Out There Project - Branding & Packaging: A conversation with Beatrice Menis and Kira Gardner

BRANDING& PACKAGING A Conversation with Beatrice Menis & Kira Gardner Part of the Out There Project

SRW

STEVENS RICHARDSON WHITE

1

SRW

STEVENS RICHARDSON WHITE

Publication 2020 Produced by: Nathaniel Stevens Cleo Richardson Rhys White For: Out There Project Graphic Design Level 2 University of the West of England Interviewees: Beatrice Menis Kira Gardner Software used: Affinity Designer Affinity Publisher Adobe Illustrator Typefaces: OK Homepage Baukasten

2

To complete this publication we had to make steps to contact working designers at a point where time as a working creative is incredibly precious. Luckily, we got into immediate contact with Beatrice Menis via a mutual friend of Nathaniel who was proficient and accommodating to our fast turnaround.

This publication is designed to be as much of a thank you to Beatrice and Kira as it is to showcase our process and results from this project. We have taken inspiration from the conversations we’ve had with, and the work produced by, Kira and Beatrice to create our publication and we hope for it to be something that Beatrice and Kira are proud to be a part of.

3

4

5

6

1

Can you tell us a little bit about your process when branding a new client?

W

hen we get a new client we have a certain process that we usually use, the first thing that we do is send out a brief questionnaire that has questions about the market, the kind of brand and the products. It's for us to have an understanding of the needs of the brand and its values, like what image they want to portray.

It's also a good exercise for potential clients to sit down and actually really think of what the brand stands for and what they want to achieve with it. Then once we've sent this out we'll have an inquiry call, where we would discuss the questionnaire and see if they or we have any additional questions.

If it's a project that has branding and packaging, which is something we tend to do all the time, we offer set packages to our clients such as the ‘Startup Formula’ because we mainly work with start-ups and small businesses. From this we work on creative territories, which is something that we have learned from Taxi. We always present two different creative territories that have two main brand concepts and ideas with visuals and mood boards to help communicate the idea. But we always stress at this point that whatever you see here is not the final design or anything like that, it's just to give a look and feel of the idea that we're trying to communicate.

After the client picks one we offer two design proposals. When we do a design proposal we always do the logo and packaging at the same time, because that's kind of the finished product. It makes sense to do a design proposal where you have logo, packaging, typography and colour. Everything is like we’re presenting it as if it was a finished product so they can visualise how their brand will live.

So that's kind of what we do and then obviously we go through rounds of reviews and then once we're happy with it we either roll out additional SKU’s (stock-keeping units) if that's what's in the project.

We always include brand guidelines to provide clients with a short pdf that tells them how to use and not to use the logo etc. So that's the basics then of course we add social media a lot because when launching a brand these days, you obviously launch it online and on social media. Our goal with any of our clients is that whenever they launch the brand into the market it's a consistent brand and it looks the same on all platforms. That’s a bit of our process I would say with a new client.

7

8

2

Do you think it is important for or beneficial for designers to know and implement all stages of the branding process and do you have a favourite part of that process?

1

00% yes, we have very different favourite parts, but we both 100% think that you need to know the stages because you need to know how it all works even if you're not creating within all the stages. If you're creating in later stages you still need to know what happened before to understand what works and what happens next. So I think you need to know all the stages.

O

bviously I love all of it but my favourite part is probably the beginning, so the creative territories, the thinking, sort of digging in to the brand story, writing the copy for all of that and then ideas and sketches.

A

nd then for me the opposite; I like the end of it, so I'm a crafter, I love taking any of her ideas and like making it happen on illustrator or in photoshop and really making that come to life. I'm a sucker for details and I love back of pack. So yeah that's why we make a great team because we complement each other a lot in that way, when it comes to different stages and what we prefer to work on, which is great.

9

SHOP-U-LIKE SHOP

NEW-4-YOU!

3

What drew you to branding and packaging design as a creative?

Y

eah I wouldn't say initially at uni [BA HONS Graphic Design, Falmouth] I was that drawn to “this is exactly what I wanted to do” it was more the thought process behind it so what a brand could become and how it could grow was probably more what I was interested in rather than the physicality of it. I also love illustration so I'm very much an illustrator at the same time so it was like “how can I apply this?” the thinking side of my brain and creative side of it merged quite well. Going into Taxi was my first job so I hadn't really done much branding outside of uni and not much packaging at all so I wouldn't say I was initially drawn to it, but now I am knee deep in it.

Probably the thinking behind how brands work was what I was drawn to.

10

F

or me it's a bit different, I studied Art Direction and Advertising so something quite different and then in my last year a teacher introduced me to packaging, I fell in love with it, I was like “oh my god this is what I want to do forever” and then I did a masters in packaging design. So when I discovered it I really really loved the idea of it and obviously branding comes with it. But for me I guess what drew me to it first was packaging because I love the concept of something physical, you create something on your screen and then you print and you see it in the store, you can communicate with consumers. I really love that side of things as well as consumer behaviour and why people are drawn to buy something rather than something else, so I guess yeah I'm a huge packaging lover.

11

“As an independent agency, we help brands find their voice and build them from the ground up�

14

4

Do you feel that branding organisations have an obligation or a responsibility to represent brands with honesty and authenticity?

