Project 33: Redesign Review- Planters Nuts
The past year seems to be the age of the “simplified” redesign. With more and more brands like Netflix and Google evolving their marks and brands to a cleaner look, it’s not surprising that other companies are jumping in too; with varying degrees of success. Some have given their redesign a lot of thought to make sure they kept their consumer-retaining equities while others have stripped their brand of the personality that makes it ownable.
One such brand I have noticed a change in recently is Planters Nuts. As I reached for my favorite flight snack on my way to California not long ago, I noticed a big change on their shelf. Planters Nuts was founded in 1906 and in 1916, the first rendition of Mr. Peanut came to life after a schoolboy won a contest for designing the brand mark. Fast forward a century and we still see our favorite Peanut on commercials and printed media along with their logotype and recognizable brand colors; blue and yellow. Recently, Planters launched their new and improved logo mark and updated packaging.
The first major change from past branding is the separation of Mr. Peanut from the logotype itself. In the previous rendition, he was tied with the type and cut off at the legs creating a weird line and a dismembered personality on pack. Not only have they pulled him out to play better to their heritage but this also allows them to use the logo and space better. Mr. Peanut himself also got a little jazzed up; the illustration no longer uses black to create shapes; instead opting for tone on tone dimension and cleaner lines.
Now that the type is no longer tied to Mr. Peanut, they have done away with their asymmetric curved logotype; ditching the ligatures, holding-shape and gradient in favor of a trendy, clean sans serif that is reminiscent of Planters logos past. Though less dynamic than the former logo, there is a nice balance. To be honest, it reminds me a lot of Netflix. The video streaming company seems to have started a trend of subtle but meaningful branding changes; while the planters interpretation is nice and could lend itself naturally to a relevant packaging update, overall it’s quite plain.
When it comes to their adaptation of the new branding to the package design, it could be pushed further. They have kept their strategy in place but have removed any type of flourish or gradient. Flat color floods the packs, using flat bands of color to differentiate flavor and nut variety. The hierarchy is straightforward and effective yet blocky with the tangents created by the logo and the color bands.
Overall, I feel like this rebrand is unfinished; a good stepping stone to some of the nicer elements that we see on their 100th anniversary bottle or the dessert mixes. The update to the logo is nice. Bringing in symmetry while keeping the curve that people have come to associate with the brand was a nice design decision. However, I do crave the motion from the old mark and I feel that they have not taken advantage of the symmetry on pack as well as they could have. They have cleaned up the logo to become more relevant but in the process became more generic. They are using new assets in old ways on pack causing the redesign to fall flat and feel like a cheaper product overall. With less character in the packaging, this feels more like a value brand instead of the brand of nuts I have grown up with. Part of me wishes that they had taken the great tone of voice they have created for Mr. Peanut throughout the last decade and really owned it. They have all the pieces but could spend a little more time to crack this nut.
