Case study · Mistral
Mistral
A brand guide, packaging design guide and new premium-look packaging for Mistral's range of kitchen, household and electronics products.
01 — Context
Small appliance packaging design for a wide range
Mistral sells a wide range of everyday products, from kitchen appliances and household items to electronics. The brand wanted a luxe, consistent look for its packaging across that whole range. It needed small appliance packaging design that could hold the range together.
The brief had three parts: a brand guide, a packaging design guide, and the packaging itself for a first set of products. The work had a practical goal behind the look. Once the system was set, Mistral needed to be able to apply it to many more boxes without reinventing it each time. We approached the project as packaging design and system design together.
02 — The system
Black boxes, coloured swooshes
We set every box in a deep matte black, with the product photographed in soft, low light so it seems to emerge from the packaging. The effect is quiet and premium, closer to a design-led appliance brand than to a discount aisle. Black also gives every product photo the same backdrop, so a white fan and a dark kettle sit comfortably together on a shelf.
The Mistral logo carries the colour. Its swoosh changes by product category: yellow for the kettle, under the kitchen line "Cooking with convenience"; red for the ceramic tower heater; and blue for the pedestal fan. Shoppers and retail staff can tell product families apart at a glance, while the boxes still read as one brand side by side.
The layout repeats on every pack. The front holds the logo, the product photo and the product name in a light sans-serif at the bottom left, with a key spec such as capacity, wattage or size in a small circle at the bottom right. The side panel repeats the logo and lists four key features, each with a simple white line icon in a circle, and, on the tall cartons, a smaller product image beneath. On the kettle, that means a 360° cordless power base, an illuminated on/off switch, an easy-view water window and one-touch lid opening.
03 — The guides
Guides that let the system scale
A packaging system is only useful if the next box gets it right. Alongside the packaging, we produced a brand guide and a packaging design guide to keep the logo, colour coding, photography, type and feature icons consistent across different carton shapes, from a cube for the kettle to tall boxes for the heater and fan.
Those brand guidelines give Mistral a reference for every new product in the range, so the shelf keeps looking like one family as it grows. It is the same thinking behind why a cohesive brand matters.
For more product packaging, see our Amazon-ready boxes for Brazen Chef, or our sell sheet for another kettle brand, Artisan Kettle. Envy has also been recognised as a top packaging design company.
What we delivered
A packaging system and the guides to extend it.
