Media Contact: Heather West, (612) 724-8760, heatherwest@earthlink.net
Compass Design Creates Packaging for North Aire Market's Simmering
Soups and New Chilled Soups Mixes
MINNEAPOLIS (July 31, 2002) - When North Aire Market, Inc. called
on Minneapolis-based Compass Design to redesign the packaging for
their Simmering Soups line of soup mixes and create new packaging
for a soon-to-be launched line of Chilled Soups, they had a specific
request: keep the homey, small-company look of the existing package,
but jazz it up enough to make it pop off the shelf.
Small Company Thinks Big
"A large part of Simmering Soups' appeal is that it's made by
a small company," says Mitch Lindgren, partner/designer for Compass
Design. "The company founders-Mary Dodds and Maggie Mortenson-are
two very down-to-earth, friendly women who worked hard to develop
a pre-packaged, dry soup mix with a home-made taste. They didn't want
anyone to think North Aire Market was some huge company; they're proud
of who they are and that's what they wanted the packaging to reflect."
With that in mind, Lindgren and his team began the redesign process
by analyzing the existing Simmering Soups package and quizzing Mortenson
and Dodds on what each liked about the package, and why. "There
were elements of the existing package that both partners liked, including
the package shape with gabled top, the crescent-shaped clear cellophane
window and many of the label colors," notes Lindgren. "Other
than that, they were very open to new ideas."
Moving forward, one of the first things the Compass team did was
to change the type used on the package. "The old fonts were Sans
Serif with feet: very formal and stiff," says Lindgren. "The
new font-Felt Tip Roman-is a decorative font. It gave the design an
informal, softer feel that was much more in sync with our client's
vision."
The new type was used generously throughout the package, including
for the cooking instructions and the side panel 'story box,' which
carries a personal message from the two co-founders.
The next step for Compass was to update the Simmering Soups' pot-of-soup
logo. The Compass team redesigned the soup-pot image, adding a handful
of vegetables and curls of steam rising from the soup. Tying the logo
to the simplicity of rest of the package design, the pot image was
sketched to resemble an old-fashioned wood-cut design.
Finally, the group repositioned the package's front labels, setting
it horizontally on the package rather than vertically, and adding
a rough, hand-torn look to the label's left side. A different color
is used on each of the line's 10 flavors.
With all the design elements in place, Compass presented the final
Simmering Soups' prototype to Dodds and Mortenson, who were delighted
with the end result.
"North Aire Market's philosophy is about staying genuine and
authentic to ourselves, and enjoying life," says Mortenson. "It's
who we are as a company. Compass was able to take those important,
yet intangible elements and translate them into our package design.
That is true talent."
With approval for the Simmering Soup packaging in place, Compass
turned their attention to creating a design for the Chilled Soups'
packaging.
"We knew that several parts of the package itself would be the
same as Simmering Soups," says Tom Arthur, partner/design for
Compass Design. "Things like the typography used on the package,
the package's shape, gabled top and crescent-shaped window were all
items that would help consumers understand that the Chilled Soups
were made by North Aire Market, which was very important to the client
"
Cool and Colorful Grabs Customers
Even with many pieces remaining the same, Compass still had many elements
to play with, including package color, logo and label.
"We chose a bright blue color for the package to project a cold,
frosty feel and to help communicate that these are chilled soups to
be prepared and served without heat," says Arthur.
Compass took that idea of a different preparation process one step
further in creating the Chilled Soups' logo: it features a hand-illustrated
whirling blender and bowl of soup with a ladle.
To further differentiate the Chilled Soups from its sister soup line,
Compass chose to use a burst of spot color for the front label, with
each package's color reflecting its flavor: orange/pink for Orange
Cranberry and a blend of purple hues for Blue and Wild Berry.
"The bright colors really stand out against the blue background
and give the package some serious shelf impact," adds Arthur.
North Aire Market's Mortenson and Dodds agreed, again giving approval
to the package at first sight. "We hear from our customers all
the time that our packaging is great," says Mortenson. "And
we can thank Compass Design for that."
North Aire Market, Inc.'s Simmering Soup and Chilled Soup lines are
now available in gift shops, specialty food stores, airport kiosks
and upscale grocery stores.
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.