Our first group session was very much research orientated. We
met as a group and decided that it would be worthwhile to go to a number of
supermarkets in Leeds that stock The Saucy Fish Co. Products. This was very
beneficial use of our time and acted as insightful primary research. The brief
actually encouraged us to do this; we saw it as an excellent starting point.
Our main aim was to examine how the supermarkets display their products. We
looked at how the shelf space was used, the actual size of the packaging and
what type of packaging is most popular. As well as evaluating the existing
branding, identity and packaging that the Saucy Fish Co are currently employing,
we wanted to see how other brands and the supermarkets have tackled the
packaging of premium fresh fish products. We were looking for similarities and
contrasts.
We visited Sainsbury’s and Waitrose first, as we knew we
would find the products in there.
We also paid a visit to Morison’s to size up
the packaging competition. We noticed a lot of similar characteristics in the
majority of the packaging we came across, including:
- Colour - A lot of dark tones, mainly dark blues, greys and black. Black connotes premium quality and luxury; it’s always chic, sophisticated and en vogue. It’s understandable why it is used across premium fish products. Other bold, punchy colours contrast well with black. The existing branding for the Saucy Fish Co used a lot of black. This is something we are either thinking of abandoning or keeping the same, undecided at this point
- Material - We noticed that a large percentage of the packaging used cardboard sleeves to contain the information about the product. These sleeves slide over the plastic tray containing the actual fish. The fish was either vacuum packed or had a plastic film encasing it. These sleeves are functional, but very simple and border on being boring. We all agreed that sleeves work well and we will probably look into using one for our packaging
- - Plastic- a lot of the packaging involves plastic. The brief is asking us to be environmentally aware as well as cost efficient, so we want to avoid using plastics that aren’t recycled or recyclable. We need our packaging solution to be oven safe and 100% recyclable. We would be able to achieve this quite easily through material selection and the use of soy based inks
- - Illustration – some of the less premium packaging features illustrations of the product, a feature that I personally prefer to food photography. I think having illustrative packaging feels far more premium and unique than pure photography. The Saucy Fish Co uses professional food photography on a range of its packaging, something to perhaps consider avoiding and moving away from in our designs. Our designs need to ‘pop’ on the shelves, I see illustrations or at least simplistic collages, painting, vector work offering those qualities
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