Colorful, cylindrical packaging stars in Brazilian on-the-go healthy snacking

24 Jul 2020 --- Despite COVID-19-induced travel restrictions, on-the-go consumers still demand convenient food packaging to fit their busy lifestyles. Within this ever-crowding space, Brazilian superfoods brand Tubites launched a healthy snacking product line that arrives in vibrant cylindrical packaging tubes to attract consumers’ searching eye. PackagingInsights speaks with the project's lead graphic designer to discover how investing in individualistic artistic styles can result in unique packaging designs.

“[The client] was looking for a contemporary, colorful and fresh approach for this new healthy snacks brand, and I believe that we came to achieve this vision. He was incredibly generous with me, allowing me to have total creative freedom and relying on my signature style for that,” says Lorena G, Head of Art Direction for the Tubites project.

Standard superfood packaging usually arrives in bars, Lorena G highlights, so the flat shape is very common. “In this case, the owner came up with this brilliant idea of making the snacks rounded so that, if you pile them up [inside the tube], you have this very distinctive tube packaging to easily carry wherever you go.” 

Innova Market Insights pegs “The Right Bite” as one of its Top Ten Trends for 2020. Stress and anxiety are key concerns in modern life as consumers manage careers, families and social lives while striving to maintain healthy lifestyles, both physically and mentally. Responses to this vary, although the majority of consumers aim to balance the benefits and costs of busy lifestyles. This, in turn, raises the demand for nutritious foods that are easy to prepare, convenient and portable. Indulgent treats play a role in relaxation and enjoyment.

One Tubites tube contains the equivalent of five 25 g cereal bars. Tubites arrives in five different snack ranges:

• Day-to-Day: Provides an antioxidant mix (Blue).

• Gym Hit: For a pre-workout push (Red).

• Office Boost: Brings in a midday focus (Orange).

• Beauty Bliss: Ideal for radiant skin (Pink).

• Health Wealth: Offers digestive support (Green).

Besides the logo and ingredients sticker, the Day-to-Day pilot packaging design is exactly the same as the final one that went to production, Lorena G affirms.

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Lorena G and her design team developed a color system based on the actual colors of some of the superfoods that were going to be the ingredients. “We created a custom palette from that. Geometric shapes are my signature style and helped a lot when it came to conveying a story behind each line simply and effectively.”

This color-coding system on pack allows the product lines to be easily recognizable while keeping a cohesive design across all products, she continues. “The illustration patterns were key to conveying each line spirit and we made good use of the color-coding to visually identify each line as well.”

Meanwhile, developing designs for a 3D tube on 2D paper is easier said than done. “It was quite a challenge. On the one hand, the pattern illustrations were carefully tweaked until they seamlessly wrapped the tube. Also, the circle that contains the logo was adapted so that the eye could read a perfect circle instead of the slightly deformed circle shape that results because of having a tube packaging,” Lorena G recalls. 

Investing in this meticulous work paid off in the long run, she concludes. “I believe that the custom design and illustration work we did. Paying attention to every single detail helps make [the Tubites tubes] unique.” 

By Anni Schleicher

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