Media Contact: Heather West, (612) 724-8760, heatherwest@earthlink.net

Compass Design Helps Crystal Farms Brand Its New Line of Premium Cheeses

Minneapolis (February 22, 2002)-In the dairy foods business since 1926, Minneapolis-based Crystal Farms knew that a successful entry into a new dairy category would require several things: in-depth knowledge of consumers' tastes, a great product, and a way to grab consumers' attention.

With its reputation for providing quality products and a solid following among consumers, Crystal Farms had the first two requirements taken care. For the third, they turned to Minneapolis-based Compass Design, Inc.

"The Crystal Farms brand is very well-known in the grocer's refrigerated cases," says Compass Design's Partner/Design Mitch Lindgren. "However, they wanted to enter the premium cheese category, which meant that their product would be placed in the deli case and compete against more well-established brands."

To enter the new category, Crystal Farms created a new brand for their higher quality premium cheeses, Crescent Valley. "Crystal Farms wanted the packaging for Crescent Valley to help it look like an established brand and also reflect the elegance associated with finely-aged premium cheeses," adds Julia Hemphill, partner/sales at Compass Design. "I believe 'old world' was the term used to describe the look they wanted."

"Old world was a pretty broad concept which meant different things to each of our designers," says Lindgren. "And although we worked separately, we were surprised to find that many of our initial sketches carried a similar theme, and even shared a number of design elements."

Lindgren continues, "We all seemed to feel that a premium cheese would be used by consumers in a vastly different way than standard cheeses. We felt a premium cheese would be carefully chosen for its taste, texture and appetite appeal, and rather than being used for cooking or snacking, it would most likely be the centerpiece of a cheese platter or accompany fine wine or fresh fruit."

Many of the designer's sketches designs reflected that simple elegance and included understated, yet strong sketches of different types of fruit. To achieve the desired old-world look and feel, many images were sketched in a style reminiscent of a vintage woodcutting.

The type used in the Crescent Valley name also was used to enhance the package's old world concept. The font, hand-rendered by Compass, also carried the look and feel of a classic wood-cut typeface. Compass was so pleased with the result that they applied the same wood-cut approach to several illustrations in their final 10 different design concepts presented to their client.

Pleased with Compass' innovation and direction, Crystal Farms executives chose a concept which incorporated the wood-cut feel: an image showing three types of premium cheeses-Swiss, Cheddar and Gouda-alongside grapes and apples. The image is placed in front and slightly underneath an arching Crescent Valley logo.

Once the final concept was chosen, Compass brought in local illustrator Ken Jacobson to further refine the packages' vintage look. "We'd worked with Ken on certain projects in the past and knew he was a master of creating traditional wood-cut images that have a clean, updated look," explains Lindgren. "That's what we were looking for with this design, and that's exactly what Ken gave us."

Crystal farms Marketing Manager Debby Childers was very happy with the work performed by Compass Design. "The packaging communicates exactly what we wanted to say: that Crescent Valley is a brand of high quality, premium cheeses."

Crescent Valley premium natural cheeses are available now at selected grocery store deli counters across the Upper Midwest.

Compass Design is a dynamic, Minneapolis-based design office specializing in comprehensive identity and consumer packaging programs for established and growing companies. With its experienced and knowledgeable staff, Compass Design strives for integrity and accuracy in its cost-effective, award-winning strategic design solutions. For more information on Compass Design, please contact Julia Hemphill at (612) 339-1595 or visit Compass Design's Web site at www.compassdesigninc.com.