Caution: Play at Work
When Funskool approached us to create the brand identity and style guide for their range of DIY products we knew it wasn’t going to be child’s play. That we needed to craft an identity that could truly do justice to the range. That we needed to put our art and soul in it — as per usual.
And once we got the puns out of the way, we rolled up our sleeves, and sat down to get our hands dirty.
The Challenge:
When you think about a toy store, you immediately picture a riot of colours. Products packed to the tops of every shelf, across every aisle. Each box performs its heart out to capture the imagination of the world’s toughest customers — kids (and all while reassuring the adults that they’re perfectly good products for them to spend their money on).
The Brief:
To stand out on these shelves, Funskool needed:
a) An identity that could unify a range that literally comprised of 100s of products.
b) A logo that could sit pertly on all these varied colourful packages — each boasting a crazy new craft project inside.
c) A style guide that could let all the different packages speak a similar language, even while saying completely different things. (“Plushies!” “Magnets!” “Pot painting!” and so on.)
d) Packaging that spoke to the kids, but more importantly the parent. Just as hurried (in this case, also harrowed) and trying to pick up a gift for a birthday party; or activities before the summer holidays descend upon them.
The Solution:
We dialled back to the point when every project begins. The point of suspense — not when we’re waiting to hear what the client thinks — but when we’re waiting to see what our own brains are thinking.
We hover a pen, a pencil, a stylo over a notepad or tablet, and we begin.
And that’s when it struck us — that’s what making art really is about isn’t it? Using our hands, and getting it stained with ink smudges and paint splotches in the progress?
We realized that the logo could be an ode to this process. The vibrant and skin deep battle wounds we sustain from when we let our imaginations play.
We then built subliminal pairs of hands into the splotch, a little nod to the name we’d given the range — handycrafts. (our last and final pun in the project)
The Application:
The paint splotch as it fondly came to be known, was versatile, and could extend itself across all crafts. Because what’s craft without a little colour, right?
It would complement each technique or project the child was about to take on. And it would do so without intruding on the actual pack and its messaging.
The Packaging:
Research from the brand’s marketing team revealed that a “show and tell” approach was what worked best in the craft aisle. Each package had two seconds to make its case while several other arts and crafts packages vied for the audience’s attention.
So the style guide was created to include a child, allowing parents to see the best version of their kids represented on the box — happy, well-behaved, and productively engaged. And a sneak peek into what the finished project could like — because hey, it’s all about the process after all! And getting your hands a little messy while at it.
