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I built the Smooch brand from the ground up, strategy, identity, wordmark, colour world. The can was the last piece, the moment it finally became something real.
The brief: a packaging system that scales. One hero flavour today, a full range tomorrow, no rebuild required.
First problem, the logo. Smooch's bold wordmark has a curve underneath it that dies at full width on a can, and angling it across felt gimmicky, not confident. So I turned it vertical instead, running the full height, full scale.
Colour had to carry the brand and split the flavours at once. Deep burgundy anchors it, red punches through the wordmark, and each flavour gets its own accent, blush, gold, peach.
No fruit photography. Instead, a graphic starburst holding a simple illustrated fruit, ownable and ready for whatever flavour comes next.
The back label carried ingredients, actives, and every mandatory without losing the premium tone.
Going vertical also quietly solved the shelf problem: cans sit in a fridge door at a slight angle and a horizontal wordmark rotates out of legibility, whereas a full-height one still reads from either side. Curious whether the starburst has a fixed point count across flavours or...
Thanks, yes agreed, we loved how the wordmark runs up the side, works great across cafe shelves and fridge doors.
The starburst stays fixed, only colour and fruit change. We explored varying the shape too, but kept it consistent so the flavour does the talking, not the shape.
Love thissss
Thank you!
No product shoot. No problem. what a work
Exactly! Small studio's got to do what they can when the client doesn't have budget for a shoot when they launch.
Yeah thats true
those names are so catchy, i love the power you harnessed there with wordplay!
Thanks, they help bring through the brands playful but premium vibe hey.
The graphic starburst instead of real fruit photography is such a smart call, it ages better and scales to future flavors without a reshoot every time. Was that a budget call originally, or did it just win out on brand fit?
Thanks! I totally agree. It was a mix of reasons, but mostly felt the starburst / illustrations was more adult and premium as an on can visual which aligned better with the target audience. But the bonus reason that it's a scaleable system for when the product range expands too. 🙌
Thank you 🙌
Myself and the client were very pleased with how it turned out too!
Great work
Thank you! 🙏
Wow super cool packaging work Jackson, great job!! 😍
Thank you I'm glad you like it!
Burgundy as the anchor with each flavor getting its own accent is a smart way to keep shelf presence and range flexibility at the same time. Did the burgundy come first and the accents got built around it, or did the whole palette land together?
Thanks I totally agree hey!
The Burgundy was a core brand colour we landed on and then we build out the flavour colours off the back of it. Making them vibrant but still from the same world.
Excellent work
Thank you!
The design looks awesome. Great project!
Thank you!
Amazing work!
Thank you!
Such awesome design. Can i do work with you?
Wow! It's creative!
Thank you!
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