Rare Harvest by Marx Design
Posted: May 8, 2019 Filed under: Food and Drink, Packaging Reviews | Tags: Best Packaging Designs, Branding & Packaging of 2019, Colour in Use: White, Coloured Paper, Creative Packaging, Design For Print, Design News, Design Opinion, Design Reviews, Designed by Marx, Fonts in Use: Apercu, Fonts In Use: Geometric Sans-serif, From New Zealand, Graphic Design, Graphic Design Blog, Honey Packaging, Luxury Logos and Packaging Design, Material Thinking, Metallic Spot Colours, Packaging Company, Packaging Design, Packaging Design Blog, Packaging Design Resource, Packaging News, Packaging Opinion, Structural Package Design, The Very Best of 2019, Type Foundry: Colophon, Typography, Uncoated Papers & Cards, Visual Identity Design Blog Comments Off on Rare Harvest by Marx DesignOpinion by Richard Baird.
The True Honey Company (TTHC) dedicates itself to the production of mānuka honey, a monofloral variety produced in Australia and New Zealand from the nectar of the mānuka tree. It has a unique colour and texture and a high level of dietary Methyglyoxal, an organic compound with antibacterial and antiviral properties.
With a price range starting at 60.00AUD and rising to 230.00AUD per jar, and working in a market flooded with sub-standard honey and dishonest marketing, communicating the value of the product and the commitment of TTHC to quality and ethical production through an impactful and engaging brand identity and packaging design was paramount. This task was given to Auckland-based graphic design studio and packaging specialists Marx Design who played with a material and structural language to express the rarity and value of such a product.
Marx Design returned to the project in 2019 to develop packaging for Rare Harvest, a limited edition mānuka honey from TTHC certified at an unprecedented 1,700+ MGO (31+UMF), the highest ever recorded. Marx Design, working in collaboration with Think Packaging, further the material language of value and rarity that characterised the first range, and fold in the theme of Mānuka blossoms.
360ME, Montgomery+Evelyn by Studio Makgill
Posted: March 13, 2019 Filed under: Fitness, Health and Beauty, Packaging Reviews Comments Off on 360ME, Montgomery+Evelyn by Studio MakgillOpinion by Richard Baird
360ME is the first range of “life-ready” “Mood Nutrition” from Montgomery+Evelyn a new nutritional supplement company. Each of the four products focus on an individual and singular benefit with each capsule providing exactly what the body needs without having to purchase multiple products. M+E intends to bring a new level of quality and clarity of communication to a complicated nutrition market.
Working with founder, Evie Montgomery, Studio Makgill developed positioning, brand values, product architecture and packaging design, with their strategy emerging from the clarity in Evie’s approach, a beautiful and simple intersection of clinical science and human experience. This was expressed through visual identity by way of visible grid, bright coloured dots and a neutral sans-serif.
StrangeLove Lo-Cal Soda by Marx Design
Posted: February 15, 2019 Filed under: Fonts in Use, Food and Drink, Graphic Design Reviews, Packaging Reviews | Tags: Best Packaging Designs, Botanical Illustration, Box Packaging, Branding & Packaging of 2019, Copywriting, Creative Packaging, Design For Print, Designed by Marx, Drinks Packaging, Fonts in Use: Calibre, From New Zealand, Guest Opinion, Handcraft, Illustration, Packaging Company, Packaging Design, Packaging Design Blog, Packaging Design Resource, Packaging News, Packaging Opinion, Soft Drink Packaging, The Very Best of 2019, The Very Best Packaging of 2019, Type Foundry: Klim Type Foundry Comments Off on StrangeLove Lo-Cal Soda by Marx DesignOpinion by Richard Baird & Seth Rowden
StrangeLove is an Australian soft drinks brand that began with a four flavour range of energy drinks. Although mass-produced, each of these was created with the intention of evoking a taste of the homemade through carefully sourced and high-quality organic ingredients. The range was developed in response to energy drink brands who StrangeLove believed had failed to live up to their premium positioning.
Keen to avoid the tricks and tropes of the category and secure a witty, eye-catching and original look, New Zealand-based Marx Design worked with StrangeLove to improve on the illustrative character that had been used across the brand’s earlier bottles, developing simpler compositions surrounded by plenty of white space and paired with sharp and humourous copywriting. Check out the BP&O review of these here.
StrangeLove went on to create a range of mixers, organic soft drinks and source a mineral water, each with its own unique visual language. 2019 sees the brand continue to expand their range and explore and challenge the drinks market, further working with Marx Design, this time on a range of “Lo-Cal” sodas.
