The Visual Hug - The growing need to feel connected

Visually Stimulating and sincere pack design and branding

The Digital era is forcing us as consumers to reconnect with the real world and the result is we want real easy fast yet sincere packaging. With many companies trying to find that niche sweet spot on the shelf, we are seeing a move to a more sincere and rustic feeling graphic and presentation of product. This is almost demanding honesty because you can see the product in all its glory. What we are looking for is the craft and skill in the manufacture of the product and this must be conveyed via the graphic and pack it resides in.

Greek designer Zafeiriadis Christos has looked to recreate the connection between maker and consumer with his packaging design for a limited edition wine. Printed with a silk-screen printing method on paper, illustrations depict the process of creating wine from the harvest to the bottling.

A limited edition packaging for the juice brand Rich also seeks to reconnect the consumer with the life of the product, using a sketchy script style with hand-drawn elements of illustration.

Contrasting sharply with the glossy, mass-manufactured styles usually found in the chilled juice aisle, Rich has an attention-grabbing level of detail, yet uses a very limited palette of colours.

The high-end, UK supermarket brand Waitrose has gone for a Visual Sincerity style on its Good To Go range – it features hand-drawn illustrations and a script-like style of typography. The Waitrose design shows that the trend for raw, sketchy graphics has now progressed beyond small artisan brands and is now being gradually embraced by the mainstream.

Visual Sincerity is a visual manifestation of the consumer need to be reconnected with the makers of the products they consume – whether it’s beer, wine, bread or fruit juice.