Working on a Heinz brief from the designer’s perspective is dominated by one question: How should I use the distinctive but sometimes overbearing tombstone (sorry, ‘keystone’) device? How much of it do I need to use to make it mean something? Better still, to make it mean the right thing? (Ok that’s 3 questions.)
No point checking the brand guidelines, the brand is way too diverse to have any meaningful do’s and don’ts. So when we want established, expert Heinz, we’ll have the whole thing please, complete with triple keyline to protect our secret recipes. And for the cute, cuddly side of the brand, let’s have a soft, round-cornered, vignetted partial version, set at a restful angle. Both work for me. The sticky-uppy horizon version looks a bit severe here on the previous ‘breakfast’ design, but I’ve seen it work a treat on cans.
Takeout: Highly diversified brands need flexible identity systems to function optimally in diverse categories. To do this whilst remaining true to the brand’s core identity is possible, despite the lack of literal consistency.