Yankee Candle is a manufacturer and retailer of scented candles with their headquarters located in Western Massachusetts. Their products are sold online and in retail stores in nearly 50 countries around the world.
For several years, I worked with Yankee’s team of purchasers, project managers and brand team members. I managed and directed the design, sales, art files, print production, assembly, and delivery of many Yankee Candle, large-volume, packaging, and display projects.
The Unboxing Experience
Objective: Yankee Candle was looking for concepts of e-commerce, unboxing experiences to present in a meeting with c-level brand team leaders. Yankee provided three of their candles and asked for some new concepts and samples.
Design Solution: A sustainable, corrugated, carton, with insert offers protection, simplicity, and inexpensive and varied printing options. This packaging is easily discarded and recycled with no extra or, unnecessary packaging materials.
My Contribution: I researched trending unboxing experiences, sketched ideas and created a design brief that I brought to CAD designers and graphic designers. 3D renderings and physical samples were created. With the addition of graphics, the packaging was able to tell the brand story and sell the product: the Invitation, the Anticipation, and the Reveal.
A New Take on a Semi-permanent Floor Display
Objective: Yankee Candle was looking for some innovative permanent display options. They wanted to invest in something that would ultimately save money by eliminating purchasing a different floor display for each product, every season.
Design Solution: A concept incorporating a corrugated CDU (counter display unit [customer owns tooling]) with a permanent metal, rack display. This idea offers versatility in product, and the ability to change graphics frequently, saving money and keeping branding and messaging current. A new Yankee Candle CDU arrives at store locations, loaded with seasonal product, and new sign graphics. Graphics can be easily swapped on the display in the store aisle.
My Contribution: I researched, created sketches and presented several concepts in a slideshow and explained my concepts and worked within budget limitations. This concept moved to the prototype stage and may be seen in retail stores in Spring 2022.
