A child psychologist asked me years ago how I knew whether a scale was working. His comment was that developing a new attribute scale would be cause for intense debate amongst peers and colleagues. First and foremost, you need to have some sense that the scale means something to a young consumer. How do youContinue reading “Children’s Rating Scales – How do I know they are Working?”
Author Archives: Hester
Children’s Research – Concrete vs Conceptual Scales
Children are quite able to recognise flavours, sweetness levels and other concrete product attributes with relative ease. More conceptual attributes are more difficult. If scales are too subtle, children become bored with a task which is “too hard” and which they do not understand. Pictures need to convey a clear idea of what is beingContinue reading “Children’s Research – Concrete vs Conceptual Scales”
Food Packaging – Appetite Appeal
Traditionally, packaging for food product needs to have “appetite appeal” – something which takes it from the shelf and into the trolley. Some design companies like the “sketch” approach to pack design, indicating a “homemade” quality to the product. While this can work in some niche premium categories, I have watched it fail in manyContinue reading “Food Packaging – Appetite Appeal”
The Power of Visual Communication
Markets have become more and more fragmented, so keeping our visual communication consistent, focused and appropriate is even more important. Visually, the customer is bombarded with colours, images, impressions of your companies and your services. We should never forget that we are trying to keep pace and communicate with an increasingly demanding and often fickleContinue reading “The Power of Visual Communication”
Colours and Culture
Certain colours have strong associations within cultures. In many Western cultures, black is associated with death. Traditionally, it was seen as an inappropriate colour for packaging food – “Eat this and die!” Time has moved on and black (particularly with some metallic colours) is seen as a sign of luxury and high quality (think ofContinue reading “Colours and Culture”
Packaging Colours and Consumers
Over the years, I have watched consumers choose colours they think would be appropriate for a particular pack design. Sometimes their choices are a complete surprise. One project was searching for design inputs for a milk substitute pack. It had previously been sold directly from the company in a white, clinical pack. Before launching inContinue reading “Packaging Colours and Consumers”
How do you Show Intensity in Pictorial Scales?
So if you want to use picture scales with children, how are you going to show intensity of a flavour? Visually, you have at least a couple of choices. You can make things BIGGER or show MORE of them. If you are trying to get information about overall flavour intensity (= total flavour impact), IContinue reading “How do you Show Intensity in Pictorial Scales?”
Packaging Design – Spending your Dollars Right
So how do you get the best return on the dollars you invest in your packaging design? The answers are really self-evident. This is not rocket science. Make sure that your pack design is focused in on your target audience to ensure that the “takeout” from the pack is appropriate. If your budget is limited, spendContinue reading “Packaging Design – Spending your Dollars Right”
Children’s Research – Understanding the Issues
Working with children to understand their reactions to new ideas and products is fun and challenging. Provided the task is engaging and interesting, they are highly responsive and give you amazing feedback. However, there are a number of ethical and legal issues which you need to understand. Some of those issues vary from country toContinue reading “Children’s Research – Understanding the Issues”
Visual Communication – Words or Colours?
If you were wondering – which matters more the colour or the words? Well certainly in terms of straight recognition (once the message has been digested, understood and accepted) the colour is the main visual cue customers look for. If you communicate your image in a way which stands out from your competitors – youContinue reading “Visual Communication – Words or Colours?”
