Buildex packaging redesign
Category: Hardware branding and packaging design
Retail packaging is usually designed for a minimum of two audiences — the shopper and the retailer. In the case of Buildex’s brand redesign, the new brand and labels needed customer feedback before they could be rolled out.
Minimum space, maximum impact
Packaging design has to project brand essence without taking attention away from critical information. It also has to jump off the shelf.
These labels demonstrate the thinking that goes into projecting elegant simplicity to the customer.
Every label heroes the brand — it’s unmistakably Buildex. However, a single label can pack a small space with 16 essential pieces of information. Plus, it arranges them in a hierarchy that makes sense to the at-a-glance shopper:
- Brand
- Brand sign-off (“Made For Trade”)
- Broad screw category (decking, timber, metal etc.)
- Colour code for category
- Screw name
- Size of screw
- Head width
- Special feature (e.g. ACQ rated)
- Quantity
- Product features
- Critical information (e.g. not recommended for …)
- Rendering of the product
- Product code
- Company information
- Additional product information
- Barcode
A note on the colour code
In the hardware industry, red is the norm as the colour code for a metal screw, but it wasn’t always. We designed that colour code for a related Buildex brand 20 years ago. Thereafter, our colour coding for the entire range was adopted by retailers, then the whole industry followed suit.
Designing for the “worst” case scenario
What happens when you design the perfect label, but you’ve not looked at every product in a 300-row spreadsheet? Often, it means you’re back to the drawing board (even if the design has been signed off) because you’ve not considered that some of the words on the label won’t fit.
It’s not an accident that “Countersunk” fits on the label. All 11 letters fit comfortably because one of the earliest steps in our process is to look at every SKU for the little details — like long words — that could be a big deal.
ITW Proline has worked with Mela for more than 20 years on many projects from packaging to branding and print creative. As packaging experts, Mela have been instrumental in helping us develop innovative concepts that really set our brands apart in the market. Mela provide us with fresh, out of the box thinking and go above and beyond with their flexibility and responsiveness. I consider Mela to be an extension of our marketing team that really makes a difference to our business.”
Do you have a product that needs to jump off the shelf?
Do you have a product that needs shelf impact?
Would you like to work with specialist packaging designers who understand strategy, process, retail and shelf impact? We’d love to talk about how we can help and show you relevant examples.