Design + Food Innovation: A Conversation with Lisa Whitsitt of Clif Bar
Lisa Whitsitt, Innovation & Experience Designer of Clif Bar recently delivered a workshop to Food Innovation Circle members on how to achieve product innovation through packaging and quick prototyping. Lisa has a range of design experience from working for IDEO, co-founding two startups, selling inventions, and working for a variety of consumer companies in the Bay Area . She currently works for Clif Bar & Company and focuses on Experience Design and Product & Packaging Innovation.
After the workshop, I talked to Lisa about how she sees innovation in food companies through a designer’s eyes, her advice on how corporate designers and brand marketers can collaborate better, and how she gets inspirations in her daily life.
Can you tell us a little bit about your role at Clif Bar and in what capacity do you work with marketers?
Lisa: I create ways to communicate product story and main features through trade show experiences and future packaging concepts.
Lisa: We are starting to create food that goes beyond the bar and I collaborate on research, synthesizing findings, and brainstorming. Once we have buckets of potential opportunities, I prototype structural packaging and create rough concepts for graphics (just FPO) for inspiration.
In your daily life, where do you usually get inspirations that may contribute to your next product innovation idea?
Lisa: Inspirations can come from anywhere: I am constantly talking to people in different departments to hear ideas, I go to interesting grocery stores to see trends, I like watching people’s behaviors in what they buy and listen to conversations in the stores. Sometimes I ask why they are buying a product and what they would recommend for me. I hear pain points and think how to solve them. I really like to get inspiration from Japanese grocery stores since the packaging is so beautiful and bold. I also go to stores that are not food related but have interesting consumer product packaging. You never know where inspiration will come from.
It rarely happens sitting at my desk. I need to get out of the office and explore and observe. I need to have space to make models and experiment.
When approaching a food innovation idea, what are some of the aspects that are often overlooked by corporate innovators during the research and prototyping phases?
Lisa: Well I think research and prototyping should happen constantly. I think prototypes can really be elevated when you get a chance to include co-packers earlier on. When you learn their constraints you can work with them and get to a solution that is innovative. I think people can forget to test the actual product quantity/weight into the prototype package early on. When you put the product in , you can find that the package ends up being too big or small for the perceived value you are aiming for. Or the co-packer may give you feedback that there need to be a structural change in order to fill it. Or you may find it is not easy to open or hold. It is also really important to take your prototypes to the actual store shelves and see how they fit on the shelf (especially if you are entering a new category in the store) and how your design pops off the shelf. It is important to talk to your sales team early on to get any of their insights into the category from the buyer and the existing pain points or trends in packaging. They also may have great feedback on the packaging design.
Innovation is a very iterative process and often the team members can have different ideas. How does your team approach this challenge when diverse perspectives arise?
Lisa: I think it is actually great to have a lot of perspective and ideas early on innovation. But once you have ethnography insights, those should guide the direction. Direction should not be based on subjective or personal opinions. It should be based on the clients you are targeting. So with clear strategy framework, there should be better alignment.
What are some of the common challenges when designers work with marketers and what’s your suggestion on how designers and marketers can work together better?
Lisa: I think marketers can be confused by what kind of direction to give designers. I think marketers sometimes think they need to be art directors. By teaming up earlier and developing a really clear strategy then the marketer can trust the designer to come up with options that fit the goal.
Learning each other’s “language” is also important. If marketers developed the ability to use good metaphors and storytelling to communicate what they want, that would communicate well with designers. I don’t think lengthy creative request docs or generic words like “genuine”, “authentic” or “wow factor communicate well with designers. And designers can understand what may cause fear in marketers and ease them with research backing their innovative design. Designers can show what other people are doing in other industries and how it is much better to iterate on new approaches rather than just doing the safe expected approach.
What’s your advice for a marketer who wants to learn more about design and become a design thinker?
Lisa: There are good books out there like Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just 5 days by Jake Knapp . I think really understanding the value of prototyping ideas up and testing them and moving beyond the post it note stage is key. I see lots of interest in using Post-It notes, but Design Thinking is so much more than that. To be able to role play out the concept/experience and to create rough prototypes to have something for people to react to is key. It is interesting to see how the most innovative companies go about it. I would recommend testing the Design Thinking Process out on a small project. The best way to learn is by doing it.
In the process do not look at things as failures or successes but as “learnings”. It becomes so rewarding when you have the perspective of fearless learning because your learnings add and enhance each other.
You told me earlier that you are inspired by Japanese & Swedish design, what can we learn from the designs of these two countries?
Lisa: These two countries inspire me because I feel like they have such soulful design. There is a real attention to detail and sometimes it feels hand crafted in the execution. The illustrations used or the materials have a confidence. The compositions are balanced and not cluttered like some other designs. There also is an appreciation to nature in the aesthetics.
I feel Japanese and Swedish Designs celebrate art and human sensibilities, and at the same time these are integrated with the functionality beautifully.
Can you name 1–2 food & beverage companies that you admire? Why?
Lisa: See below picture of a Japanese beverage company that I really admire. I admire how they really embrace the art and let the graphics dominate the can. They have a range of different designs and I could not resist buying all that I saw.
There is also this Swedish brand that does level retro feeling packaging for organic ingredients and food. I appreciate how they use craft paper and they lovely composition and typography.
If you were not a designer, what would you be?
A martial artist!
Food Innovation Circle is a San Francisco Bay Area based meetup community dedicated to exploring the intersection between food, design, technology, public policy and new business models. Follow us Food Innovation Circle.
