment card. Here Radim recounts the four steps towards getting the packaging absolutely right; you can read more about the project as a whole here.
01. The templates
The client supplied the die-cut templates, so I knew the packaging was around twice the size of the actual card. At first, I tried to use a rainbow as the background and weave the different elements into it, but it just didn't look right.
02. Getting the balance right
I knew I didn't want the packaging to look cheesy or dumbed down. I experimented with sizing in order to find the right balance between the branding and other elements and information that needed to be included.
03. Rip it up and start again
I ended up deleting everything and starting again from the ground up. I didn't want to diminish the brand's personality just because it needed to be readable on the shelf.
04. Particle system
At this point I remembered the T-shirt mock-up from my initial proposal. In this, I had used small particles taken from the logo, taken apart like pieces in Jenga. This worked perfectly - it's playful and subtle, and it's a way of making the visual system tie in with the logo.
Words: Radim Malinic
This article originally appeared in Computer Arts issue 222.
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