Overthinking It: When Design Misses the Mark
A few weeks ago, Tropicana announced that they are pulling their controversial new packaging that hit the stores earlier this year. When we first saw the redesign, we had the same reaction much of the public did: yikes. The rebranding seemed to strip Tropicana from its identity and positioning in the market and leave us with a product that felt very generic, lacking an emotional connection.
As a designer, I’m interested in how the brand ended up in this spot. I stumbled across a video of Creative Director Peter Arnell, from the Arnell Group, defending his design to the press. In my opinion, he gets a bit too cerebral about what the design elements represent and loses site of the big picture (a very common design error). Click here to see how he defends his design (a.k.a. a designer’s worst nightmare).
But Mr. Arnell certainly wasn’t acting alone in the redesign. My hunch is that this project also had a case of “design by committee” syndrome, where simply too many people are involved in the decision-making process. Let’s face it, especially at a huge corporation such as PepsiCo, there’s an entire boardroom of people that the design needs to please. As MSLK knows, this can often lead to designing for the lowest common denominator.
It’s quite a difficult task to make everyone happy. Before you know it, accommodating different requests leads designers to compromise the integrity of an original idea so much that it no longer makes sense. One thing that has helped MSLK address this issue in the past is to determine a list of objectives at the onset of every project. This helps everyone remain focused on the bigger picture rather than getting caught up in details.
While it appears that Tropicana has to go back to the drawing board (and the Pepsi rebranding certainly didn’t hit it out of the park for me), I don’t think PepsiCo’s efforts are entirely a wash. I happen to love the Gatorade rebranding (also completed by the Arnell Group).
Thanks for the follow up. This is very interesting. Ellen I agree, too cerebral. I don’t think anyone links hugging their child with squeezing an orange or even squeezing the cap with squeezing an orange. The idea that we usually depict the outside of the orange and not the inside, what we actually drink is interesting but liquids can very easily end up looking like just a wash of color. Forgive me, I can’t remember the product, but a drop of water hits a surface and transforms into an incredibly toned body doing something athletic. Drink me so you can do this is the message. That’s a great campaign for a beverage!
Bummer that this packaging had to be dumped. You know they worked hard and had the best intentions.
By: Angie on March 13, 2009 at 11:14 am
Thanks for your response, Angie!
Marc was quick to point out that the grapefruit was especially unsuccessful, and it just ended up looking like a faded out orange juice carton.
I do think it’s a shame to scrap the entire rebranding effort. On the other hand, their old brand has gotten so much exposure from this whole debacle that it’s probably only going to help their sales.
By: ellen on March 13, 2009 at 2:00 pm
That design was looked like a round 1 internal presentation. The photography was really bad, and the type was meekly trying to look hip and cool. It simply was too timid as a design to really make any new impression.
I wouldn’t have missed the old orange/straw if the new design had been compelling in any way. The new design was caught in the trappings of foregoing style in favor of substance. Unless I am really missing something here, showing that (gasp!) there’s juice inside is hardly a revolutionary idea.
Being detail-oriented myself, I can appreciate the subtleness of the cap’s design. However, the business-oriented side of things is telling me this is not enough. You need big messages to cut-through the clutter out there.
I have never seen a design fail so quickly. I think that the power of the internet has a lot to do with corporations having instant-access to consumer’s opinions. I also think that it’s human nature to have the negative voices speaking louder than the positive ones. People are quick to let you know when you’ve failed, and generally don’t bother to tell you when you’ve done something right.
By: Marc on March 14, 2009 at 5:09 pm