Month: January 2021

As the weather outside gets colder, it means the drinks inside get warmer. As a kid, that meant hot chocolate time! It wasn’t quite like the hot chocolate experience in The Polar Express, but making a cup of hot chocolate with my mom meant getting one of my favorite things: marshmallows.

Marshmallows are a clear staple (and excellent to eat while you wait for the milk to heat up), and in my house we always had Jet-Puffed marshmallows. So when my Mom brought home from the store a new bag this December, my eye immediately noticed the new packaging and logo.

Before August of 2020, 1987 was the last time the logo was revamped from its 1958 original design. The 1987-2020 packaging is what I remember sitting in my cabinet next to the hot chocolate powder. But this new branding, by the agency, Jones Knowles Ritchie, is a lot more memorable, and I believe has the ability to last the KraftHeinz company another 33 years—at least.

On the agency’s website, they mention their “challenge was to transform the pantry staple from stale sleeper into puffy market icon.” You can really see how they managed to make Jet-Puffed stand out by making alterations to the brand’s color palette and changing the look of the logo. The new colors really add to a playful approach because it is reminiscent of a rainbow. People associate rainbows with children (or perhaps Irish folklore) because of this whimsical, magical element, and ultimately that’s what this new branding really portrays. But here’s what is so great about the new logo and branding: yes it’s all around cute, but not just in a cute way for kids—it’s something that captures the attention of an adult too.

What’s interesting about marshmallows is it’s a product kids really enjoy, but the adults are typically the ones picking this out. This is of course typical for all things, but I can’t recall any sort of advertisement for marshmallows, especially one geared directly towards kids. This is a product that needs the attention of adults, but also the kid appeal, so it can’t be too overwhelming or cheesy, but it can’t be plain and dull. Along with their brightened, but not too bright, color scheme, Jet-Puffed found another great solution. They introduced the Puff Pals: cute, 2D illustrations of marshmallows.

KraftHeinz says their purpose is to “spark joy, bring people together, and create memorable moments for people across the globe.” From what I’ve seen so far, Puff Pals are always together showcasing happy moments. They also appear all together in this surprisingly delightful new advertisement video. The Puff Pals spark joy, whether you’re a kid or adult (I think the 2-D element helps with this), and I can totally get behind that.

So even though this packaging fits in more with the KraftHeinz ultimate goal, Jones Knowles Ritchie ultimately took the Kraft logo off the front of the bag. Taking another look at the 1987 packaging, the Kraft logo takes attention away from the Jet-Puffed name and logo. Yes, Kraft itself is a well known brand name, but we’re just here for the marshmallows! The Puff Pals are a selling point alone!

Honestly, the new 2020 packaging just feels more marshmallow-like, especially when looking at the 1987 logo. The previous one I grew up with seems so much more “mature” than this new one. The colors are more dull, and there’s nothing engaging about it besides how the logo kinda looks like marshmallows. It is clever the way they achieved this with the shadows, shading, and outlines, but when we look at it next to this new and improved logo type, the old one seems almost “busy”. The 2020 typeface does a much cleaner job at delivering the same outcome. They were able to get rid of the extra shading and instead focus on the roundness and width of each of the letters. Making each letter that pure white was also smart because it looks more like a marshmallow. Each letter looks soft, as if you could hug them—or more appropriately, drop one into your cup of hot cocoa.

In today’s design world, we are seeing a lot of brands turn towards this simplified, modern approach. This decision is sometimes a flop, but in the case of Jet-Puffed: I think they added and subtracted just the right amount. They didn’t take out shadows and outlines to appeal to modernity, instead they found a way to take something new and make it seem nostalgic already. Let’s just say I really hope this packaging is in my cabinet, sitting next to my hot chocolate powder, 33 years from now. 

As much as I’d love to talk about the classic kid’s game of hot and cold as you get closer to something. Or to distinguish what hot and cold drinks I like more, or what a hot and cold house temperature is. Today I want to talk a bit about Marshall Mcluhan’s theory of hot and cold in terms of media.

To Mcluhan, hot media meant that you could be passive when engaging with it. Mcluhan was discussing media around the 60s, so to him radio was “hot” because it meant it could act as background noise. On the opposite scale, cold media was something a listener or audience really had to engage with and participate in. Cold media demanded your attention a lot more than hot media did.

Marshall Mcluhan says that TV is cold because it requires more participation from the audience. In today’s world, I think Mcluhan would find that this has clearly switched. I think this switch had to occur when streaming services became a thing, and also when the quality in tv shows increased.

In the 60s, TV was very low definition, and films/movies were in higher quality, which is why Mcluhan labeled films as hot. In today’s TV realm, so many episodes look like movies. Some even practically are movies with their duration! Think of Downton Abbey, or Bridgerton (which is popular on Netflix currently). Both of these shows have about hour long episodes, and are very cinematic in the way each shot is captured, and the details in sets and costumes.

We also no longer have to wait for a TV show to air live, which I think is another interactive quality of TV shows in the 60s. In today’s world, we have the ability to watch an episode over and over again, thanks to all the various streaming services, and shows will come out with a full season at once. Because of this, we are able to engage with TV shows in a very passive manner. There are so many times where I have watched TV while doing other things because I don’t have to be looking at the show the entire time. It really sometimes is just background noise, which is how Mcluhan referenced film. 

Mcluhan brought about really great theories when it comes to how we think about media, and how media helps deliver these messages we are trying to convey. As a designer, it’s something I want to think about more as I journey into the workplace environment. However, I would argue that we are all analyzing media, to some extent, like Mcluhan did, in our everyday lives. Perhaps this is just the designer in me, but I think about the tone a lot with social media. People engage with text a lot differently than they do with video, which changes the way I spread information. The hot and cold theory is an interesting way to frame how we’re engaging with media, and it should still be talked about today.

Introductions are always a great place to start, so hi! I’m Natalie Harris, a third year student at Oregon State University earning Honors degrees in creative writing and graphic design. I’ve always seen myself as a storyteller. Perhaps a more chaotic one since I find myself jumping around with how I tell stories.

From a design standpoint — I love photography (film and digital), designing book covers, editorial design, and I’m experimenting with my own hand lettering. I’m currently the Instagram editor for OSU’s Honors College, meaning I design things for social media and manage the account. This academic year I am also the assistant editor for OSU’s art and literary magazine, Prism. Even though both jobs are dealing with different things, I see a similar thread run through them.

Through design, I am helping to educate and inspire others. Whether that’s through promoting an upcoming event, or designing a magazine comprised of student submissions, I’m putting content into the world that helps others in some capacity.

Whatever avenue of storytelling I use, I want my designs to matter. Stories bring us together, they unite us and teach us new things, and I hope my designs can follow a similar plot.