Author – Students of Institute of Design, Nirma University, with guidance from Prof. Mona Gosai.

Branding and Brand communication is a course taught at the Institute of Design, Nirma University in Semester VI of Communication Design. The course explores Brand Building and teaches communication theories for strategic communication in the form of campaigns, case studies and advertisements.

Under this course, our group of 13 students of Batch 2020-24, got an opportunity to work on a project with WIN Foundation and social organization SAATH and the women ‘nutri-preneurs’ to design the branding and communication material for their home-made nutritious snacks. To understand the clients and their requirements better, we visited one of the project locations at Vasna, Ahmedabad, where we interacted with project coordinators and a few women ‘nutri-preneurs’. From the initial interaction we got an idea that their main aim is to provide community children with homemade nutritious snacks instead of junk snacks like wafers, biscuits, Kurkure etc. by which are harmful for their health, but children get easily influenced  to eat them.

According to the requirements indicated and discussions , the deliverables of the project were narrowed down as below:

1. Design of Packaging and Posters  of the nutritive products – keeping children as the primary target audience
2. Social Media posts – to create awareness in society
3. Short animated video advertisement, highlighting the importance of consuming nutritious food which is engaging for children

To achieve the deliverables, 3 groups were made for focused work and better outcomes. To understand the eating habits, behaviour and what attracts the children, we visited the ‘Balghar’-creche, located in Narol Gam, Ahmedabad where we interacted with preschool children, their mothers, and teachers. From the visit we got some idea on how we should start with the campaign and promotional materials. After discussions, we came up with a Mascot named Tesu, which was going to be the face of the visuals and for the labels – a cartoon character representing the product, e.g. If nachos is a product then on a label nachos is showed with a happy face which may attract children to buy the products. The community women were very clear with their vision and what they wanted the children to see. This helped us to achieve the relevant results.

Saath and WIN Foundation were very helpful with the whole process and wanted the students to design the collaterals, the way the community women envisioned. This synergy boosted the students’ spirit and helped them stay on the same page as the women. Brainstorming and discussing different ideas with each other helped us a lot with the design outcomes. Everyone supported and helped each other. Working in a team was the greatest strength in completing this project.

Before our final submission we had to present our work to our Professors, WIN and SAATH team and the ‘nutri-preneurs’. We got genuine feedback from everyone. The feedback of the Nutri-preneurs was important for us as they were the ones to use the final material. They were so clear with what they required and what would be appealing and attractive for the children. We had a ‘good-feel’ working for the community women and got many new ideas from them.

The final collaterals designed were packaging label designs, standees, Tesu female and male mascots, social media posts, an animated video in Gujarati and Hindi and a radio jingle. All of this was done over a span of 3 weeks. At the end of the project our learning and understanding of various aspects of branding, strategies and brand campaigns were clear and we also understood the value of teamwork and co-design to enhance a ‘real-life’ brief.

Animated Video link

Audio Jingle Link