A brand for changing habits.

Giving a new material a place in everyday life

In 2017, Prodplast was developing a new direction for a business with roots in Romanian plastics manufacturing. Its plant-based product range needed a brand that people could recognise and a reason for them to change what they bought.

That change was still a choice. The products cost more than familiar alternatives, and the difference was not always visible. A cup still looked like a cup. A bag still needed to carry the shopping.

Prodplast was investing ahead of a wider shift in how single-use plastics would be regulated. The EU’s Single-Use Plastics Directive was proposed in 2018 and adopted in 2019, after our work had begun.[1]

A brand people could choose and businesses could work with

We were asked to create the new brand, from its positioning and name to the identity, packaging and materials needed to introduce it.

It had to speak to people making everyday purchases and to businesses comparing products for their shops, cafés and restaurants. For both audiences, the brand needed to make an unfamiliar range easier to understand, while giving it an identity of its own.

The explanation belonged inside the brand

Our early work included interviews and a naming study. We considered how a name would be remembered, what it would suggest and how it would relate to the products sold under it.

The problem extended beyond recognition. Buyers needed to understand what made the products different before they could judge their value.

That shaped the role of the identity. Illustration and language would draw people in; product information would help them make a choice. Education became part of the packaging, sales literature and retail presentation.

It had to work on the pack

The identity needed to survive the practical demands of labels, printed film and a varied product range. A small bag label had to carry the product size, quantity, material information, certification marks and handling advice.

We organised this information into repeatable layouts, supported by a green-and-brown print palette and a system of icons. The same approach could then move between packaging, product literature and larger displays.

The information had to remain specific to the product: its source material, whether it was intended for hot or cold use, and the relevant composting or recycling information.

Materiale bine-crescute

We named the brand Biodeck. The Romanian tagline, Materiale bine-crescute, plays on two meanings: materials that are grown, and materials that are well brought up. It connects their plant-based origin with the idea of behaving responsibly.

The English expression used in the project, Well-Behaved Packaging, carries that second meaning. It gave the brand a friendly way to talk about a serious subject.

A landscape with room to grow

The rounded wordmark incorporates a leaf. Around it, we developed an illustrated landscape of mountains, trees, wildlife and everyday objects, using a palette that extends from green and brown to brighter orange, yellow and blue.

The stag became a recurring character. In the brand book, it represents changing habits and renewal. It appears across stationery and retail materials, giving the brand a recognisable presence beyond the logo.

The system paired Ubuntu with King Basil brush lettering, balancing practical information with a more expressive voice. Product icons brought another useful layer: material sources, temperature suitability and disposal information could be presented consistently.

Keeping the explanation close to the choice

We applied the identity to labels and bag film, business stationery, the product catalogue, posters and retail display materials. The catalogue brought the company’s purpose together with the details a buyer needed to compare products.

The illustrated world also became an educational animation. Its scenes introduced the materials and connected everyday choices with the wider problem of packaging waste.

In the final brand book, the floor display includes space for a tablet to play that animation. The pack, the display and the explanation were designed to work together where a purchase would be considered.

Guidelines documented how to use the wordmark, colours, typography, icons and illustrations, along with specifications for the main applications.

From a new range to a brand in the market

By June 2018, Biodeck was supplying bags to Carrefour in Romania.[2] Reporting in June 2019 placed its products in retail stores, cafés and restaurants, and documented exports to Scandinavia.[3]

Our contribution was the brand and communication system that accompanied this introduction: a name, a recognisable illustrated world and practical materials for presenting the products.

The project brought together the two things the new range needed to communicate: why someone might choose it, and what they needed to know before they did.