Issue 02 – Cannabis

You don't need to be a stoner to appreciate the renaissance of cannabis design 🥦

Unbox Inbox is a weekly newsletter packed with packaging inspiration and observations

High! I mean hi (couldn’t help myself). Welcome to the second issue of Unbox Inbox, this time focusing on the abundance of good design happening in the cannabis industry. I’m going to focus on pre-roll packaging for this letter, but that doesn’t mean stellar design isn’t happening in gummies, vapes, flower, drinks, etc. There’s simply too much goodness to cover in one already quite long letter, so you might want to click "view entire message" so as not to miss anything. Let’s get to it.

Visual Deep Dive

As cannabis slowly becomes legal to a wider and wider audience, stoner culture is changing too, and the branding and packaging reflect that. I’ve been massively inspired by what I’ve seen irl at any number of bougie dispensaries like Serra, Gotham, Farnsworth, and Sweetspot*, but what surprised me most when I went to research this issue was that while I remembered the standout designs I saw in them, it was rare that I knew the name of the brand responsible for the designs. Surely that won’t be the case for long, because these days instead of that jar of flower being hidden behind the counter of a tie-dye clad employee, it’s being merchandised on an instagram-worthy shelf alongside a $275 lighter or art book. Just like all the consumer packaged goods you buy because you “like the cover,” that’s what’s starting to happen with cannabis–or at least it is for me. So let’s take a look at the brands that I think are nailing pre-roll pack design for the diverse mix of cannabis consumers these days, many of whom fit into the silly customer archetypes I came up with below.

*Their branding reminds me a lot of a very popular salad chain…

I. Your coworker who definitely is not a stoner but appreciates a pre-roll wrapped in cute rolling paper

Flower by Edie Parker, Dizzies, Paradiso Gardens, Drew Martin, Girls Trip

Flower by Edie Parker is the outlier when it comes to brand recognition for me, I’m an *aspirational* fan girl through and through (a lot of their stuff is comically expensive).

II. The elder millennial who was an early reader of Kinfolk Magazine

Pure Beauty, Farnsworth, Serra, Cresco, Skymint

Let the record show that I love the Farnsworth packs that feel like fancy cigarettes, even though I hate cigarettes. It kind of feels like the adult version of a candy cig? PS, have you heard of the “viral cigarette brand” Hestia? Learned that from

Emily

whose work I love. I do not love that cool branding/design is helping “cigfluencers” target young smokers.

III. Your brother-in-law who appreciates good design but doesn’t make it his personality

Dogwalkers, Old Pal, Dad Grass, Florist Farms

The cleverness of the Dad Grass brand is unmatched. A “dad stash” disguised as a cassette tape, sardines, conversation hearts, and butter (!!)

IV. The college friend who lives on the LES in NYC and always knows what’s cool before you do

Houseplant, Miss Grass, Ben’s Best, Sundae School, Medly, Butter

Clearly I do not live in or on the LES because I never know which preposition to use, but I do appreciate the design in this category most of all. It all feels very original and ownable to me.

New News

I’ll be the first to admit that the archetypes above are only a small portion of who is purchasing cannabis in America (likely more urban, coastal, etc.). That being said, when I came across American Weed Co., it took me a moment to process that it was a real brand. A real brand created by none other than Pentagram, the iconic design studio that has given visual language to institutions such as United Airlines, Citibank, and Tiffany & Co.

American Weed Co. is owned by veterans and “caters to a U.S. military audience, specifically retired and newly decommissioned military personnel, who have an affinity for their service and embrace their identity as veterans.” It sounds like the team at Pentagram did a ton of research to align the branding with their target customer, and while to me it’s a bit strange to have products with names like “bombed buzz,” I’m not the target demographic. I have a feeling we’re going to see a lot more brands like this pop up as cannabis companies try to reach more and more niche audiences.

Are you a veteran, or close to one? I’d love to hear what you think about this one. My guess is that for everyone like me who *doesn’t get it* there are an equal amount of people who feel seen. That’s branding for you!

Packing Peanuts

(Those loose leftover pieces at the bottom of the box)

That small bag of “Cheetos” above has 600mg of THC in it, but what’s harder to believe is that people are getting away with stealing the likeness of Big Food brands. A cannabis infused brownie mix would’ve been helpful in my early 20s when the special brownies and banana bread I made with friends were highly unpredictable. I’ve tried doing scratch and sniff stickers before and they always smell super artificial, so I love seeing that this brand was able to nail it by infusing the ink with terpenes extracted from the flower. Butter has the best branded merch: a candle in their recycled glass eighth jar and incense and joint holder. I’d hang this devil’s lettuce print on my wall. Salty Plum? Sign me up. The most delicious looking pipes I discovered via

High Design

. Rainbow ashtray stack of my dreams I spotted at Gotham in NYC last week. One of a kind works of art that you will ultimately set on fire. Clever. I wonder how long it will be til non-cannabis brands are putting their logos on custom rolling papers and grinders. Truly obsessed with the idea of a “birth-jay.” “A very helpful brief history of reefer madness.”

Thanks for reading <3 Have any feedback on this issue? Reply to this email.

Found on the Google business page for The Green Well in Portland, ME

---