An Insite to Hornall Anderson's Design process

Situated in London and Seattle, Hornall Anderson design has worked with a range of big names from Marmite to Madison Square garden. (A little note is that Im throughouly impressed by their website) Considering I'm about to start my out design process, I thought it benificial to read about a successful design companies design process, to discover what I can learn from them.

The Brief: brand identify for frappuccino and to develop a unique brand identity which not only positioned Frappuccino as a new beverage but as a new beverage category in the market place.

The container was provided by Pepi Cola, a wide mouthed bottle, which was reminiscent of the old fashioned American milk bottles. The audience was for both kids and adults, and the container had to cover the ingredients inside as the liquid became unappealing in transit.

The first sketches were in black and white, as the first stage was to consider the decoration of the whole bottle. In addition to lively lettering, spritley characters. As a background to the graphics swirls, spirals and icicles were lined up. Combining all the ideas, they were shown to the Vice president of Starbucks to get feedback.

Now moving into colour, A series of bottles took the elements from the Sublime to the chaotic with dancing type and swirling backgrounds. Each bottle retained the Starbucks logo as an important feature and developed the shaded layers of milky coffee. "took much coffee and not enough focus on the milk" was a reaction at this stage.

Studio Designer George Tanagi developed the lettering separately, the green and red dot shadows were added to evoke the Italian heritage of the cappuccino. Additionally days of work was spent determining the exact shade of colour and graduation from top to bottom.

Anderson explains his tips on good design
1. Stay away from the computer - it freezes design
2. Brainstorming - we encourage "borrowing" ideas
3. Know what to change and what not to challenge. Then add creative value to it

The final product has spanned the range of market outlets and gained a loyal following, Anderson's words are "a classy looking bottle" This incite to Hornall Anderson and his design process has been very beneficial, it's made me re-think my own design process, and widened my opportunities i have in pencils. I also have realised the important of slowing myself down and starting right at the basics.


Rescourses used
www.hornallanderson.com
50 Trade secrets of graphic design