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

Compass Design Reaches Kids and their Parents in Appeals to Children and Parents Designing New Packaging for Kemps/Marigold Foods

Minneapolis (Apr 13, 2001)-When Kemps/Marigold Foods was preparing to introduce a new specialty dairy product line geared toward children, they called on Minneapolis-based Compass Design to design the product's packaging.

Compass had proven their ability to create fun, active package designs by creating packaging for many of Kemps' dairy products, including several limited edition ice cream flavors and the successful redesign of Kemps' gallon and half-gallon milk containers, and of their Yo-J line of drinkable yogurt.

The new product, Kemps Spoonz 'N Yogurt, needed to achieve several objectives in its package design. Featuring a four-ounce container of flavored yogurt and 12 edible, calcium-fortified vanilla cookie "spoonz," the product was developed for kids, ages 6 to 11, and its package design needed to engage both boys and girls in that age group. However, the packaging also needed to appeal to parents and address their nutritional concerns.

Brad Cuthbert, senior project manager, specialty dairy at Kemps/Marigold Foods, explains, "The question was to how make the package design fun and attractive enough so that it would draw attention, but not so over-the-top as to turn away parents. Since the Spoonz 'N Yogurt concept of an edible spoon is unique to its category, we thought a good way to achieve our goal was to create a character based on a spoon."

Given that directive from Kemps, as well as other information about the specialty dairy category, target audience and the brand's desired "personality," the Compass team began to create the perfect package. "The development of the spoon character was pretty time-intensive," says Mitch Lindgren, partner/designer at Compass. "Before we could begin to develop character concepts, we needed to research other current, age-appropriate cultural cartoon references. Once we had a better idea of the type of visual elements that kids relate to at various ages, we were ready to begin sketching."

After presenting their initial character concepts to Kemps, Lindgren and his team used ongoing feedback from Kemps to make small, subtle changes to the character, until it evolved into the current, final character.

"As a designer, I loved the challenge of creating the spoon character," says Tom Arthur, partner/designer at Compass. "There were so many different components to the character that needed to be looked at separately and as a whole in creating his look. The character's clothing, facial expression and hand placement all needed to work together to give him a fun, active personality while keeping him appealing to both boys and girls."

With the spoon character approved, the Compass team was free to focus on other elements of the package's design: the Spoonz 'N Yogurt product image and the type for the product's name. "Since this was a product meant for kids, we decided to have a little fun with the fruit images on each package and make them a little more abstract than we might have if the product was for adults," says Lindgren. He added that because parents would ultimately have the final decision in purchasing the product, the yogurt and edible spoon images were illustrated to reflect their actual appearance.

To complete the Spoonz 'N Yogurt package design, Compass hand-lettered the type for the product's name. "Kemps wanted the name to look active, to almost pop off the package," says Lindgren. "So we gave it a three-dimensional, high-energy feel that we feel works really well."

Kemps' Cuthbert agrees. "Once again, they did a great job. We're very happy with the package design."

Kemps' Spoonz 'N Yogurt is currently available at selected grocery stores throughout 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 exceptionally 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.