DealBerry is a D2C product business with multiple product lines, including marble and granite kitchen tools, glassware, and homeware products. When I first started working with DealBerry and their lifestyle line Homiu, my role was to build the brand image from the ground up.

That meant working across packaging, catalogue design, ecommerce product photography, product listings, marketing assets, and visual direction across the different product lines.

The company didn’t really have a brand system. The products were sourced from white-label factories in China, and packaging was treated as an afterthought. A logo would be placed on a box, the factory would print it, and the product would be shipped to customers.\

Each box looked and felt different. Some prints were blurry or pixelated, and that wasn’t the impression we wanted customers to have of the products inside.

With marble and granite kitchen tools, glassware, and other homeware products in the collection, I needed to figure out how to make them look like they belonged to the same brand. The same design wouldn’t necessarily work for every product.

I also had to understand what the factories could actually produce. A design could look good on screen, but if the print came back blurry or the cardboard felt cheap, we still hadn’t got it right.

I wanted to curate a brand that makes sense in a modern home. The collection should be clean, good-looking, and well made. I expressed that through sans-serif typography and very intentional product photography.\

That direction had to carry through packaging, catalogues, and ecommerce listings too. I prepared production-ready assets, reviewed packaging output and print quality, and directed or reviewed product photography and retouched images so the final result met the standard we wanted.\

I was kind of annoyed by the poor-quality cardboard the factory had chosen, so I asked our contacts to raise it with them. The packaging was part of the experience too, and I didn’t want that detail to undermine the brand we were building.

The work helped DealBerry move from inconsistent white-label factory packaging towards a more polished and consistent brand presence across packaging, product photography, ecommerce listings, catalogues, and campaign materials.

For me, branding is a holistic experience that builds up through all those bits and bobs, from the moment a customer orders from you until they actually receive the product. The sharpness of a print, the quality of a photo, even the feel of the cardboard all add up. Careless details add up too, and can ruin the perception you’ve worked to build.