How food illustration can market food products more effectively

The food and drink industry is a competitive one – with so many products available on our shelves, at markets and online, we are spoilt for choice. So how can food illustration help to market small food businesses more effectively?

The challenge is, branding food companies is an expensive business because this comprises of far more thought than just a logo to stick on your food labels – strategy and art direction are key in creating a brand that has longevity and consider all outputs, from social media to web design. Everything should look and feel consistent. With this being a big investment, it’s no wonder that many start-ups opt for a DIY approach to graphic design for their food products in the early days – perhaps only investing in a professional logo and cobbling together everything else themselves. Unfortunately, this can have a knock-on effect to the value people perceive – a cheap looking food label, menu or packaging can lead to distrust about the quality of your food products, whereas a strategic brand direction will increase profit in the long term.

How can food illustration help?

The Investment

Let’s address the number one concern most start-ups have when developing a brand identity or food packaging in the early days – cost. Coming up with the right direction for your brand can only be done well using professional consultants and I would always advise this first and foremost, but this is a risk considering a large percentage of start-ups fail in their first year. Of course you need to believe your business idea is strong and worth investing in – what you don’t want to do is invest a small amount into a brand identity or product packaging that you then have to re-do a year down the line due to quality concerns. Food illustration, on the other hand, can be licensed for limited use meaning that you don’t have to invest in exclusivity or full copyright. Many illustrators license existing work (providing it’s not used commercially elsewhere) and grant use for a limited time period. Start-ups can benefit from paying for a limited license, allowing them to use the work at a much lower cost to a full branding process. This then means that the effect of the work can be monitored before investing in wider licenses and allows the illustrator to re-license the work when out of contract use*. Commissioning a professional designer is also a lower cost than using a design agency, so doing so in conjunction with an illustrator (or commissioning an illustrator-designer, like myself), can provide the best outcomes and make sure everything is set up correctly. Illustrated packaging can have a big impact, but selecting the right style, however, will say different things about your brand, which leads me to the next point…

*you can read further information about licensing illustration in this article

Adding Personality

Food illustration is most effective when it is used in conjunction with a strong brand direction, but the benefit of illustration is that it can add personality to otherwise lacklustre brands, making them stand out on shelves or online. Food illustration gives a much different feel to a label than, say, food photography (and that’s not to say food photography shouldn’t be selected, but each will say something very different). Food illustration can give a very personal, authentic and ‘crafted’ feel to food products. Choosing the right illustration style is also key here – selecting a food illustrator that can create work to appeal to your target market. Are your products high-end? Then investing in very detailed illustration, drawing or printmaking can add an air of luxury and encourage sales at higher prices. Do you want to target young people with disposable income? Selecting an illustrator with a more colourful, characterful or hand lettered approach will appeal to those looking for something different and fun. In the case of full branding work, an art director would advise and commission packaging illustration, but if you’re opting for a DIY approach in the early days, take a look at some existing packaging illustration and who it’s aimed at – you’ll start to see style trends emerging. Using Pinterest is also a great way to collect reference of food illustrators – if you’re a gin company, for example, search for ‘illustrated gin packaging’ and see what styles emerge. You’ll notice a wide range appealing to different markets. Simply typing in ‘food illustrators’ will lead you to a range of different styles and website links - how do these styles compare to those you’ve seen in context on gin labels? Could you commission an appropriate artist or enquire about costs to license one of their illustrations if appropriate? You may want to take a look at stock websites for low cost ‘royalty-free’ licensing options, but bear in mind that these illustrations may have already been used hundreds of times over and will lack originality and quality. Think about how much you’re willing to invest.

Recognition

What brands really want is recognition – something that helps customers to keep coming back to you. Using food illustration prominently can add a very unique touch that identifies your products and helps them to become more memorable. If you are taking a DIY approach to branding in the early days, the best option is to keep your logo simple in conjunction with licensed illustration and evolve your logo over time. This also allows you to drip feed any brand changes while keeping a strong aesthetic, with the illustration as a recognisable part of your brand. There are also many ways of making sure your brand can be easily recognisable across different contexts and over time. Using a limited colour palette, for example, can ensure that even if you wanted to phase out illustration use, keeping consistent colour palettes can help people to hold some recognition if products change.

Clarification

Descriptions add clarification and many brands utilise copy as their key method for grabbing attention. This is a great strategy but adds cost – even if you don’t use an art director you will need to commission a professional copywriter to ensure the text is clear and on point, as well as a designer to compose it in a way that appeals to your audience. An alternative is to use illustration – illustrations of ingredients, for example, help people to get a feel for the taste of a product and create anticipation. A picture speaks a thousand words, as they say, and in the case of food packaging, menus and other collateral this is no less true. Licensing existing illustrations of ingredients, such as fruits, herbs or vegetables, can add a unique feel to the packaging whilst also creating much more clarity around what the customer is buying – and without reading any lengthy label descriptions.

Increase profit

Of course there are no guarantees that using illustration will help you to become a successful business – that’s down to your company strategy, but the ultimate goal of using illustration is to increase company profit, else why invest? Illustration in conjunction with professional layout design, can make sure products are more appealing, adding perceived value (there’s a reason why budget products use no imagery and basic fonts - to look cheap!). If you don’t want to look like a budget brand, using food illustration is what will set you apart.

Want to discuss licensing food illustration or a food illustration commission?