By Ashley McCarthy RGD, Senior Graphic Designer, Semtech
A lot has changed since I became a new mother in 2019. Going from maternity leave straight into working remotely (in-house for a large corporation) in a global pandemic has caused me to spend more time at home than I ever anticipated. Being surrounded by my son’s things every day has inspired me to take notice of the branding, packaging and design of products targeted towards my growing boy and our little family -- babies are big business. From breast pumps to baby slings, diaper bags to natural rubber organic baby teethers, the amount of products that are marketed to new parents is daunting. I thought I would take this opportunity to write about the brands that I think stand out in the market.
The focus of this is not about promoting, endorsing or reviewing any specific product, but about celebrating the branding that I find successful.
In no particular order:
Love Child Organics
Established in 2013 and a proudly Canadian company, Love Child Organics is a baby and children’s food products brand. Love Child Organics enlisted Vancouver-based agency Goat to develop their product packaging and marketing strategy. The illustrations on the packaging are my favourite aspect of the brand. Goat has successfully illustrated a bunch of spinach gently cradling a kiwi or a sweet potato with cinnamon stick arms embracing a beet without looking ridiculous. It’s warm and charming but also kind of zany. They’ve struck the right balance here.
Munchkin
Munchkin is a baby products and accessories brand based out of Los Angeles that mostly focuses on tools for feeding such as sippy cups, spoons and bowls. Based on this company blog post from Oct 2019, it looks like their brand was recently refreshed in-house for their 30th anniversary. What I love most about their branding is the simplicity of the product design and the colours. What the products lack in bells and whistles, they make up for in bright and punchy primary colours that make any toddler feeding experience fun and cheerful. The brand feels modern and cool without screaming “hipster”.
Medela
Headquartered in Switzerland, Medela has been a global leader in breastfeeding products since 1961. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to pin-point who is responsible for their branding, but what I love about it is that they use yellow so successfully. Breast milk, on a good day, is the lightest, sweetest shade of yellow, so it naturally makes sense for a breastfeeding brand. They’ve also managed to use yellow and black on the packaging without it feeling too “bumble bee”. It’s approachable yet medical without seeming too clinical.
Skip Hop
Self-described as a global lifestyle brand, Skip Hop started out designing diaper bags in 2003. The company quickly expanded and now designs a whole range of products for nurseries, playtime and feeding. The packaging is bold, clean and minimal and I love their approach to being gender-neutral with a portfolio of animals that are designed with simple shapes and modern hues. Gender neutrality is important with baby and children’s products because it means the products can be reused by everyone as hand-me-downs or donated when they are no longer needed, which benefits the consumer and the environment in the long-term.
Fisher Price
A behemoth in the industry and recently rebranded by Pentagram, Fisher Price has been in the baby brand game since 1930. Most of us have come across a Fisher Price toy at some point in our lives because Fisher Price is a company that stays on trend yet is timeless. The rebrand by Pentagram is simply fabulous. It’s fresh, fun and everything a children’s brand should be.
