“Chocolates With Attitude is an exploration of today’s brand ‘archetypes’ by Dane Stiig Helgens Binggeli for his multidisciplinary consultancy Brand House. Presented as a high-quality, handcrafted chocolate collection, it was created by Konnerup Co. Each ‘archetype’ is resolved under one of twelve, 50‘s inspired calendar ‘pin-ups’, illustrated by Niels Ditlev and executed across 750g tin boxes by designer Kristin Brandt, working alongside the Bessermachen DesignStudio.
The chocolates retail as a consumer product on the Konnerup Co. website and function as a self promotional gift item for Brand House.
Photographed and illustrated from scratch, the pin-ups deliver a distinctive 1950’s nostalgia that appears remarkably authentic, while still conveying a contemporary vision, confidence, and consistent quality that appropriately reflect Brand House’s in-depth and holistic approach. The mixed script, sans-serif typography, non-format and spontaneous layout neatly mirror hand-painted signs and advertisements of the period, thus successfully reinforcing a very genuine aesthetic.
The colour palette confidently moves between soft pale tones and bright vivid highlights, each wonderfully mixed and combined to enhance the classic sensibilities of the images, resolve the creative flavours within the chocolate, and to diversify and detail of the individual brand archetypes. The construction of the logo-type has all the character and handcrafted flourishes you would expect from the period with a balanced, on-trend and neat execution that, mirrored through the individual variety names, represent high quality chocolate with a creative and artistic edge.
The pin-up calendar is a suitably broad visual device that functions -well, to unify a diverse selection of brand personalities- and is neatly packaged to resolve and communicate these across multiple touch points both physical (the tins and a printed calendar) and digital (process video and microsite)
Process video – http://vimeo.com/35567614
The increasing idolisation of women through particular stereotypes of the 1950’s has been fully utilised with a retrospective intelligence and empowering modern-day undertone that, while very well done, is all a bit too familiar, slightly unsophisticated, and perhaps a little low-brow for the level of professional insight Stiig Helgens Binggeli offers and the handcrafted quality of the chocolate.”
Opinion by Richard Baird
Richard Baird is a British freelance design consultant based in Prague, CZ who specialises in logo, brand and packaging design. He has written for Design Week, featured in Computer Arts magazine and runs the design blogs BP&O and Design Survival.
Richard studied Furniture and Product design for fours years and worked as a freelance furniture designer for a further two. Over this period he developed an interest in packaging and branding building a portfolio of small commercial projects in his free time before finally moving full-time into brand and packaging design.
He has worked across a variety of industries predominantly helping new companies brand and package their new products and services. Notable projects include work for Fiskars UK, Imperial and Gallo Wines. He writes daily for his blog BP&O while curating tips to help new designers for his site Design Survival.
Opinion by Richard Baird Twitter @richbaird
