Design Force, Inc., proudly announces that The Toy Book has published its president, Ted Mininni’s latest article as a feature in the publication’s Outside the Box column of the June 2023 Licensing Expo issue. The piece, titled: How Package Design Can Be the Most Powerful Storyteller for Licensed Brands at Retail, highlights the packaging program refresh for The Witcher as an example of a licensed product packaging program that embodies the essence of an entire franchise.
As the article begins, Mr. Mininni states: “Packaging for licensed brands relies heavily on storytelling to establish a positive retail experience for consumers. By incorporating the right combination of equitable, highly recognizable visual assets associated with the licensed brand — the property logo, design architecture, color palette, imagery, iconography, textures, fonts, and an overarching visual aesthetic — the brand story comes together in a unique, ownable visual language that will resonate with its fans.” He then goes on to explain how Netflix’s goal for the packaging refresh was to create a look that was all-encompassing of the franchise, rather than one that focuses on a particular story arc or on the series’ upcoming third season, and how they wanted to adopt a simpler, more sophisticated aesthetic, without incorporating imagery of the characters from the series.