I

don't think they have a legal obligation to represent brands with honesty and authenticity, I think it comes down to morals. I've worked in agencies in Bristol, I’ve also worked in an agency in Sweden and I was in Barcelona as well, I've always worked with agencies that would represent brands in a really authentic way. But at the same time, obviously there's a line. Often a brand comes to you and they’ll say “oh we do the best of this” but everyone says that, so how can you represent that brand whilst still being honest and communicating what they are wanting to communicate, but I don't think anyone has an obligation I think it comes down to personal values and morals of the creative that is working on it.

15

16

5

What has been your experience of working for agencies that cater for multinational corporations compared to start-ups that have come to your own design company?

I

'd say probably the first thing that comes to mind is the types of companies and the people that we work with, it starts as their side hustle so it's their baby, they're putting their own money and their own time into creating something that they really believe in and they're really passionate about. When working with big organisations everything's set in stone to begin with, so you're already following guidelines and you're following their values. With what we do as an independent agency is helping them realise their values and build them from the ground up.

T

hat’s why we love to work with start-ups because we really love working with basically someone who's really passionate about their ideas and their product. While we were on team Coke, it was great, they had a lot of sub brands to work with, but there's a lot of hierarchy, you can't really have the freedom that you would have with the start-up or the small business. So I think the main difference is that you always have the guidelines in place, you can’t go out and make Coke blue for example. There are certain constraints that you have to be within. But that's why we really love startups because someone comes to us with an idea.

W

e're very much like “people” people, so to directly deal with a person and their passion and their vision, it's very different to how you would then work with a multinational corporation that you're never going to be in touch with any sort of human at all really, it's just like going through the process.

T

hat's how we want to position ourselves now that we're going to launch KIBI. We don't want to be the free floating freelance and also we don't want to be like the big dogs. Big brands don’t really float our boat, we want to work with small brands and talk to the owners about what they're passionate about, what they're doing and help them out to launch that passion to the world.

When you're in a big agency there's a lot of money involved and you could easily be like “I'll sell my soul and do this”, but actually we're trying to stay small, just stay the two of us and get the additional help here and there to be able to work with these smaller brands and businesses.

17

6

Should branding designers exercise any moral or ethical positioning when choosing or working with clients?

Now you've got your own studio and you can choose your own clients, do you come at that with any kind of moral or ethical compass?

I

say we would, I'd say if somebody came to us and it was something that we really didn't believe in then we would definitely decline, there have been a couple of points where there has been a really tricky client, personality wise, not necessarily based on what they were selling but more on not wanting to build a relationship with that client.

I

guess it's not specific like “oh we wouldn't work with this type of brand or this type of product� it's more based on if this person doesn't fit. We really want to work with nice people, who doesn't? So if it's someone that we can tell doesn't value design or wants it done quick and cheap then we're not a good fit, so I guess that's our moral or ethical position in a way. We don't really say no to a specific brand for example let's say if an alcohol brand comes to

us, alcohol is not good for you is it?

But then it depends on whom we're positioning it towards, if we're positioning it to young kids or whatever obviously that's wrong. But if you position that in the right niche of the market then it's fine. It depends a lot on the person behind it and targeting the appropriate audience.

When we create new briefs with clients we inevitably have to spend a lot of time with them. So even if they have the coolest product ever but they're not nice people we'd rather turn that down because we want to have a smooth relationship. I guess one thing that we do most of the time is we start with a package and then the client rolls on onto a retainer. So we are interested in building long relationships with clients, that's why we always make sure that they're nice people and we can finish the project.

19

7

How do you feel branding has changed since you started in the field and how has the pandemic changed the way you work?

I

guess we can talk about the pandemic, I finished at Taxi on the Friday and on the Monday is when they told us to stay at home forever, so timing-wise it wasn't the best. To begin with we were a bit like “oh shit” as we didn't have a studio to start with. However we lived on the same road so it was like “okay let's start this business together in our own bedrooms, fab”. But it’s been mad.

W

e've never been this busy, it's insane! We moved into this studio in August and it's funny because we talk with a lot of people struggling to find work but we've been lucky enough as we've never been this busy.

20

W

e've had a couple of people come to us who are like “we've been laid off but we've had this passion for quite a long time now, we want to make it work now”. So maybe that's why working with small businesses and start-ups is probably why we've thrived a bit in the pandemic because people have had more time on their hands to put plans into place for things that they've wanted to start for a really long time.

I

think it's also really nice because then it's like people seeing that whatever work they're on it could stop at any minute so they're investing in their own passion, which I think is great and that's where we come in.

EST

‘20

21

8

What would your advice be to a graduate who's looking to start out in branding? You mentioned before about working in an agency was really important.

Is there anything else that you could advise?

I

think while working in agencies and working in different fields, just try everything and also work on your own passion projects. Also 100% do your own thing on the side, that's one thing that I've always done and that's how I got clients in the beginning. I've been freelancing on the side secretly since I started my first agency experience and one thing that I've always learned is if you work on a passion project, put it out there and then a client will see that and be like “I really like what you did there can you help me with this?� I think that's something that it's really good to do as well.

22

Special Acknowledgement: We would like to acknowledge and thank Beatrice and Kira for taking time to speak to us.

Thank you for being so friendly, professional and approachable and for being able to accommodate a quick turn around in such strange and unique times.

We hope we have represented you and your awesomeness sufficiently.

23

SRW

STEVENS RICHARDSON WHITE