Further Developments

In terms of developments I took forward the veganuary font as I was using the same theories veganuary uses to draw people in so it seemed best suited. While also using the normal Heck logo alongside it. I also chose the sausage illustration pattern as it was the most neutral imagery I could find that would not put anyone off when buying the product.

I began to experiment with colour and layouts to see which best worked in suiting both products while still differentiating them enough, still keeping to the lenient vegauary campaign (more geared towards flexiterianism). Developing the colours It became that to take elements of typical branding strategies from both meat and plant based products as it will take interests and suit both demographics. So used a thicker stoke, large typeface set on to a softer background. While having the sausage illustration in the back was a middle ground in terms of imagery as this would not offend or put anyone off anyone. I played around with composition to see which one best portrayed my campaign. Figure one the type was too large and too similar to the original branding of heck for my liking,  I placed the logotype on the side, it just didn’t stand out enough, it was from one extreme to the other and being on the side there was to much negative space and the rest on the information looked off .

The design I felt best reflected my campaign was the circle logotype as It communicated the brand while not being too in your face and kept in with the veganuary theme thought he typeface, the other typefaces I used were chalet thin and bold also used by veganuary as body type. In figure 1 top left shows the final colour I chose which is F6A310 however I knocked the opacity down to 30% so the product information was a clear as possible, once again a decision informed by information deficit model.

Final Outcome

Overall the final outcome answered the brief as the designs followed in the footsteps of veganuary and became an intervention to sustainable consumerism. Although taking a different approach to veagnuary by offering meat alongside the plant based products, it was just more to give the consumer choice and inform them of the product following the information deficit model which believes that if people were better informed then they would change their behaviour. I am trying to inform the decision of the consumer but also to persuade as I am using the Planned behaviour theory portray the plant based product in the same light as the meat so it doesn't seem like a big change to try it and once they try it they will be more informed, so both theories are working in tandem as well as the products. The branding I have created is social, transparent and accessible, it is clear in communicating what it is, while not segregating newer audiences with imagery and colours. The colours and patterns I have used are neutral within the market breaking down stereotypes and misconceptions about vegan products making it more plausible for people to try it. While still subtlety using design tactics that of meat using large, bold typefaces drawing in the masculine demographic, but finding the right balance so it is applicable to all.

One of the main issues I faced was within the imagery and the colours I used, they changed many times throughout, as when asking people if they thought it would segregate or put off certain consumers. This I did not want because the reason for this campaign was to target meat eaters who have never tried plant based to give it a go (promoting flexiterianism), I wanted a plant based and meat product under the same brand and campaign with similar branding, with slight differences and considerations to highlight the product so that people could try the plant based and learn about it making their future purchases more informed. The final colours I chose were black bold font(barrio Veganuary font) for the type with inspiration from Wicked Kitchen and Beyond meat who both do this and then using a soft tan orange and knocking the opacity down for the background to give it calmer, neutral background like the vegan brands I previously researched. The slogan boards I built alongside the products also proved to be affective because It helped encouraged people to give it a go and it's okay if you fail as long as you're giving it a go 'Bad Vegan Does Good' because it is really hard to break peoples consumption habits especially within the meat and diary sector as people have been brought up with it and it is ingrained into our everyday lives.

In conclusion the final outcome worked a cohesive whole being open and accessible to mass audiences allowing the plant base trend to grow, reducing meat intake pushing towards more sustainable consumptions habits.

Experimenting with After Effects

As I began making advertsimenst boards to go alongside the products, I wanted to experiment with animating them as I intended to have a social media aspect to it to it, However I ran into trouble animating. When rendering the colours didnt come out true to the design and after trying many tactics to reslove this, the best I could get was the original colour but only at full opacity. so I decided not to use as final outcome as I would not be consistent witht the campaign. I also tried to create a squiggly pattern to resemble that of a susage for social media but ran into the same trouble with the rendering of the colours as you can see in figurees 1 and 2 the colours are very dark.

