Before & After: Kraft Natural Cheese (Updated!)

(Big thanks to Steve at Spring Design Partners for providing The Dieline with this image!)

If you've walked through the refrigerated dairy section lately, you may have noticed the new packaging for Kraft Natural Cheese. My question is: Do you like it?

 

(For in-store photos and comparisons, check out this post at Read at Joe's.)

Spring Design Partners explains a little bit more about the design:

Our Design Insight Research™ uncovered an opportunity to change consumer perceptions through the positive, nostalgic memories and “real” experiences consumers associate with the Kraft brand. By leveraging classic Kraft equities and showcasing fresh off the block natural cheese that is cared for by people, not machines, we rejuvenated a timeless brand.

We extended and adapted the design to approximately 150+ SKUs across 15 different cheese formats including chunks, crumbles, and snacking cheese to transform the entire brand experience.

My initial thoughts were that the new design is more modern and blocks well. In fact, while shopping I actually stopped and backed up my cart to look at the new packages -- the large bands of white had attracted my attention even though I was shopping for something else. I also like the use of photography.

But in terms of actual execution, I thought the print strategy should have included a double-hit of white to avoid being semi-transparent on the film. Also, the Kraft brand mark is rather small (yes, I am actually saying they could have made the brand bigger, you may all gasp in horror) but it does look better on white than it did on top of the flavor color. The blocky look is clean and contemporary, but lacks some personality.

So I'm torn. What side do you fall on, and why?

Comments

[Tim]

How can something be "Natural Cheese" but made with only 2% milk.

I never noticed this with the old packaging but it sticks out in the new packaging?

[Tim]

Oh, they are using 2% milk to make the cheese ... that that the cheese only contains 2% milk.

Gotcha

[Jeffrey M]

I like the new packaging, which feels fresh and clean to me. Side-by-side with Sargento (my preferred for cooking) and various store brands, I think it stands out.I would think the transparency is intentional, and a double hit of white on disposable food packaging seems fiscally irresponsible, IMHO.

[James]

I, too, quite like this new packaging. My favorite part is the matte finish the new bags have. While not mentioned in the review, I think give a premium feel.

[Erin]

I like that there's more attention called to it being a natural product. Before it seemed like an after thought, and I think its important for consumers to be able to see that up front. Although it seems that natural is a buzz word in consumer foods these days and may have no actual meaning. I also like fantasizing that it may have been freshly grated from a block of cheese rather than the mysterious gigantic wheel I see in my head when I grab for shredded cheese.

[Jeff]

Nice and simple, cant wait until my clients pull their collective heads out of their butts and realize they are late to the non-photoshop effects design party. Ive tried to bring our largest client into the loop several times but my reason and evidence always falls on deaf ears. Someday folks....lol.

[J.B. Chaykowsky]

Tim, the 2% refers to the percent of fat by weight that the milk contains not that it only used 2% milk to create it.

I like this. I wrote about this on my blog awhile back. A lot of people are throwing it to the wolves which I believe is due to the design backlash on complete rebrands after the Tropicana/Pepsi/Gatorade debacle. However, as pointed out above they leveraged existing brand equity to create the new packaging. Kraft owns "blue" in the cheese category and they use it well.

For me as a designer, I try to put myself in the place of the designer and if they design brief was to help shore up type inconsistencies, logo, sizes, and to help bring better brand awareness... they killed it.

[Josh H.]

I like the new packaging.

I agree the 2% milk stands out, seems like you wouldn't want it to. Personally I don't buy cheese but maybe 2% is a good number in the packaged cheese world.

[Wan Kimm]

I'm glad they got rid of the blue-white gradient used in the old packaging and incorporated more solid colours instead! It looks fresher and more engaging - solid and captivating with better typography. I particularly love the arrangement of the design elements!

I would buy it just for the packaging, certainly. :P Although I'm a Kraft advocate myself.

[Allison Hasel]

I completely agree with James – the matte feeling of the package is part of the appeal for me. I think this redesign is a great way for Kraft, my brand of choice in cheese, to find another market in more health conscious customers while still appealing to those who use it.

I don't think the 2% is too large because I try to buy only cheese made with 2% and it helps me find it easily without picking up the wrong package.

[Giulia]

Neither looks very "natural" too me. Then again, I love cheese, so packaging has never really thwarted too many of my purchases, haha.

Anyway, with the new package, I wish more care had be taken with the way the different, solid color blocks interact with the rest of the package elements. They feel rather slapped on. While pretty standard looking, the old package at least looks cohesive.

[Rich]

I don't see this reflected on these images, but in the stores the packages hold less cheese for the same price. They used to be a full 8 oz and now they are 7. The actual packaging reads 1-3/4 cups. That soured me on the brand redesign. I thought, "great, they get a new design and I'm out 12% of the product. Way to try and disguise me getting shortchanged." So boo to the redesign and to Kraft for a dirty trick.

[Esz]

Ooh they shirked on the double white! Must have run out of colours on the press! *tsk tsk*. Its always disappointing to see such big companies get stingy on the things that matter like printing.

[april]

I love the new packaging. LOVE.

The matte finish speaks to "natural" without overused design elements like brown paper textures, sheaves of wheat, images of farms, and typefaces like papyrus. It's refreshing to see.

Actually, the claim "All Natural" doesn't mean much in food packaging anyway. (http://www.netwellness.org/healthtopics/diet/natural.cfm) And 2% milk can still be natural, it just means the product contains less fat than if it was made with whole milk.

