A colleague of mine was in the initial partnership and startup phase of RAD Roller. They were attempting to go to market well ahead of their products being completed, but there were some challenges presented initially such as not having a prototype in hand to organize a proper product photoshoot. They needed a design fast so they could start manufacturing in their oversees Chinese production facility ahead of their product launch deadlines. This rush to market strategy created an opportunity to quickly drum up some illustrative designs for collateral and product packaging so they could quickly go-to-market with their new brand campaign. In lacking product photos I created a series of digital illustrations and incorporated them into a base product design that was established by another creative firm. These temporary digital illustrations were used in both the packaging and user guides in the first product phase for the initial product launch before they would later be replaced with photography upon completion of their product suite.
As a team the owners, other creatives and stakeholders collaborated in snapping some amateur photos of the product prototype they did have so that I could render illustrations based off their "rolling" movements and applications. We used these initial digital illustrations for phase 1 product packaging, user guides, and other collateral design in the family to extend across several product lines in this first phase. The established design and branding were extended across product and incorporated the illustrations for an enhanced product design during this crucial launch phase. Lastly, I collaborated with their Chinese print vendor through final production and distribution of the product line and sequential trade show campaign launch.
Our interim product packaging design was successfully replicated across over 8 individual products and all collateral including user guides and more. The expedited delivery and quick creative solution to solve the problem of not having product photography in hand was a beneficial strategy in getting the company on its feet and launching ahead of their product completion to tap into the market early. With this quick thinking and action on the design front we were able to successfully launch a go-to-market product suite with accompanying collateral with brand harmony despite the product photo hiccup. The initial product design phase evolved into quite the product suite they showcase today and contributed to their longterm success.
It was critical the company enter the space at the time they did when the market was hot and ahead of competitors you see on the shelf today. Quick design thinking to creatively solve their product photography and tight deadline problems leveraged their early market entry to quickly grow the company and evolve the products beyond their first phase. Expediting design services and solving their creative asset gap with digital illustrations allowed us to use the challenge as an opportunity and pivot to successfully launch early and ahead of the market trends.
One foot deep in creative and one foot deep in the alpine. Designing solutions to solve big challenges & suffering in beautiful places.