Developed Initial Ideas

These are the first designs I drew up based around my ideas, I wanted to keep it true to the orginal design with some considerations and twists the gear it towards a more diverse demographic, But I feel these ones did not break away enough from the original heck and it wouldnt be no different in the eyes of the consumer. I needed to find the right balance in keeping in with brand while poratraying it in a new light.

Initially I didn’t want to steer to far away from he original Heck branding as it was already colourful and contemporary, unlike your ordinary meat brand, which is the reason I chose it in the first place. The first initial Idea I had was (see figure1) to keep it simple to the original branding but with a few considerations and changes to promote the plant based and veganuary aspect. I used the original Heck logo with a few minor changes in style and colour using the Barrio font which is used by veganuary and I sampled the colours from a swatch made based around veganuary. I then began to play around with Barrio more as it made the products become more of a stand alone campaign for something different rather than just and extension of Heck. As the plant based sausages were made from beetroot I created an illustrated background to portray the product. However when I took this into crits people said that it makes it less accessible and desirable to someone who has a meat based diet and they are less likely to pick it up off the shelf, if it has this type of imagery on it. I wanted to incorporate another theory from Veganuary’s approach which is the Information deficit model which is the assumption that if people were better informed then they would change their behaviour,  It has been emphasized in many studies that it is crucial that consumers have the availability of information regarding sustainable consumption in order to ensure they have power to change to their behaviour. So I wanted to the product information at the forefront and clear but put  across in way that also follows 

Planned behaviour theory as well. Branding a pant based product alongside the meat product as it would seem to be more in the comfort zone of the meat eater and that it is not that much of a jump for them to try it because they branded and packaged similar, alongside meat will lead to more people trying it out, because you are being informed that it similar bracket to meat just more ethical giving you many reasons to try it. This is an intervention to sustainable consumption. 

Project Statement

Throughout my project I have explored the purchasing market within the food industry and different elements that are causing the changes towards a more sustainable future. My research looked into how the modern consumers are being more ethically driven within they're purchasing pattern causing a developments in the plant based market. ‘Consumers are looking to the private sector to make a change and using they're purchasing power to demand transparency, accountability and social responsibility from the companies they do business with’ (Mainwaring, 2018). This shift is coming consumers being more aware of the affects theirtheir consumption can have, the practical side on this project is and intervention to sustainable consumption, pushing people towards a more informed decision when choosing their products. The practical consisted of a rebrand of Heck sausages in a campaign with Veganuary to take a different approach in steering people away from meat by encouraging them to try plant based products alongside meat, making there later decisions more informed. It consisted of a plant based product, meat product and a 2 advertisements to back it up, This was inspired by the growing numbers of Flexiteriains in the UK, “The their trend carves a very accessible and unrestricted middle ground between simply meat eaters and non-meat eaters,” says Mintel’s senior food analyst Emma Clifford. On top of the various benefits animal welfare, health and environmental, it’s also become aspirational, she adds, with social media playing an important role in the attraction of this endeavour’ (Burrows, 2018). Creating a brand that was neutral yet still appealing it opened my demographic to being more diverse by not segregating anyone through design, allowing the sustainable trends to grow. 

The main problem I ran into was creating a neutral brand that looked appealing to both diets, I feel I successfully did this by taking elements of typical branding of wither sides and using the strongest design strategies from each one enticing them to make a cohesive product. I wanted the type and logo to be the most engaging part of the packaging as I was following the Information deficit model where information is key in getting people to change their behaviour, also took reference from previous successful began products who used large stroke dark typefaces like Beyond meat and Wicked Kitchen(used Veganuary font Barrio). Because of the information being the key part the background and colour needed to be soft so they information could stand out, I changed the colours a lot throughout the process as it is hard to find neutral in food as it is so subjective. The colours I chose which were sampled from the veganuary swatch to me was the perfect middle ground of the bright colours of vegan branding and the darker tones of meat branding. Improvements that I would make on the project would be to extend the range of products within the campaign to give people more options to chose again widening the demographic. In terms of the design I would like to continue playing around with the typelogo as I showed it in many different variants, it could change product to product. I would also like to collect more information about the products so I can relay that on to the customer delivering more on the information deficit model theory as it would be more inclined to change consumer behaviour if they are informed. 

