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5 Questions With Wink

by Elizabeth Freeman on 10/14/2016 | 4 Minute Read

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Can’t stop won’t stop. Every week we bring you The Dieline’s Top 10 packaging projects and articles to inspire and boost creativity, but why stop there? Our 5 Questions With series allows us to sit down with the best of the best here on The Dieline and dig deeper into these fascinating projects, from the design process to the biggest challenges. Today we’re chatting with Wink, a design and creative studio based in Minneapolis, about their work on North Mallow Artisan Marshmallows


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1.Walk us through the design process that you went through for this project.

With any project at Wink, we start with very broad strokes of thinking. First, we research. Who is our client and what is their problem? We then collaborate as a team, and gather inspiration of what the project could be. We present mood boards of images we’ve compiled of packaging, patterns, and photography of possible design directions. With client input, we start to narrow our focus to reflect their voice and continue to refine. With client feedback, we can define a roadmap to follow that has the right end solution.

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2.What was one of the biggest goals you set out to achieve with this packaging and how did you accomplish it? 

The company had a good following with their catering business and they were looking to expand to retail. A big goal was to elevate North Mallow’s brand to match the premium price. When they came to us looking for new packaging, their brand itself didn’t reflect premium, all-natural quality. We knew they had a great product, we just had to let everyone else aware that these are not your everyday, run of the mill, jet puff marshmallows.

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3.What was the most challenging part of this project?

We had to figure out not only the design, but how the marshmallows would fit into a package. These are square mallows that needed to fit perfectly in a container. The shape of the box would be defined by how the mallows stacked. We ended up with a 4x4 grid that reinforces the squareness of North Mallow’s marshmallows and fits all 16 pieces perfectly. 

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4.If you could pick one aspect of the finished design that you like the most or feel especially proud of, what would it be and why?

It was fun working on the seal that appears on the label on the top of the box. We refined their original logo and we wanted to still have a playful element that reiterates the company’s Minnesotan roots. It’s a tree on top, a marshmallow in the middle, and an arrow at the bottom puncturing the mallow above—all in one design. Furthermore, it better represents the product itself, being a square shape and not a round shape.

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5.Share one lesson that you learned while working on the project.

Unlike your normal grocery store marshmallows, North Mallow marshmallows do not burn!

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