Røis trained at The Einar Granum School of Art, and has a BA in Visual Communication from The Academy of The Arts in Oslo, Norway.
Major opportunity to do something different
Her portfolio includes projects with Estée Lauder, NIKE, and Stella McCartney to name a few.
The packaging for Double 0% has a distinctive floral motif, featuring the designer’s favorite flowers and summer elements in her design.
Carl André Pedersen, category manager, Yoplait Norway, told DairyReporter the firm saw a major opportunity to do something different and the large surface on the box gave them an opportunity to treat it more as a canvas than packaging.
“With packaging a central part is to stand out and get recognized. The yogurt category is special with a lot of impulse purchases and frequent switching between brands,” he said.
“People want inspiration through new exciting products. Packaging plays an important role to make the product stand out from the shelf and bring inspiration to people that are frequently buying yogurt.”
Pedersen added that, to get something fresh and inspirational, Yoplait realized it had to let go of the design, and ‘put it in the hands of a professional creative artist.’
“By doing that, the result is something that stands out from the others and represents something new,” he said.
“Industrial packaging is still very relevant, since most of the time it is important to clearly communicate the content, and often there is limited space."
Collaborations between private companies and artists
“However, in some cases, it is truly inspirational to bring art and culture to the grocery shelves, and give artists the opportunity to show their abilities and creativity in new arenas. It is a way to be different and to stand out from the rest, which is increasingly important.”
Collaborations between private companies and artists/cultural figures are more common in France, where there is less state funding of cultural activities than in Norway.
The pots are produced via form-fill-seal machines with rotogravure printed paper banderole on the cup. It has an offset printed cardboard wrap-around.
“I did not place too much emphasis on the ingredients in my design, despite the fact the yogurt contains lots of berries and natural sweetener,” said Røis.
“It is a brave and great choice of Yoplait to let the packaging stand strong as a visual element. This has been a very exciting and fun project to work on.”
The result was a combination of Røis’ favorite flowers; lilies, daisies and poppies, combined with leaves. The Stevia plant is also included to emphasize the natural sweetener in the yogurt.
“We usually feature the products’ ingredients as a main element of our package designs,” added Pedersen.
“We also wanted to provide a healthy alternative for those who prefer ingredients of a more natural origin and who appreciate aesthetics as well.
“It is a new and exciting experience to treat the pack as an art canvas. When you look at how stunningly beautiful and creative Esra’s art is and what she has achieved internationally, it is truly an honor to have her as a partner.”