The new design is much more shopable. The hierarchy of information, the clarity of the type, and the larger area given to color versioning makes it much easier to chose which product you want from the huge selection Kraft has in store. I appreciate that as a designer, but even more as a consumer.

I don't agree that this design has less personality - it actually has more.

It walks away from all the category norms and swooshy swooshes, and embraces a clean contemporary look, which sets it apart from competition. There is an open honesty & friendliness to the simpler sans serif type. The Kraft logo remains a recognizable element of heritage, and their equity blue telegraphs the brand in a more sophisticated way than a huge logo ever would. The smaller logo size plus the addition of the photograph adds a gourmet touch. The photo adds an element of communication the previous design is lacking - it suggests to the consumer that this cheese is of higher quality, that it was shredded from a larger block of high quality cheese, and it saves you the time of doing that yourself. (Disclaimer - I have no idea how Kraft's shredded cheese is made, just a reaction to the visuals!)

Criticizing the design for lack of a second hit of white is ridiculous - this pack is actually a phenomenal example of excellent flexo printing. Adding a CMYK photo takes up four of eight ink stations. Of the four remaining you need one for white, one for a varnish, one for the dark blue, and one for a spot color. Moving to ten stations may or may not have been possible, but it would have been reflected in the price of the product, which is already much more expensive than store brands.

Something else I noticed in the redesign is that the copy heavy "Zip Pak" blurb - the logo and paragraph of type that usually falls right above the zipper on every package in a supermarket - has been eliminated in the redesign, which really cleans up the design. (This isn't shown on the images that were posted.)

And finally - keep in mind that this is truly a mass brand - this packaging simply can’t compare to the niche packaging that fills up most of the space on the Dieline. The printing process is nowhere near as high quality, the cost of the product must be kept to a minimum, there are many more legal restraints, and it must engage a much larger group of consumers. The fact that it’s on here is testament to a fabulous redesign. Well done, Spring Design.

[Yael Miller]

This isn't the first company to use a redesign as a 'cover' to hide a net weight reduction. Rather than raise their prices (and be transparent with consumers about the rising costs) they choose to reduce weight and make consumers feel like they're getting the same value.

Of course no one is actually 'hiding' the reduced weight - it's written in plain english, but you're distracted from the change since the whole thing looks new. So, you're engaging in a deceptive practice.

It's unethical, and I think it should be made illegal by the FDA.

(Other brands that have done this: Dial® soap, Niagara® spray starch and there are more - I'm sure you'll come up with some!)

[Yael Miller]

As far as a redesign is concerned, this is a step up. I like it and it relies less on Photoshop dimensional effects, like Jeff points out. Still the net weight reduction issue is a very sore point with me. I hope it's not actually true. If that turns out the be the case, I'd be relieved.

[andrew]

the heirachy on the new packs is pretty poor, there is no one central thing to bring you into the design, its all similarly visually weighted and tends to fight itself. the before and after pics show this up clearly. the old pack is more cohesive for the viewer, i prefer the styling of the new pack but its just not right. if youd lined up the coloured box with the white box the design would sit better.

[Anne]

I don't mind the new packaging, it's sort of nice for a change and definitely in with the times. However IRL it doesn't work. Especially on the white cheeses, it's very hard to distinguish the photo from the white ground. Poorly planned...

[craZed]

Hey, real cool and clean designs, but there is a new kraft logo or? can someone tell me where i can find it? the kraft foods logo page is down ;(

[Allen]

I do like the new clean contemporary look to the package as I liked the attempt with other brand's such as pepsi & tropicana, even though they didn't do a good job executing them. One big problem I have with this is useability which can not be seen in the picture. In an attempt to have a clean & sleek look, Kraft put the ziploc slider hidden in the interior of the container behind the printed plastic. When the bag was out back exposed I picked the bag up upside down dumping the cheese completely out. I know this sounds stupid but when talking about this someone else did the same thing.

[trinh]

Don't like the new design. It feel like it was a pre-final stage… lack something. I like the modern clean look direction, but there is no hierarchy. All the elements on the package (the logo, product photo, actual product inside, the color label for they type cheese) are treat equally in a bad way.

[Strepsi]

Like the author, I also think the Kraft could be bigger, but isn't the point of this particular re-design? If the point is to make it look more like "real cheese", therefore it must look less like "Kraft cheese".

[packaging supplier]

Kraft cheese has a Trade mark new design also looks great with much more delicious cheese inside.

[Corey]

This new Kraft packaging is "decent." It does use the matte-finish plastic, which is definitely different in the dairy aisle. The zipper does has some functionality issues. The cheese photography is a definite improvement. I know this discussion should be about packaging, but my biggest issue with this product is that the Cheese is absolutely TERRIBLE. It has zero flavor, even the stuff NOT made with 2% Milk. While the package is an upgrade from the previous, I feel that money could have been better spent on developing a tastier product.

Packaging will get you that first buy, but that's it. No matter how nice the container, if the product is awful, nobody will buy it again.

[Trevor]

I am also torn on this design, mostly because it's another big brand going to this clean, modern look which I like, but it now seems a bit overdone and can come off looking like a generic brand. Although I said that about the new Pepsi can and I have grown to like that. I agree, the Logo needs to be bigger, only because I feel like its a little bare on top with the small logo. I like the photo, it makes people at least think of real cheese (lol) and not what it really is. I think the general opinion here seems to be good, but could be better. But, anyone who works in a design firm knows this was probably really good at one point at got watered down as it went thought the execs.