Designing for an Indian product to scale abroad
Role : Communication strategy | Brand identity | Packaging design
Duration : November 2018 - December 2018 (2 months)
Brand : Taali
Mentor : Sohil Karia
Project Brief
Two Indian entrepreneurs post graduating from Harvard were looking to kickstart their entrepreneurship journey. They thought what would be better than to introduce to the world something which kept them healthy and away from all the binge eating while they were studying. They decided to launch a food company ‘Taali’ which explored healthy Indian snacks like Makhana (water lily seeds), and gave it a twist in the hope to cut through a market in the USA which is saturated with potato and corn snacks. They asked Schbang (a company I was a part of) to help them tactically build a brand that would resonate them as founders who are young, chirpy and enthusiastic. As part of the exercise, we were asked to define the brand identity, a packaging system which could be extended easily to other SKU’s and the website.
Taali was invested in by Y-Combinator
Design Challenge
Design an unique logo which expresses the brand ethos, is scalable and has recall value.
Adherence to strict FDA regulations in the USA while designing the packaging.
Achieve an unified vision for brand direction via conducting a workshop with multiple stakeholders in the room.
Achieving a unified brand story which includes the content, visualisation as well as external communication.
Creating a differentiated look and feel which attracts users shopping in a supermarket.
TAALI - ( origin : Hindi, /’Ta:li:/ )
A gesture of celebration or greeting in which two people slap each other’s palms with their arms raised because words are not enough to express excitement. Taali means to ‘High Five.’
Building the persona
We brainstormed with all the stakeholders while building the word cloud. We discussed what emotions we wanted our users to feel when they thought of Taali and what did we want them to associate the brand with. One of the core ideas we circulated around was ‘like popcorn’. We wanted Taali to be a fun brand that is healthy but not serious. We wanted users to think of Taali as a delicious snack, just the way we associate with popcorn today. We wanted to appeal to the snackers and the health conscious shoppers.
Mood Board
Logo Design
The two words that stuck and guided me through the design of the logo were energetic and clean. Being a word taken from a foreign language for the audience, capturing its meaning into the logo was important to the founders. Since it is a growing brand, I wanted to leave enough room in the logo for it to be flexible and yet hold value.
Packaging Design Principles
Structuring the communication
Rejected product names
Makhana : Our audience wouldn’t be able to relate to this.
Popper water lily seeds : The word ‘seed’ doesn’t have the most appetising ring to it.
Our pick
Water lily pops : Makes the product sound light, exotic and healthy!
Visual Design
Icons used on packaging & website
A Photoshoot done for the website and packaging.