In terms of linking to my essay my practical flows nicely as my essay focuses on consumption and other theories surrounding it and fuelling it, then my practical is a intervention to sustainable consumption in trying to get people to change their buying habits to a more sustainable rate through informing there choice. 

Veganuary: Intervention to Sustainable Consumption

I began to look at veganuary, as my project being based around sustainability within the food industry, with the growing attention to the impact these animal products are having on the enviroment, this has caused a shift in the market towards plant based products. Veganuary is a charity that promtes veganism as an intervention for sustianable consuption, I wanted to understand the theories behind veganuary attempts to change peoples consumption behaviour and apply it to my rebrand. Veganuary targets cosumers through three different intrests of veganism, animal welfare, enviromental reasons and health reasons. so it is getting people from three different audiances making it a lot more accessible and making their demographic as a wole a lot more diverse. Veganuary began in 2014, 3300 people signed up and after 4 years the number of peopletaking part in 2018 was over 150,000. “Veganuary is dedicated to changing public attitudes, while providing all the information and practical support required to make the transition to veganism as easy and enjoyable as possible.” (Veganuary, 2018). They identify the importance of providing information and of changing public attitudes, as highlighted in the above quote. To do this, they lean on certain theories which could explain why their methods would lead to behaviour changes, two examples of which are the Information-Deficit Model and the Theory of Planned Behaviour.

Information-Deficit Model

The information-deficit model is a representation of the assumption that if people were better
informed then they would change their behaviour. It has been emphasized in
many studies that it is crucial that consumers have the availability of information regarding
sustainable consumption in order to ensure they have power to change to their behaviour

This can be applied to Veganuary, due to the huge amount of information that they provide on their
website about the impact that eating animal products has on the environment, animal welfare and
personal health. Therefore, they are assuming that if consumers were more aware of these issues,
then they would be willing to change their behaviour.

Theory of Planned Behaviour.

The Theory of Planned Behaviour is a framework for understanding and predicting a persons’
behaviour. It identifies three determinants of intention, attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control which inturn predicts behaviour


It is hard to tell if veganuary has been successful as an intervention of sustainable consumerism, the growing numbers would say so but it is still ard to tell. My rebranding of Heck sausages will encourage people to try more plant based producst but will do it in a way that appeals to more people, by not branding it as an alternative but a product in itself, sold alongside meat making them more likely to pick it up off the shelf.

Heck Sausages Research

After reading through the eyeing alternative article about what large meat companies are investing into plant based products wise. I chose to look into HECK more as it seemed the like the brand that fitted the bill of what I wanted the most, the different products under the one name. The branding of the products is already very comtemporary and communicates the product well. However I want to rebrand them in a campaign alongside veganuary, trying to get people to try and give the vegan and veggie products a go selling alongside the meat, just encourage the reduction of meat intake.

Heck

Looking into Heck I quickly learnt that they fitted the bill better than I thought as the the meat was locally sourced and what seemed to be ethical through what they were saying on the website. They are a british and independant brand which is what I talked the new generation of consumer are searching for within their products. 

We are the Keebles. Making sausages is in our blood and we've been doing it for years. We pride ourselves on our service and flavour and pull out all the stops to deliver farmers' market quality sausages wherever you are

We work the farm, the shows and in the factory to ensure we offer the most unique, healthy and most delicious sausages around. We are British and proudly independent!

WE ARE HECK!

One generation on, we’re all working together on the family farm to bring you sausages packed to the skin with quality, flavour and inspiration.

Every time we perfect a new recipe, we get our friends and family round. The more the merrier. If we could, everybody would have a place round our kitchen table. So with Heck, we’re doing the next best thing 

How I would rebrand: 

The existing branding of Heck was already quite contemporary so I would like to incorporate it in some way while still having a new campaign alongside it. The new campaign will be based around getting people to try pant based products and reduce their meat intake. branding the meat and the plant based products within the same light will make people who have never tried it before more likely to as they are more comfortable with it and because there purchse is a little more infomed, following the planned behaviour theory.