MUJI
Essential oils 4 pack packaging design
Packaging project, 2022
Role: structure designer
Design Objective:
To redesign the packaging with a reveal of the contents through the use of
“dynamic die cuts” that will give the consumer visual and possibly tactile access to the items. Also to create more sustainable packaging, a bold and dynamic design and to make a 4 pack as it is currently only sold as individuals.
Retail Category:
Aroma/home fragrance, health and wellness Essential oils are scented oils extracted from plants, each with its own unique smell and potential health benefits. Muji’s essential oil category now offers 26 types for use with aroma accessories. They comes in glass bottles for sanitation purpose and are usually displayed next to Mujis aroma diffuser.
“Scent is not filtered out by the brain; it is instinctive and involuntary.
Hence, your customer’s nose is actually a direct link to their
memories and emotions awaiting your simulation.”
- EMOTIONAL BRANDING BY MARC GOBE
Brand Positioning:
Muji has adopted the “no brand strategy.” Its products are perceived by consumers as being basic, functional and affordable. Simple, welcoming and effective wellness products.
Target Customers:
Adults age 20 and up, those into wellness and holistic health, can afford leisurely purchases (most likely owns an oil diffuser to use these oils in), prefers more well-known expensive brands like Saje or Muji over variety/general merchandise stores like Winners and Marshalls to purchase products like this, anywhere from low-high income as diffusers and oils vary in price depending on quality and size (individual oils can retail for $14-$50 and packs can be $15-$150 CAD).
Structure design:
We finally decide to do a four-pack packaging in a simple cubic form. It is stronger in structure, has more space for displaying the information needed and also aligns with Muji’s minimal aesthetic. When displayed on the shelf, the kits can be easily stacked together. With a rounded corner rectangular reveal in the front panel, customers can access the actual look of the essential oil which enhances a stronger appeal. The packaging is one piece and glue-free, allowing high-efficient and low waste manufacturing. In terms of the closure, the slots are designed to have locking features that ensure the stableness of the packaging. Besides, for where the actual bottles sit in, we refined the design to be double layered for an even stronger structure to hold the products.
Graphic Design:
We utilized a similar colour bar element from the original package but placed it on the sides of the package and on the bottles in a more dynamic way with the icons/graphics. The colours and graphics correspond with each scent (teal star - Energy, orange circle - Sweet Orange, deep red rose - Rose Blended, yellow lemon - Yuzu). The top of the package has coloured circles with each scent name, matching up with the placement of each bottle inside.
We made sure to provide multiple visual cues connecting the colours and graphics to each scent, as the previous packaging was weak in this area (only having a coloured line and the text to communicate to the consumer which scent it was). We also separated the French and English text more to be easier to navigate and read as it was stacked one after the other on the original package. For the UPC we made it into a unique shape-the shape of the essential oil bottle so it is more visually engaging and further emphasizes the contents within.