Peter Pan Peanut Butter (Student Project)

Designer: Quintin Caldwell
Project Type: Student Project
School: Chicago Portfolio School
Course: Branding
Tutor: Graham Ebetsch
Location: Chicago, United States
Packaging Contents: Peanut Butter
Packaging Materials: Plastic Jar

The purpose of this rebrand was to elevate Peter Pan, an American peanut butter staple since 1920, beyond its food safety transgressions for good. Though the brand’s issues occurred almost a decade ago, the Peter Pan website still makes direct reference to them on it’s homepage and many grocery chains have yet to place their products back on shelves.

And so an effort was made to revamp the brand, implementing a hand lettered style in the logo that triggers both nostalgia and modernity. The succinct icon system uses recognizable shapes from the classic Disney film, which Peter Pan Peanut Butter has made direct connections with. Like the never-ending feud between Captain Hook and Peter, playful type illustrates the dichotomy of the brand’s world and allows the labels to dive deeper into the timeless magic of Peter Pan. This depth can also be seen in each label’s layers, from the active silhouettes above the logo to the shadowed scenes running along the packaging’s bottom edge.

What’s Unique?
The bulk of the the branding project consisted of applying these new elements across the entire line of peanut butter. Each label employs a strict duochromatic color scheme that is then inversely applied from creamy to crunchy variety. By using only two colors on each label, the products appear fresh and easily coded. Any specific product within the line is recognized simultaneously as unique and as part of the larger Peter Pan brand.