Perk Breakroom Essentials Packaging System | 2020

Designers: Staples Design, Staples, Framingham, Massachusetts, USA
Manufacturer: Staples, Framingham, Massachusetts, USA

The Perk brand competes head-to-head with other providers of breakroom, kitchen, and restroom essentials that employees and visitors use on a daily basis, along with seasonal fare to mark the passage of the year, and specialty selections that support office culture and events.

In a category with such narrow profit margins, products are typically value-engineered to meet utility needs and sustainability targets. Given these design constraints, the packaging itself can become a differentiating part of the brand experience.

This project involved the development of a communications system to unify the Perk offer. More importantly, it began with a question. What if the packaging were a canvas that the brand could use to start a conversation with users?

Brand Design Language
These consumables generally self-merchandising. Exterior surfaces of the package and product surfaces revealed through transparent thin-film wrappers both offered a design opportunity. Could they act as billboards for the Perk brand to speak up?

This creative jumping-off point led to a brand development process where the personality of the Perk brand emerged through the process of giving it a voice.

“What would Perk say?” was an easier question to pose than answer. After brainstorming iterations that included cringe-worthy discoveries of what didn’t work, the team coalesced around guard rails for writing stand-up for the Perk character.

Visual design explorations reflected the lightheartedness of the brand voice. A palette of light pastels used expressed in bold geometric forms and presented in repeat — across products in a pack, packs in a mix, and throughout the Perk signage systems — unified the visual language.

Cheeky calls to action, for products that don’t require them, juxtaposed against a backdrop of bright color fields, brought Perk personality not just to break rooms and cafeterias, but even inside cupboards or closets, where a friendly ‘hello’ can brighten someone’s day.