We are excited to share details on our just launched re-design for California based Evolution Fresh, the independent and family owned juice company, run by chefs and master juice makers. The 98 labels for the popular, all-natural, Evolution brand, and its mirrored private label ‘Harvest’ juice line, is being sold in over 500 stores along the West Coast including Whole Foods, Pavilions and Gelsons. Celebrated as the freshest juice available, Geyrhalter Design, together with the owner and marketing director of Evolution Fresh, took on the challenge of giving the brand a fresh and clean new look while staying true to its independent and free spirited roots. We focused our effort on creating a consistent brand image. By introducing a revised red identity to go along with all-red caps it enabled the brand to stand out from direct competitors such as Naked and Odwalla. The label stock was changed to matte laminated finish, which created a semi-metallic effect when refrigerated and added to the fresh feel that was sought after. While creating a uniform look, a unique color was picked to compliment each juice, giving it a visual flavor and making it easier for the customer to identify a specific juice on the crowded market shelves. The whimsical illustrations were carried over from the original design to make it easy for customers to recognize their product and keep the home-made feel that is so important to the product.Besides illustrating around 50 vegetables and fruits for the back label, the biggest challenge was to find appropriate colors for each flavor that work with the brand mark red as well as differentiate enough from the other SKU’s. It started as a clean-up initiative of the former labels, and it really opened a whole slew of layout concerns, leading up to this re-design. We are now working on strengthening the brand further through social media initiatives, shelf talkers and a new web site. It feels great keeping this wonderful brand ‘fresh’ for nearly a decade now. For us it was a unique labor of love, Evolution being one of the companys’ first clients, who enabled Fabian Geyrhalter to move the operations from a garage setting into an office space, which in its beginning was shared with Evolution’s marketing team, 9 years ago.

Eventhough I am not a big Starbucks fan, the convenience of its locations makes me, like most of us, sometimes stop by for a cappucino on my way to, or from meetings. I have done so the past two weeks when I drove to teach a class at Art Center College Of Design. I was surprised to find a free mini-version of GOOD magazine at the counter where consumers patiently wait for their beverage to arrive – a great place to serve me some easy to digest information since it is one of the rare moments in my day where I am not busy. As I am a great fan of the design and the message of GOOD, and often the editorial, I took ‘the Good Sheet’ with me. It’s a conversation starter. A socially charged, non-partisan (or so they try) fold-out dedicated to a larger election issue at hand. Click here to view and read the GOOD Sheets so far. The topics are successfully communicated by use of extremely easy to gasp, yet modern, information graphics targeted towards the vast Starbucks audience. Apparently fully sponsored by a weekly advertisor, it is of little expense to Starbucks (obviously struggling to sell its $3.50 lattés after opening too many stores too quickly in this economy and therefor must have little room for additional advertising budget), while it is a fantastic way to spread the word of GOOD magazine. A great example of 3 companies coming together for the greater good – and the greater profits, with only the advertiser paying dollars he would end up spending anyways. Good to great is my prognosis for this campaign…

To read an opposite opinion head over to Creativity Magazine.

What happens to an international consumer brand once it starts ailing and laying off employees?

In the worst case, a blog of former and current employees of the company would start sharing secrets and discussing all ‘the dirt’ online, as it occured in the case of Starbucks. Grab a cup of Joe and stop on by ‘Starbucks Gossip’ to get the latest in barista rage and witness how one of the great international consumer brand phenomenons is losing its’ magic.

This new found freedom of speech opens the possibilities of low cost, overnight, viral marketing tremendously, but it also adds a new level of risk management to brands worldwide, which makes another phenomenon the best call for help: Google.

Above you can see a proposed re-design of the Starbucks name and logo by architect James Biber, as featured in Architects magazine.