Right Product, Right Place
Redesigning Trü Fru's packaging to prevent product mix-ups
*This project is not affiliated with TruFru
Role
Designer
Timeline
1 Week
Tools
Figma
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Firefly
Team
Solo Project
01 CONTEXT
A Rebrand Project
After seeing a problem caused by packaging design, I wanted to challenge my own design skills. The objective was to create a packaging system that helps consumers identify and differentiate Trü Fru’s Hyper-Chilled and Hyper-Dried products at a glance. Rather than changing Trü Fru’s playful identity, I focused on making where each product belongs more obvious.
*This is an experimental design project and is not affiliated with the brand TruFru
02 PROBLEM
Same Brand, Different Storage
Tru Fru offers two distinct product lines: Hyper-Chilled, its frozen fruit products, and Hyper-Dried, its freeze-dried, shelf-stable products. Both delicious and made with 100% real fruit, each serves as a healthy snack alternative.
But… can you tell which is which?
A clear visual indicator differentiating Trü Fru’s two very different products is missing. Hyper-Chilled and Hyper-Dried share a similar visual identity, but require completely different storage conditions.
Without a clear distinction, it’s easy for the wrong product to end up in the wrong place.
It Starts With a Mix-Up
Tru Fru's expansion into both frozen and shelf-stable fruit products creates a new retail challenge: shoppers and employees need to quickly distinguish products that require freezer storage from those that don't.
When the wrong product ends up in the wrong place. The mix-up isn't just a packaging issue. It's a retail and information-design problem. If a frozen product is miplaced on a regular shelf, or a shelf-stable product is placed in the freezer, consumers may not immediately know that something is wrong.
And if that distinction isn't clear in the store, how can we expect consumers to make the right decision at home?
How might we make Tru Fru's frozen and shelf-stable products immediately distinguishable, so the right product ends up in the right place?
03 COMPETITOR RESEARCH
Brands That Do It Well
How do brands communicate difference within the same product family? I looked at brands that manage large product portfolios to understand how they balance brand consistency with product differentiation.
Cola Cola
Colours clearly distinct different coke types
Same brand architecture with strong visual differentiation
Activia Yogurt
Yogurt varieties
Uses colour + product imagery to distinguish flavours
Companys use colours, typography and shapes to clearly indicate different products while still keeping the design cohesive to the brand.
The difference needs to be recognizable before it needs to be understood.
04 DESIGN DIRECTION
A Clear Indicator
Clear design indicator is needed to distinguish between the two similar but very different products.
These design requirements include…
Immediate
The storage requirement should be understood at a glance.
Consistent
The indicator should appear in the same location across every product.
On brand
The solution should feel like Tru Fru, not a generic food safety label.
To achieve all three requirements I included 2 main design decisions in my design
Make storage impossible to miss
I introduced a dedicated circular indicator using icon + colour + explicit language:
Rather than relying on consumers to understand “Hyper-Chilled” or “Hyper-Dried,” the indicator communicates the storage requirement directly.
The goal: understand the requirement before reading the rest of the packag
A Visual distinction between product lines
I developed a dark vs. light system to create an immediate visual difference between the two product lines.
Hyper-Chilled → Dark
The darker packaging reinforces the cold/freezer association while giving the frozen line a stronger visual presence.
Hyper-Dried → Light
The lighter packaging creates a visual separation from the frozen line and supports the idea of a pantry/shelf-stable product.
This means the distinction isn't communicated through the sticker alone — the entire package participates in the system.
05 FINAL DESIGN
Results and Mock ups
06 TAKEAWAYS & NEXT STEPS
To Design is to Inform
This project reminded that design is about conveying a message and it is important that consumers understand. Throguhout the redesign process, I learned how minor design decisions like hierarchy, colour, icons and placement can have a great impact on solving a real world problem. The packaging problem became a lesson in information design and designing for context. A package doesn't exist in isolation; it exists on a crowded shelf, in a freezer, in someone's grocery bag, and eventually in their home.
Ultimately, this project reinforced my belief that design is about communication. The best solution isn't necessarily the most visually complex one — it's the one that communicates the right message to the right person, at the right moment.