Have you ever wondered how much work goes into designing the packaging of your favourite products? For the last two years, ecostore has been working with one of New Zealand's leading creative agencies, Special, to redesign the packaging of their popular plant-based products.

“Our new design look is the result of two years of research and design in both New Zealand and Australia," says Melissa Fletcher, Marketing Director for eceostore. "We wanted to give our packaging a little more confidence on shelf and reflect the expertise of our product formulations, but do it in such a way that it didn’t 'shout'."

Having put in so much effort, ecostore and the team from Special were delighted to be awarded a Gold Award for packaging design at the Best Awards in New Zealand last week. And with 824 entries fighting for just 21 Gold awards, ecostore were particularly proud to be the only supermarket brand recognised in the awards.

"To be acknowledged with a design Gold is pretty cool," Fletcher added.

ecostore’s new look keeps the iconic photography of Deb and Mark Smith, which has featured on their products for more than ten years, on the baby and house-cleaning product range, but introduces a complete new look with their body care ranges. Their haircare, skincare, soaps and washes all feature the art of internationally renowned New Zealand artist John Reynolds.

“We wanted to create a new look for our body ranges that separated it from our cleaning products.  It made sense for us to work with John.  His philosophy on art is the same as our philosophy on product formulation – less is more.  They’re distinctive but simple at the same time.” Special group Creative Director Heath Lowe says.

Speaking about why they chose to work with Reynolds, co-founder of ecostore Melanie Rand notes that "[we] love the way his use of grid lines, and swirling loops and stars is suggestive of the ‘less is more’ philosophy we apply to all aspects of product formulation. We use the least amount of chemicals at the lowest concentrations to get the best results and we don’t use cheap fillers or bulking agents to give a misleading perception of value."

ecostore also received a Silver Award for the design aspects of its packaging.