January 26, 2022
Here at CBX we’ve got the skinny on everything from brand design and brand-naming a new product to innovation and top design trends. Our in-house experts often share their advice and observations in our CBX blog–below you’ll find a collection of our favorites from 2021.
THE TOOLS WE USE
Designers at CBX have access to all of the latest programs and high-tech tools needed to craft amazing package and design concepts… let’s take a look at the buzz from this past year.
How We Use iC3D to Bring Our Package Design Projects to Life
Check out iC3D–the first real-time all-in-one package design software. Learn how it helps our designers bring conceptual products to life, which in turn helps our clients see the end results clearly–making the whole design process more streamlined.
How do we adapt for e-commerce channels? Brands today must approach design for both the virtual and physical retail shelf, and CBX has the tools to ensure we are strategically considering consumer behaviors and shopping patterns. Adapting our 10-5-2 tool to create a winning communication hierarchy for the digital world is discussed, as well as thinking through three key themes that inform any project in the e-commerce landscape.
WHAT THE PANDEMIC IS TEACHING US
The past two years have impacted life as we know it, and how we market is no exception. The following collection of blogs delves into the ways brands must adapt to meet today’s climate–from their names and how they are positioned to how they are sold–and more.
A New Era of Brand Naming: Friendly for the Sake of Friendly Is Out. Obvious Is In.
CBX Director of Verbal Strategy Casey Hochberg walks us through some changes in brand naming. She talks about how today’s living-and-working-from-home consumers need brands to get to the point. She advises them to forgo the fanciful and get back to basic, descriptive names that will bring the product benefit to the forefront.
Why Brand Is Mission-Critical, Thanks to the Pandemic
Stacy Hintermeister, VP of Marketing and Growth, gives us five actionable tips to help win the hearts and minds of consumers during these pandemic times and gives examples of companies doing them well. She emphasizes that branding is more important than ever and offers ways CBX can help.
Challenging times and uncertainty have most consumers yearning for a simpler, less complicated design. Joe Violante, Executive Creative Director, shares his perspective on how relief in design–a breather, if you will–can make a positive impact on the consumer experience and culture.
A CLOSER LOOK AT GENDER AND GEN Z
A great thing about our CBX blogs is that they allow our team to share their own experiences, both personal and professional, so we may gain better insight into consumers and even best practices for our own agency.
In honor of International Women’s Day, VP of Strategy Jaime Klein Daley got personal. A seemingly innocent comment about her role at a previous job led Jaime to research gender and language and how it is used and misused in office culture.
Observations from Gen Z’s Big Sister
A self-labeled “Gen Z Elder,” Junior Strategist Madi Rinaldi gives her take on the newest target and offers helpful advice on how to best market to them and for them. She says some approaches are more obvious, like diversity and inclusion, while others are more nuanced, like embracing empathy and recognizing mental health.
Gen Z was a hot topic throughout 2021 as this generation began to eclipse millennials in terms of size and swagger. Audra Nebolini, Associate Creative Director, unpacks Gen Z’s design codes and cues—digging deep on how food brands can use design strategy to speak to this new generation using visual language.
A PEEK BEHIND SOME PROJECTS
We are fortunate to work on some pretty cool products with some pretty awesome clients. You’ll get a look behind the curtain to see how the magic really happens, told in our own words.
80 Dogs–What Could Go Wrong? A Tail of a Package Redesign Photo-shoot
Imagine getting to play with a dog and call it work. Now imagine doing that with almost 100 dogs. Our talented team, along with our longtime partner Milk-Bone, had its fair share of challenges and fun during a package redesign photo-shoot.
A Look Inside Our Lutron Redesign
Discover how our team, along with our friends at Lutron, created new packaging for Lutron’s dimmers, designed to help professionals and homeowners alike make the correct lighting choices. And they even won a GDUSA American Packaging Design Award for it. Brilliant!