Itu Chauduri Design Creates Identity and Packaging for ‘What If’

The Client

Sipwise makes beverages with functional benefits, which have plant-based and natural formulations.

The Challenge

‘What If’ is a range of summer cooler beverages, with natural ingredients of green tea and herbs. Sipwise commissioned Itu Chaudhuri Design (ICD) to create the identity and packaging for the range.

The Design Solution

“The brand was named ‘What If’ and that was the starting point for the team. The idea was to dramatise benefits like calmness and alertness, by imagining the fantastical possibilities of being in such a state. What If was pictured in calm contrast to an intense segment dominated by overtly ‘healthy’ or ‘energising’ drinks.”

Itu Chadhuri Design

On the shelf

The fact that the category was ‘undefined’ posed a challenge. Each variant offers multiple and unfamiliar natural ingredients and flavours. The ICD team was worried that, apart from Green Tea, consumers would be unable to mentally slot the drink.

We began joking (quite seriously) that ‘What is it?’ was more important than ‘What If.’ The answer lay in the use of the word ‘cooler’, which was intuitive and evocative. This was displayed prominently on the packaging.

Itu Chadhuri Design

The pack uses a new vertical logo, and the team believes that this is the best response to preserving the throw of the brand unit on a small pack. The extra size, allowed by going vertical, made it an easy decision for them. It also helps to visually separate the logo from the illustration elements and descriptor.

A picture of crazy possibility

What if you could fly away on your red scooter? A playful mood has been deliberately created with illustrations of ingredients floating up to the clouds (desired state) alongside everyday objects (the daily grind). Soft, airy pastels support the mood. Individual hues cue flavours (green apple, peach, blueberry and rose are the flavour colours). The glossy shrink sleeve brightens the colours.  The solid colours organise the shelf, when massed together.