When I worked at Ad Agency Kastner & Partners (2006) in Los Angeles one of the first projects I was awarded was to create a full range graphic identity for dog grooming brand ‘Isle of Dogs’. They launched a series of products with a various types of shampoos, conditioners, detanglers, cleaners and so on. The product sizes ranged from small scale travel sized bottles to large scale wholesale bottles. This always presents a good design challenge / brief as the system created needs to be scaleable as well as hold a continuity within the composition to align with the brand’s identity.
I designed the logo to be modular with what ever type of content the bottle featured. The system reference was taken from the classic mid century POS / POP product menu motif (Name) + (Number). This ensured the client to have a strong, easy to read and simple typographic design to accompany the selected product communication. I experimented with many typefaces but in the end I decided to stick with the classic motif and use the 1957 San Serif Swiss made typeface, Helvetica.
Testing the design across the range of bottles was the only way to see if the design direction would work. I comped up all bottles and worked with the photography department at Kastner to shoot the range. Once all products were shot and reviewed, the test served well. The design system was in place and we were able to present the final output to the clients. They approved the brand logo, design direction, and communications system. Isle of Dogs moved forward with production and used this ID for their global branding rollout, still going strong 20+ years on utilizing the original ID design on their core product line.