Premium packaging for the Swedish cheese company, Västerbottensost.
Branding, Packaging Design, Storytelling
1 WEEK - GROUP PROJECT
As a small team, our task was to design the packaging for a small center piece (165 g) of Västerbottensost®, a premium, matured Swedish cheese from Norrland.
The design of the packaging needed to communicate business idea and brand values of Västerbottensost®.
Tools
Rhino, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Physical Prototyping
Methods
Mood Boards, Brand Strategy, Competitor Analysis, Field Research, Low-fidelity Prototyping, 3D Modeling, Visual Storytelling
The Challenge
As a small team, our task was to redesign the packaging for a small center piece (165 g) of Västerbottensost®, a premium, matured Swedish cheese from Norrland.
Västerbottensost® is well-established in the Swedish market, commonly sold in both chain-supermarkets and high-end cheese stores, but the brand was looking to expand their presence in the international market.
The design of the packaging needed to communicate business idea and brand values of Västerbottensost®.
Field Research
Västerbottensost® had a large amount of shelf space at the local supermarket chain ICA. However, the presentation of the packaging we saw in stores was compromised by the shrink-wrapped plastic puckering. There was also no organization to how the cheese was arranged. We saw a clear opportunity to design packaging that would have great shelf presence and stackable functionality.
Additionally, since the company would like to be known as the parmigiano reggiano of Sweden and increase revenue in the international market, emphasizing their Swedish identity in the packaging could help differentiate their product.
Brand Values
From the initial Västerbottensost® debrief presentation, the brand representative provided us with background about the brand values. We identified several design opportunities circulating around the Västerbottenost brand identity: craftmanship, tradition, and Norrland regionality.
Mood board depicting the Västerbottensost® brand values of mystery and Norrland magic (by Dilara).
Mood board depicting the Västerbottensost® brand values of craftsmanship, Swedish nature and tradition (by Dilara).
Ulrika’s Story
Storytelling is the essence of branding. In the case of Västerbottensost®, brand concept could be strengthened by drawing from the rich storytelling inherent to the cheese’s invention. We sought to recover the story of the dairymaid inventor, Ulrika, and the eureka moment of Västerbottensost’s creation.
Logo Redesign
From interviewing Swedish locals, the figure Ulrika was recognizable and beloved. The logo was redesigned to highlight her story and place at the heart of the brand.
Redesign of the Västerbottensost® logo.
Black and white logo design for Ulrika.
Norrland Region
The spruce wood base is indigenous to the Norrland region, but also pays homage to the mystery of Västerbottensost® unique flavor, which cannot be reproduced outside of Bürtrask and which many attribute to the original spruce shelves that the cheese wheels are aged on.
Stackable
The packaging was designed to be easily stackable, so that the product had shelf appeal when viewed from above and from the side.
Storytelling
Placed below the cheese for the surprise of the purchaser, a card tells the story of the dairymaid Ulrika and the eureka moment of invention of Västerbottensost.