The Sea Harvest Group – an internationally recognised market leader in the fishing and food world – with operations in South Africa and Australia, recently overhauled their local packaging design to be more up-to-date, consumer-centered and brand-driven. Their current packaging has served them well for over eight years but, as we all know, the world is constantly changing and with these constant changes comes the need to evolve too, as consumers are always chasing after the next new and exciting option.

After a five-way pitch, heaps of research, a few (many) sleeplessness nights of concept development and design, Red Crown Design was awarded the Packaging Upgrade Project for Sea Harvest.

“We were delighted to have been able to partner with Sea Harvest as they embarked on this project as we have been working with them for many years, and have a real understanding of their business, their products and the brand itself” says Aardt Davidtz, CEO at Red Crown

With over 35 products spanning across seven categories and various flavour cues, our challenge was to create a balance between a strong brand presence and communicating all the critical information needed to easily navigate the range on shelf.

At Red Crown we believe in Brand Led Design as it communicates the values of the Brand more clearly and also creates a “Billboard” effect on shelf. We used a very consistent template, typography, iconography and colour system throughout the range – resulting in a striking and recognisable presentation. The use of photography was a key factor in telling the Sea Harvest story and it coupled as a tool to help distinguish between the various products and categories.

We wanted to convey the “fresh from the sea” message while creating a link back to the company’s roots in Saldahna Bay. We achieved this by shooting everything on a textured wooden background, which subtly brings through the history whilst ensuring the fish is the absolute hero.

To continue the brand story, we redesigned the back of pack which contains all the legal info, to also include a story relating to the specific product. A purposefully photographed image that highlights some of the fresh ingredients used in the product was intentionally used as the background for the back of pack text. The end result – beautifully considered design no matter what angle you look at it from.