Bright Ideas
Packaging design: How we developed our new all-white brand

As with so many of our new products, the initial idea for Blanco came from our customers. We were receiving a growing number of requests for white cardboard sandwich packaging and ‘naked’ clear sandwich bags that would allow the products inside to remain the star of the show. Enquiries were coming in from a cross section of businesses and sectors, from artisan bakeries to contract caterers all seeking to emulate that cool, contemporary Scandinavian coffee shop look that’s become so popular on the high street.

Brand Development

Concept development for the new label and packaging designs began late last autumn and we started out by sizing up what was already out there while keeping an eye on developing food and design trends too. Casual dining was a big inspiration for us, particularly fast-casual - which we feel will continue to have a huge influence on the look and feel of the wider catering industry, not least because the trends adopted are being taken to such a diverse audience. What’s more, while the new disposable packaging range called for a clean industrial finish, we wanted to incorporate natural elements too that reflect our environmental stance and the compostable packaging materials we have chosen to work with. 

We began to explore designs for clean, minimalistic products. It was a case of balancing the right, white aesthetic with a strong brand identity to help our customers grab and go offering stand out from the crowd. Distressed wood painted in pastel shades have dominated the hospitality and foodservice trade shows. In fact pastels in general (especially cool greys) have been springing up all over the place - from fashion and interiors to products, graphics and branding - so we explored a variety of options that combined these colours with a woody texture. We tested out a subway tile design too due to their association with on-trend foodie settings but we decided that wood was a better fit with our eco positioning.

Keeping the front of the wedges and bloomer pack plain was a key requirement for our customer so we experimented with print on the sides of the sandwich packs instead as we sought to establish the brand while maintaining that all important minimalistic look on the shelf. For the labels we explored lots of colourful options introducing strong accent colours before realising that Blanco could be developed to work with some of our existing label designs (as well as its own) to offer a variety of finishes. Our popular Enjoy labels offer a bright, colourful presentation, while our four Simply Natural labels work with the kraft inners of the packs to provide a contrasting, rustic finish. for the Blanco labels themselves we tried out lots of shapes, sizes, textures and borders before coming up with a design that utilises the wood effect from the sides of the sandwich packs plus a very slim grey border to compliment the sleek and natural finish of the compostable packaging range overall. 

Snagging: Compostable, Clearly? And Naming Names. 

We experienced two snagging points while developing the range: choosing a name and trying to find a compostable material from which to make the new clear sandwich bags.

First up were the bags. We considered using the same certified home compostable bio-laminate that we use in our salad packs and sandwich boxes however; a sandwich bag-appropriate weight of this particular material priced the product out of the market so we had to source a more cost effective alternative. Having researched what was out there, we opted for NATIVIA. Like our existing film, NATIVIA is plant based too and is certified (EN13432) industrially compostable so it will break down in an industrial composting environment. We also added a white text design to the bags to highlight that they are compostable while at the same time enhancing the Blanco brand. We had to keep the print minimal to ensure the ink coverage was low enough for the bags to remain compostable as too much ink can damage the nutrient content of compost. We looked at lots of sealing options for the bags too but found that the re-sealable tape was the best solution, as it allows consumers to save food for later thereby minimising food waste. It also saves our customers £130-£230 on a croc seal machine which is the equivalent of 2k-4k+ self-sealing Blanco bags!

Naming the collection was a lot trickier! Whilst in development Blanco was simply known as ‘the white range’, plenty of names were suggested but none seemed to capture the simplicity and sleekness of our latest disposable packaging and labelling range. ‘Shaker’ was a very close contender then one of our customers suggested Blanco (which means white in Portuguese and Spanish) and it felt like the perfect choice. 

Bringing our latest branded packaging and labelling range to market has taken just under a year, we’re really pleased with the finished results and hope that you are too. We are already looking to add further items to the completely compostable range so watch this space and if there is anything you feel we should add to this or any of our collections, just let us know because your suggestions often turn into our next product.  

View our brilliant white Blanco packaging and labelling range on our website here.