International design awards rarely go toward products in the camping category. But last month a prize was bestowed upon dehydrated camp-food company AlpineAire .
A Minneapolis agency called Capsule redid the graphics on the AlpineAire packaging, and within one month the brand saw a 44 percent growth in its just-add-water food sales.
HOW magazine , a publication for graphic and interactive designers, gave the new AlpineAire look one of its Merit nods in its International Design Awards competition.
It won, HOW noted, because of a “fresh and sophisticated” design that used a new color palette, photography style, and typeface.
More useful to the common camper, Capsule built a design structure on the front of the meal packaging to get at-a-glance information about what’s inside. This includes meal type, calories, protein, content weight, vegetarian or meat, and more.
On the side of the package is a ruler for measuring water to add. On back, instructions on preparation come in four or five steps.
Capsule calls all of these touches “navigational cues,” noting the design was an effort to improve “the experience in the [store] aisle and on the trail.”
The sleek new look is accompanied by good flavor. We tested the brand’s food last summer on trips as well as in the kitchen and were impressed. See our full review, “Just Add Water… ‘AlpineAire’ Camp Food Test.”
