Putting arms and legs on an object or product is low hanging fruit
Anthropomorphic Character
Sheffield studio Lyon & Lyon designed the packaging for Mighty Green's range of CBD snack bars, body butter, oils and bath flakes. First, they started with the name Mighty Green, a name that would champion the natural power of hemp for its pain relief, anti-inflammatory and calming properties. Mighty Green is set in a condensed friendly sans-serif typeface, the scale for Green enlarges with each letter and the "I" in Mighty has been replaced with an exclamation mark. Exclamation marks are used to indicate strong feelings, very fitting for a CBD's mood adjusting qualities.
The Mighty Green packaging also includes an anthropomorphic character called Hempy. Anthropomorphic means giving inanimate objects human characteristics. Hempy is a nine-point cannabis leaf with arms, legs and a feel-good friendly smile. Hempy interacts with a range of ingredients to signify the flavour or scent of the product. He carries around a blood orange, juggles raspberries and sprinkles magnesium flakes.
At design school, we were taught that putting arms and legs on an object or product is (quote) "low hanging fruit". An overused idea and something everybody thinks of. Is that the case? Many successful brands have used this approach to bring products to life, literally.
Psychologically humans are drawn to eyes and faces, they tell us a lot about people, how they're feeling and what they're thinking. I believe this also applies to characters and paintings. We've all had the eyes of an old Victorian painting follow us around an art gallery. So, maybe having a character on your packaging engages a human’s natural response to interact, and makes your product more approachable.
Other examples of anthropomorphic characters?
Lemony Lemonade from Karma Drinks, a googly-eyed, music-loving lemon. Lemons aren't known for their luck but Lemony is a lucky one, he's wandering through life without a care in the world.
Sandows took their cold brew coffee flask, teamed up with graffiti artist 45rpm slapped some arms, legs and eyes on it and create a brilliant collab t-shirt.
