How thoughtful design helped this joyful brand align its packaging with its purpose.

When we were tasked with Redfern’s product branding and packaging redesign, it wasn’t just about a new look. It was about solving real operational challenges, improving the customer experience, and making sure the packaging felt like an extension of the brand: joyful, thoughtful, and human.

Since rebranding in 2021, Redfern Retail has carved out its own identity within the wider Redfern family, standing apart from its specialised and agricultural arms. With a vision to become a household name in the labelling, sticker, and stationery space, the brand is guided by a clear purpose: to bring joy, convenience, and peace of mind to everyday lives. That’s what they deliver through their products and what their packaging needs to reflect.

 

Why Packaging Needed a Rethink

Packaging is one of Redfern’s most significant recurring costs. With a growing product catalogue and strong distribution footprint, the team needed to find more innovative, more efficient ways to manage packaging across a wide range of products without compromising on experience.

Before the redesign, the boxes were almost indistinguishable, causing confusion during packing and making the retail experience less than ideal. From a customer perspective, customers weren’t getting the clarity or inspiration the brand wanted to offer. From a staff perspective, efficiency was lost in the shuffle.

It was time for a change that would make sense financially and creatively.

 

Strategy-Driven Design

After years of experience with a range of retail clients, we understand that applying a cookie-cutter approach to branding never works. Instead, we always start with strategy. We looked at Redfern’s positioning pillars (convenience, peace of mind, inspiration) and used them as our design parameters.

From a business perspective, we needed a more economical and operationally efficient solution. That’s where the new box with a window and interchangeable cover inserts came in. Rather than producing dozens of different boxes, we created one base box and a series of insert covers that visually differentiated the products. This design solution cut down significantly on paper use, printing costs, and operational complexity. The packaging team could quickly identify and pack products using vibrant, easy-to-read inserts.

From a brand perspective, the redesign aligned the packaging with Redfern’s purpose: bringing joy, convenience, and peace of mind to everyday lives.

• Convenience: We added QR codes and links to templates, making it easier for customers to reorder their favourite labels or create their own printable designs.
• Peace of Mind: Clear product information was prioritised on every insert, giving customers confidence in what they were buying, how to use it, and what to expect.
• Inspiration: Bright colours, dynamic imagery, and creative label application ideas brought the packaging to life, helping it stand out online and on retail shelves.

As Courtney Faulkner, Redfern Retail Brand Manager, put it:

“Packaging is the first impression of who we are. Changing our packaging to better suit the customer and fit with who we are cannot understate the confidence gained.”

 

A Brand That Dares to Be More

For Redfern, packaging isn’t just about protecting the product. It’s an opportunity to delight, inform, and reassure the customer. The redesign was part of a broader drive to ensure every touchpoint with the brand lives up to its promise: “Sorted.”

It’s about more than what’s in the box. It’s about how customers feel when they engage with the brand.

That’s where we came in: to support the Redfern team in solving real business needs, using the brand as the lens through which decisions are made. There are no one-size-fits-all solutions, no flashy overdesign, just smart, considered choices designed to serve the brand and the business alike.

 

Packaging That Works Harder So Redfern Can Keep Spreading Joy

The result of the redesign is packaging that works – for the team behind the scenes, for the retailers on the shelves, and most importantly, for the customers at home. It’s a system that reflects what Redfern stands for: bright, joyful products designed to make life a little easier.

Because when you care enough to do your best for your team, your customers, and your business, it shows in every detail—even the box.