Brand and Product Development
Can the Mead Five Star brand use design and brand strategy to change the lives of students in college and beyond?
MeadWestvaco challenges an interdisciplinary design studio to explore way to help college students manage their lives more effectively. Teams of designers envisioned platforms for product development and strategic initiatives.
One Team’s Project Response
Purposeful Resources for Each Stage of Development
College life is not linear, it is chaotic and multi-dimensional—moving in many differing directions simultaneously. It can at times feel as if you’ve been set adrift—perilously floating across an angry, rough sea—without any support. Hidden challenges may be encountered with each passing wave and initial direction is often hard to distinguish from strong winds and and swift currents. Overcoming fear is paramount to learning, involvement and overall success. Mead Five Star products can help.
Go ahead…get your feet wet, chart a course and dive in.
Five Star’s got your back.
The Fear Platform
Of the almost 500 respondents of our online survey, most were surprisingly open with their responses on the topics of fear and superpowers. While some of answers were predictable, quite a few provided interesting insight into the psyche of the typical college student. A selection of the recurring fear responses included:
- Failure, falling, suffocation and not finding a purpose
- Rejection, humiliation, living alone and not finding love
- Disease, bad health and death
- Saggy boobs, sharks and spiders
From our research our team chose rape, kidnapping & teleportation as provocative concepts to represent opportunities to investigate.
The Guiding Constellation
The Mead Five Star brand is based upon the idea of overcoming fears by charting a course for success. This ideal is visualized through a new brandmark.
Refined to incorporate the five stars as an upward celestial pattern, the guiding constellation leads the course for students travelling on their own wave of development.
Research Methodology
- One-on-One Interviews
- Direct Observation
- Online Survey
- Problem Scenarios
- Consumer Personas
Product Development
Leveraging the proposed brand strategy, new directions and innovative products were explored. Initial product concepts were created and presented to the Mead brand for consideration.