Let’s say you’re chosen to compete on a savage and dystopian reality show. You’re thrust out into the wilderness and forced to survive on your wits and the scraps wealthy patrons send you after you’ve achieved some spectacular, broadcast-worthy feat of survivalism. So, what sort of snacks will you demand? Will they be high in protein, so you will have the physical strength and muscle necessary to compete for days? Will they be vitamin fortified, giving you the focus to shoot an arrow into a rival’s eye at 50 yards? Whatever ingredients they contain will be beautifully packaged, and any tribute we sponsor will have to suck it up.
Whether they are packed with protein, fiber, or just clusters of highly engineered bits of sweetened soy matter, energy snacks must give the impression of either being fantastically healthy, or possessing enough chemical elements to boost your metabolism for a significant period of time artificially. Energy bars and snacks are the ultimate point of sale products – these items must seduce the consumer and appeal to his or her fear of being nutritionally unbalanced or not as ripped and shredded as he or she wants to be. How will your product achieve that? By being composed in a way that delineates the personality and lifestyle the product serves.
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Clif Bar
The packaging design company conceived of the Clif Bar package has created the sort of concept that lovers of pop culture esoterica would enjoy. The comic book-inspired look combined with the plain recycled wrapper gives the product package a wholesome, energized feel, unique to the brand. It also makes us want to shop in a Taschen store and watch Sylvain Chomet films. Weird.
Bumble Bar
The Bumble Bar is an energy snack perfect for anyone who has excised all but the most basic life-sustaining ingredients from their diets. Gluten-free, vegan-friendly, and packaged in a relentlessly environmentally friendly manner, this design marries early 20th-century saloon typography and layout with subtle Willy Wonka-ism.
Salad Power
One of the finest examples of perishable beverage packaging on the market, from the most forward-thinking packaging design company, quite frankly. [Ahem] This package was designed to evoke a sensation of freshness and purity – the experience of enjoying a healthy, crisp vegetable salad from a lovingly fabricated container. Note the angularity of the shape and the vibrancy of the graphics – all specifically conceived to give the consumer the impression of munching on the bounty of a dew-flecked garden. Although since it is, after all, a drink, we can’t promise any crunching sensation when you consume the product unless you opt to chew on the bottle.
Pro Bar: Whole Berry Blast
The simplicity and clarity of the label combined with the vibrancy of the graphics make the organic properties of the Pro Bar front and center. It is a departure from the previous design, which, with its metallic packaging and focus on “high performance,” recalled the sort of nutritional hardtack eaten by astronauts on extended space travel. With the new design, you can feel the hemp seeds and fenugreek purging those toxins or doing whatever organic thing they are supposed to do.
Raw Crunch
The bar is raw and crunchy, and so is the packaging. This is an example of product packaging telling the consumer exactly what the product is and what it’s about with materials and labeling. This product dares you to go make macramé plant hangers.
SmashPack
And finally, the pinnacle of energy snack package design: The SmashPack. The packaging uses the latest beverage container innovation, giving the product an entirely new and relevant feel while delivering an entirely natural product. It’s striking, it’s functional, and it’s collapsible. It is for both the on-the-go professional and the consumer wanting to curl up and drink their meal from a comforting, soft, inviting pouch. We don’t judge.
There you have it. Interesting energy snack designs that clearly and attractively deliver brand identity and product information in succinct and pleasing ways unique to their markets. Or, as unique as possible, when the markets are uniformly enemies of wheat gluten and all things cooked.
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