New Packaging!

I was recently described as a chocolate maker “who focuses almost solely on substance-over-image.”  I took it as a high compliment, but with some irony as I was in the thick of redesigning my packaging.

For a while now, I’ve been thinking of updating the packaging for my bars. I continue to be a big fan of the current packaging–especially the minimalism and simplicity. To me, it puts the focus where it should be: on the chocolate. Even so, there are some issues that caused me to start thinking about an update–mainly related to the lack of protection provided by the bag. I have to take a lot of extra precautions on my end to make sure the bars stay pretty, and then they can still incur dings and smudges during shipping or just from being handled in a shop.

Once I resigned myself to the idea, I got pretty excited thinking about how I can update the packaging to better represent what I’m trying to do with the chocolate–especially the handcrafted aspect–and still address the logistical issues. In keeping with my DIY approach to chocolate-making, the new packaging is a somewhat more traditional foil-wrapped bar, wrapped in a hand-cut paper sleeve with the design and text hand-stamped with custom-made rubber stamps.

Before coming up with the final design, I went through a ton of different paper types, paper thicknesses, design ideas and even ordered a full set of rubber stamps of a previous design that was *this close* to being the final design. I also ended up updating my logo–twice!

I had a lot of help from my wife Cyndi, my kids and parents, and a bunch of friends who really helped out by giving me feedback, criticism and suggestions. In particular, thanks to my friend Charisse, who taught me a ton about the art of rubber stamping and saved me a lot of stamp-related frustration.

I’ll be honest; I don’t think I could love how it turned out any more than I do. I’d love to hear what you think–leave me a comment below!