#HomeFeelsLike: Emotional storytelling through chocolate
Who
Franceschi chocolate is a Venezuelan chocolate brand which follows a tradition since 1830, of producing ethically sourced and single origin dark chocolate. Made with trinitario cocoa, which represent 14% of the world production and 90% of Venezuela’s production.
What
Franceschi Chocolate plans to expand its production and sales to the European market, and wants their new customers to connect with the brand. Also, it wants to give visibility to the diversity present in South-American countries.
#HomeFeelsLike: An integrated campaign that explores the feelings of home and showcases diversity in its characters, uniting people from different cultures into the shared longing for home, through Franceschi's chocolate bars.
Did you know
As human beings we tend to hold onto traditions and gravitate towards what is familiar to feel home and safe. As a migrant, this feeling grows being far from foods, people and cultures you are used to. It provokes many challenges, not only of language, but of integrating, belonging and adapting. The interest of this project is born from my own experience as a Venezuelan migrant in Europe, and how a tiny part of home can uplift and bring you comfort even in times of struggle and uncertainty.
Approach
The research phase was based on the Design Council‘s 2019 evolved Double Diamond, as well as the elaboration of a Creative Brief to determine the key aspects of the integrated campaign and aid in the development of it.
To design the patterns, I utilised a source image of Wayuu patterns, which is an Indigenous American ethnic group of the Guajira Peninsula in northernmost part of Colombia and northwest Venezuela.
At the start of the ideation process, I created four characters that embody each type of chocolate. These showcase Venezuelan and South-American women in it. This also follows historic references of how women were primarily responsible for preparing chocolate in ancient civilisations, such as the Aztec society. For the women holding the cocoa shell, I wanted to represent the diversity of skin colours present in Venezuela and also in South America overall, and communicate that these are all ethnicities present in this country.
For the design of the woman pouring chocolate, I based my illustration on the one from the Tudela Codex (1553) but adapted to match the style of the other three illustrations.
Throughout the process, I found that I could connect my visuals through the colours that represent each area of Venezuela where the cacao is sourced and visualise it through the illustrations. Taking into account that the line of chocolates I chose to promote all belong to the Trinitario cocoa type, which is yellow, aromatic, fruity and almost nutty, this had to be present in each of the three main illustrations.
I worked first with a similar colour palette as the former packaging of the Dark Line of chocolates from Franceschi, but after many iterations I came up with one more fitting to the coastal regions where the cacao comes from, combined with the colours of the skin and the Trinitario cacao shells.
Outcome
The integrated campaign contains a message of inclusiveness, visibility and diversity, taking the concept of "home" further and using it as a connecting element between users and the product.
The deliverables include: Print (posters, magazine ads), a promotional video (link here), social media content (posts, animations, hashtags, filters), new packaging and an exhibition booth concept. As part of this project, I designed four characters that represent each chocolate and the region where the chocolate comes from. They are inspired by Aztec women as well as modern women.
Booth Details. The cacao shell shelf was inspired by the Favo Modular Wall Elements, by Imperfettolab made of Fiberglass.
Street billboard advertising.
Instagram filters.