Holiday foods Host/Hostess gifting program:

Working closely with the food buyer, what started out as a $500K investment has grown into a multi-million dollar business that is still in stores today. These packaging design solutions were executed both in-house and with a careful selection of external designers including Amy Knapp and Barbara Vick.

The packaging vehicles are largely proprietary based on vintage candy tins. One important consideration was that they had to be engineered to stack safely, to ensure that in-store visual merchandising efforts could be set up successfully. This in turn enabled in-store teams to display large amounts of product without having displays topple over.

Chuck Williams Stemware Line:

Scented Hand-lotion, soap and candle collection:

A selection of food packaging solutions:

A range of food packaging solutions are shown below, with a wide variety of production approaches including letterpress & stochastic printing to bring out the subtle range of colors in watercolor illustration.

Williams-Sonoma Packaging solutions might include any of the following: Food-safe bottles, labels, belly-bands, bags, tubes, boxes, candy-tins. Structurally engineered packaging to prevent breakage of dishes and glassware, as well as labels, letterpress hang-tags, stickers, header cards, book jackets, illustrations for use in designs, instruction booklets and on rare occasions clam-packaging for kitchen tools.

The work involved in this packaging was heavily connected to food and photo styling to produce the necessary visual assets for the packaging designs. As a result managing stylists as well as engaging in Art Direction on-set was often required.

Catalog features:

Organic product lines are subject to special regulations:

For the Whitney Farms Line careful user studies were done to determine the effectiveness of the disruptor on the primary panel. All verbiage is given careful consideration to ensure that it meets USDA and EPA standards and is equally accessible to the average consumer.

In the case of the Nature’s Care Organic line of products - User studies resulted in the addition of a spout to the bags, as an alternative to a resealable solution. This ensured efficacy of the product during long periods of seasonal storage as well as ease of use for the gardener.

Global re-design of the Miracle-Gro logo and line of products:

This project had broad reaching implications as it affected packaging in countries including UK, France, Germany and China. Packaging engineering requirements were extensive as well to ensure consistency in color, materials, usability and recyclability.

Product development, Point-of-purchase Displays and Kit-packaging:

Often extensive launches or updates would include showcase displays for dedicated in-store footprints, product development projects to distribute the actual product, like this hose attachment (shown above) and packaging solutions that had to accommodate multiple components in a kit, or BOGO offer. (as shown right.)

Technical digital drawings for production communication:

Die lines and print specifications:

Due to USDA and EPA approvals, die-lines and print specifications at Scotts Miracle-Gro are extremely detailed. Scotts Miracle-Gro employs a SAS based PLM system that encompasses not only scientific R&D and regulatory approvals, but also packaging design and production. I served as Scrum Master for this system as it pertained to the design process.

The Target “Red Brand” concept was inspired by Muji, Japan.

Muji’s origin was a thorough rationalization of the manufacturing process with an eye toward creating simple, low-cost, good quality products. The Target Red Brand team embraced Muji’s guiding principles, and sought out to appeal to both urban consumers with a sensibility for style as well as consumers outside cities looking for quality products at a reasonable price. This would also provide a core product line with which to reinforce Target’s established reputation for being a design leader, it was a great fit.

Promotional materials included limited-run launch catalogs:

In-store end-caps and on-garment branding:

Guerilla marketing launch signage and Taxi toppers:

In-store take-overs included signage, totes and inline shelf-talkers:

The concept strategy included an independent retail footprint:

Pincushion was a wonderful brand that created DIY sewing kits, making it much easier for parents to commemorate their child’s progress.

Whether by inches of growth every year or in framed photographs with hand embroidered details, these kits were a lovely way to capture those precious moments in life.

Featured below are the belly-bands that wrapped around recyclable craft boxes.

Each box had a die-cut window that allowed the consumer to touch the actual fabric to get a sense of the high quality material included.

Do-it-yourself sewing kits with all supplies included:

Step-by-step instructional booklet, including hand-drawn illustrations:

Digital illustrations for screen printing on the the actual product:

The series included several stories: Woodland creatures, Safari animals (shown above), Big City cars and trucks, etc.