Making fruit juicy.
When CLS Farms came to Trampoline to design a new Organic Fruit brand with the goal of creating excitement, our design team was eager to take a bite, geeking out over apricots like we do beer. Learning that the signature fruit would be the Robada Apricot, we got to work with the first step in our process: discovery.
The research behind the design process
With our campaign goals and target audience established, we dove head first into research. What makes the Robada unique?
"The apricot's firm, finely textured flesh is an attractive deep orange. A bright-red blush may tint nearly half of its surface, depending on how much sun reaches the fruit during ripening."*
A sketchbook filled with early design concept and fruit illustrations.
A page of sketches in pencil and color of fruits and the words organic fruits.
Now take that, and turn it into a brand with a young vibe and the blessing to go big and lush with design. Time to share inspiration, mood boards, and start one of our favorite steps—the sketch process:
Transitioning from sketches and drafts to critiques
From here, designs are drafted and are critiqued internally. With a partial-studio/partial-remote culture, we had to adjust as a team on how our critiques occur. Instead of printing out versions, hanging them on the walls in the studios, Sharpies out, marking up everyone's designs—we've used screen sharing, mouse pointing, and drawing "on the screen."
Communicating effectively through the screen
A woman sits at her computer referencing her phone to share feedback during a design critique over Zoom.
Six variations of organic fruit box labels.
With this adjustment, our team had to work on improving verbal and written communication skills when providing constructive criticism. Those little squares of people cannot convey body language and our mics can't pick up on subtle "sighs" or hints of "ooooohs". We learned very quickly how to give everyone a moment to speak to provide feedback insight. And always take the opportunity to talk it through.The crit process always rules out several drafts that have merit. Here are some of our initial design concepts along with sample applications that weren't quite ripe enough for the final picking.
And without further ado—the chosen apricot:
The approved CLS Farms Organic Fruit logo.