Interview with Coming Clean designer Rebecca Worth

Each speculative brand in the Coming Clean design collection not only provides a unique, aesthetic take on a sustainably-forward product, but does so with a design that tells the story of each label’s relationship to the environment. To better learn about this holistic approach towards design, the M_use team chatted with Rebecca Worth, the lead designer that spearheaded the project. 

Based in Utrecht, Netherlands, Rebecca has a background in brand design, but has embraced the potentials of the package, playing an integral part of the Avery Dennison creative team.

M_use: Tell us about your process in tackling this complex brief? 

Rebecca: I started by looking at trend reports to identify what was happening in the food industry in relation to a growing concern from consumers about environmental and personal health. I came across all of these brands, big and little, doing super interesting things. From there, we wanted to ensure that the project was strategic in addressing these ideas. We wanted to push the stories of what’s actually happening with food solutions in relation to the health of the environment and our personal wellbeing. We landed with six possible solutions.

This holistic approach is also about authenticity. Strong brands are authentic brands, with no disconnect between their brand expression and business practices.

M: Did you find yourself balancing in-depth research with intuitive design decisions? If so, how did it play out throughout the process? 

R: The research for each of these prototypes, which centered around a specific sustainable food solution, was very logical. A lot of consideration was taken to best match a food solution to a label material. Some of the connections are a bit more tenuous, and others more obvious. I wanted to emulate the way a brand designer works, which meant thinking about a label material’s ability to best communicate the values and/or positioning of the brand.

We developed personas for each prototype. With Batch, for example, you have something intended to feel family-run and made with care. Zebedees on the other hand was intended to be super playful and non-traditional. The intuition came in a little later, when the strategy and narratives were set in place.

M: Which of the labels in the collection was the easiest to design? Which was the most difficult?

R: Goodness Gracious was the easiest, perhaps because the label material already has a super distinct character and materiality. It made sense to capitalize on the label’s partial composition of citrus waste by pairing it with a prebiotic geared towards intestinal health. The print finishing, where a white screen-printed background frames the material’s texture to make a playful weaving shape, was a risk to pull off. The effect is subtle but elegant.

Surprisingly the most difficult, but one of my favorites, was Zebedees. In the beginning, I just could not crack it. I think it was due to wanting each design to have its own unique variation. Some being more typographic and others being more graphic or illustrative. That even meant thinking about the actual form, shape and treatment of the label. Some have a custom die cut shape, some leverage the transparency of the label material, and some use a foil treatment. 

In the end I decided to differentiate Zebedees from the rest by focusing on a custom label shape. A few layered post-it notes above my desk, got me thinking about using multiple elements with varied shapes which lead to the tomato and the splat. After that, things started to move a bit easier.

M: How do you balance designing for the specific parameters of the package (size, material, application) and the more general brand identity? Does one inform the other, or do you tackle them simultaneously?

R: They interplay completely. But it also comes back to thinking holistically. ‘What is the most applicable element that can express this specific thing that we’re trying to communicate?’. It might be the material, the type, the finishing, a combination of those, or something else entirely.